True Crime with Kimbyr - Best Friends Give Stranger a Ride Home & Are NEVER Seen Again!

Episode Date: March 11, 2024

It was right before High School graduation and two friends planned an end of the year sleepover. They went to run some last minute errands before settling in for the night but they never came home. Find out who crossed their path. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

High school graduation is supposed to be the start of your life, not the end of your life. And this story is about an ordinary night that took a turn for the worst. On May 23rd in the year 2000, 17 year old Brandy Hicks and her best friend Elizabeth, Liz, Riser, were getting ready for their high school graduation. They decided to have one last sleepover at Brandy's before they parted ways. And little did they know that really was. would be their very last sleepover together. After attending Brandy's choir banquet

at the Buckeye Career Center, they decided to pay a visit to the local video store. Tell me if you remember going to Blockbuster. This one was Hollywood Video, and they wanted to just grab a couple movies for their sleepover. On the way to the mall, the lively duo chatted about graduation plans,

where they were gonna attend college, and most importantly, what movies they wanted to watch that night. Normally, the girls would not be out on a school night, but since it was just a few days before their graduation, and since they had already finished their semester early, Liz's parents allowed them to spend the night over Brandy's house. They wanted to celebrate their happy farewell from high school, but they didn't know that that night was going to be anything but happy. Brandy and Liz arrived at Hollywood Video in New Philadelphia. They went to browse around and pick out some movies for the night ahead. After they were done picking out their movie and they had finished shopping,

they stepped out to leave and that's when they were approached by a man wearing a baseball cap. He had dark curly hair curling out of the side of his cap and he asked the girls for a ride home. From the outside he looked polite and he explained to them how his car had broken down and he was in desperate need of merely a ride home, which was only a mile away from where the mall was. was. His name was Matthew Vaca. He was a 27-year-old father of three, and he even offered them $20 for them to just drop him off near his home. At first glance, though, both of the girls were a little apprehensive, and Liz even voiced her concern by saying she felt uncomfortable. The girls had both been brought up with the Christian faith, and they