The Misery Machine - The Tragic Case of Pharaoh Van Vactor

Episode Date: May 7, 2026

This week, Drewby and Yergy head to the Mojave Desert to discuss the case of 2-year-old Pharaoh Lance Van Vactor, the boy who was a little king. Pharaoh was the son of Douglas "Rick" Van Vactor and Adrianna Brown. You might remember Rick from his recent appearance on Season 8 of 90 Day Fiancé: Before The 90 Days. But this episode isn't about that... It's about how Adrianna's new boyfriend, Mathew Kenneth Berry, decided to beat poor Pharaoh to death in the desert under the guise of an impromptu Home Depot trip...Support Our Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠PayPal: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join Our Facebook Group: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: miserymachinepodcastTwitter: misery_podcastDiscord: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#themiserymachine #podcast #truecrimeSource Materials Available Upon Request.

Pharaoh Lance Van Vactor was born on July 24, 2011 in Lancaster, California to parents Douglas Van Vactor, who went by the name Rick and Adriana Brown. Adriana chose the name Pharaoh for a reason. She knew from day one that her son was going to be her little king, and he lived up to it. He had strong opinions about how things should go right down to how he played with other kids. But his grandmother, Carol Roberson, said, just that smile would win you over. His family remembered him as a boy who could light up any room he walked into. He waved at strangers, said hi to everyone he passed,

and if he spotted someone who looked sad or hurt, he would walk right over and put his arm around them. He had a big heart for such a little guy, and he never needed to be asked twice when there was something to be done, especially around the kitchen. Music was his thing, any kind, and he would dance and sing to all of it. He loved eating, drinking juice, going to amusement parks, swimming, and a trip to Chucky Cheese.

Bath time was a highlight and so was brushing his teeth. Apparently that was a genuine passion. He liked playing with other kids and he had a full rotation of favorites. Hide and seek, patty cake, little piggies and peekaboo. Storytime was a big one too. He never turned down a book from his mom or his dad. At the time of the events of today's story, Farrow will. was only two years old.

At some point, Rick and Adriana separated and shared custody of Pharaoh their only child together. Rick, who was 41 at the time, lived in the Los Angeles area and worked as a shuttle bus driver. He would later go on to become a certified personal trainer, a tap dance instructor, drive for Uber, and to sell wigs and extensions online through his business, Temple Pure Hair. That is 20% off all raw bundles, wigs, silky smooth, remy bundles, Frontals and closures. Some folks have alleged that he played a Viking in a J.G. Wentworth commercial, but we've found no official source confirming that this is actually him.

Others have claimed that he's secretly a former WWE star that wrestled under the names Brian Boyer and sexy Rick Sadist. These claims stem from a post on Instagram made by David Ray Hanna on December 8th, 2025. He's been in first since the giant Gonzalez wiped the net with him. Rick's social media accounts painted a picture of a man who enjoyed fitness as well as traveling the world. However, Rick is most known for his appearance on Before the 90 Days, which we will briefly touch on later in the episode. 22-year-old Adriano was from California City, a sprawling, sparsely populated desert city in Kern County, about 110 miles northeast of Los Angeles. California City is one of those places that sounds bigger than it really is.

it was planned in the 1950s to become a major metropolitan center with wide streets laid out across the Mojave Desert in a grid pattern. Most of the streets just trail off into sand. In 2013, the population was somewhere around 14,000 people. It's flat, dusty, hot, and isolated. Time, Adriana was dating a 26-year-old man named Matthew Kenneth Berry. Rick met Matthew twice in person, and they spoke on the phone a few times. One of those calls was about Matthew's relationship with Adriana.

According to Rick, their relationship was kind of volatile. They argued all the time and stuff, but he never mentioned anything physical. Adriana had met Matthew through a mutual friend in California City. By the fall of 2013, they had been together for about five months. She held off in introducing him to Pharaoh for the first couple of months, and when she finally did, Matthew was eager to win the boy over. Pharaoh wasn't always warm to him. Adriana figured it was because her son was missing Rick.

Now, Rick and Pharaoh were close. Rick said that Matthew even acknowledged their bond. Matthew told Rick he could see how much they loved each other in that he would never do anything to come between us. He called Pharaoh a daddy's boy, but things were not all sunshine and roses either. Matthew apparently had a temper which Adriana described as, and I quote, he could get very mad and would punch things like walls. But she was clear he had never been physically violent to her or to Pharaoh.

She said he seemed like a really nice guy. People close to Matthew said he'd been in the military and had since become a drug user. His sister said he was suffering from PTSD, but no one suspected of what Matthew was capable of. On Sunday morning, November 17th, 2013, Adriana and Matthew drove to Rick's Los Angeles area home to pick up Pharaoh. Rick handed his son over at 4.30 a.m., and that would be the last time that Rick would ever see his little boy alive. Two days later on November 19th, Matthew, Adrianna, and Pharaoh were running errands together. Matthew said he needed to make a run out to the Home Depot and Mojave for some tools. Adriana asked to be dropped off at their California city home first, and he agreed.

Then he asked if he could take Pharaoh with him, and she said yes. They headed out at 2.30 that afternoon. The plan was to be home before dark. But an hour after Matthew left, Adriana started texting him. She wanted Pharaoh brought home. Matthew texted back claiming that they were already in Mojave. Now, mind you, California City to Mojave is only a 15-mile drive. Adriana then asked him to meet her so she could take Pharaoh to Lancaster to visit her mother,

but Matthew never showed up. Her sister also texted Matthew. He told her he couldn't get the tools he needed so he had to go to Rosamond instead. Then he stopped responding entirely. Adriana got scared. She said she rushed to her sister's house and called Matthew over and over, but there was no answer. She didn't want to fear the worst, but she started calling the hospitals. And then on Wednesday morning, she went to the shes.

sheriff's office and reported Pharaoh missing. One p.m. on Wednesday, November 20th, detective sat down with Adriana and told her that her son was dead. Here is what we know. Matthew never went to the Home Depot, took Pharaoh off-roading the Mojave Desert outside of California City. There, his truck became stuck in the sand. Investigators found it there and used a tractor to pull it out. Matthew is the only adult present, and Pharaoh now can't tell anyone what happened to him anymore. The morning of November 20th, the bus driver spotted Matthew in a small child lying beside a road outside California City. The driver was headed south toward the city limits when he saw them. Pulled over and asked if they needed help or a ride into town. Matthew carried Pharaoh onto the

bus, where he told the driver the boy wasn't breathing. The driver called his dispatch and arranged for medical aid while he drove toward the city center. During that bus ride, a dispatcher pled with Matthew to perform CPR and Pharaoh, but Matthew refused. He also refused. He also refused. to let anyone near Pharaoh. It wasn't until Matthew spotted police waiting at a California City intersection that he began to perform CPR, but by then, it was far too late.

California City Police, firefighters, and paramedics met the bus at the intersection of Nauralia Road in California City Boulevard. Pharaoh was pronounced dead at the scene, and Matthew was arrested immediately. This episode is brought to you by Activia. You might already be eating yogurt, but not all yogurts are created equal.

Activia contains over one billion probiotics per serving to survive and reach the gut alive. When it comes to gut health, Activia is the number one family doctor-recommended probiotic yogurt brand. Choose Activia, feel good from the inside out. Visitactivia.ca for more details. Rick got the news the following day by phone, he said. The coroner called me today and told me my son was beaten, beaten to death. He still had a voicemail on his phone from Matthew, and the message, Matthew had said, he's safe with me, bro. I promise you that. I won't let nothing happen to your boy, man.

The Kern County Coroner's office determined that Pharaoh died of blunt force trauma. His death was ruled a homicide. Court documents released in the days after Matthew's arrest detailed the full extent of Pharaoh's injuries. His face, the top and back of his head, and the area around his spine were all bruised. More marks ran across his arms, legs, and inner arms. thighs. Head to toe, his body was covered. The official autopsy confirmed blunt force trauma to the head and abdomen with bleeding on the brain. Investigators also told Matthew there was tearing to the child's anus. According to reports, Matthew chuckled when he heard that. The coroner confirmed that these injuries were recent. When investigators confronted Matthew with these findings, his story started to shift.

He had initially claimed Pharaoh flew out of his car scene and hit the dashboard during their off-roading trip in that he performed CPR afterward. He later tried to suggest that the CPR itself caused the bruising. A pathologist who reviewed the case, knocked that down. After Matthew's first court appearance, Pharaoh's maternal grandmother, Carol Roberson, was in the courthouse lobby. She said, I just want to know why. I want to ask this guy why. She had had a bad feeling about Matthew from the very beginning. because he couldn't maintain eye contact with her. But she had never voiced those concerns, she said.

What he did was despicable. A two-year-old baby, he's defenseless. What can he do? Rick said he could not accept any punishment less than the death penalty. He said anything less than that would be him getting off too easy. For the funeral, family members were allowed to view Pharaoh's body. Rick said he could only see his son's head and arms. Matthew was charged with first-degree murder and assault on a child under the age of eight resulting in death.

He was held without bail in the Kern County Jail. He pled not guilty. The case moved slowly. Matthew's arraignment was pushed back from its initial date and the proceedings stretched across nearly five years. We couldn't find detailed coverage of what happened in between and it doesn't matter much because Matthew never went to trial. In October of 2018, Matthew changed to trial. plea. He pled no contest to first-degree murder. On December 19, 2018, he was sentenced in Kern County Superior Court. He received 25 years to life in prison. Former Deputy DA Nick Lackey addressed the court. He said,

Matthew Kenneth Berry, took Pharaoh, his girlfriend's toddler, out to the desert and beat him brutally. After the defendant killed the victim, he took his body onto a bus. A lot of people noticed he had a dead child with him and notified the police. He added, there's nothing we can do to bring back the victim. Nothing we can do can make the family whole again. But that's an appropriate sentence. He deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison. We cannot exactly make sense as to why Matthew got 25 to life

and is eligible for parole when so many people we've covered on this channel who've done far less have easily gotten life without parole. Now, according to California Department of Corrections on their website, As of the date of this recording in May of 2026, Matthew remains incarcerated. He is now 38 years old. His parole eligibility date is listed as May of 2031. Now, he is very unlikely to ever be paroled, given the nature of his crime. But just seeing that date as five years from now is very unsettling.

Rick started posting videos of Farrow on YouTube one month after his son's death. Many of those videos are still available. Farrow. Sarah, look up. Sarah. Hey, big boy. What's what you doing, man? His later videos are mainly workout content, travel, and lifestyle stuff, but Farrow is still there in the background. Photos of him on the mantle, a frame painting or drawing. If you watch Rick's 2019 workout video title Tap Out XT Sprawl and Brawl, you can see the frame photo of Pharaoh behind him. Years went by and Rick built a life. He married again and had more children. By late 2025, he had five kids, three grown from previous relationships and two young sons,

aged two and six. His oldest is 29. In an interview, Rick said, I love being a dad. It brings joy to my heart and I consider it a blessing. In late 2025, Rick was cast on season eight of 90-day fiance before the 90 days on TLC. The show followed Americans pursuing relationships with people overseas. TLC described Rick as a jack of all trades and a divorced single dad who believes he's finally found the right woman to complete his family. Rick, now 52 at the time of filming, traveled to Madagascar to meet his girlfriend, Trisha Stiley, a 25-year-old midwife.

According to Rick, I love to travel and on a recent trip I met two very attractive women from Madagascar. I thought to myself, these girls are so beautiful, so I decided to go on a dating site and search for Madagascar. The show didn't lead with Farrow. The storyline was Rick and Trisha's long-distance relationshipy, five-day ghosting incident, and some pretty significant trust issues that came out over the course of the season. I'm so lonely and abandoned, I thought that you didn't want me anymore. I don't want to go too much into Rick's appearance on before the 90 days because we want to do a deep dive on the Yergy and Drewby channel. And I want this episode to be just about Pharaoh.

But this clip from part one of the tell all pissed me right off. This was an insane thing to say. If Ziyadh had any idea about Pharaoh, then he's even more of an awful person than I already thought he was. But you are a fake father. Don't forgive that. You want to check my records? My track records? I'm a damn good father.

You don't know anything about him. I'm a real father, fool. I'm more father than you will ever be, ever in your life. You piece of a bit. Although Rick has been in the limelight as of recent, he hasn't made any extended public statements about Pharaoh's death beyond the interviews that he gave in November of 2013. Pharaoh's funeral was held on Wednesday, November 27, 2013, one week after his body was found.

Eternal Valley Memorial Park and Mortuary in New Hall, California handled the arrangements. Those who came to say goodbye remembered him as a happy kid who loved to dance and was always willing to help. His obituary was written by the people who loved him. It ends like this. We love you, Pharaoh. Live like the king you are. If Farrow's case resonated with you, then please click here to check out the case of Elisa Eleanor Rosenbrook, who was the daughter of another couple who was featured on 90-day fiancé.

Little Elisa was only five months old when she died, and according to reports, it wasn't an accident.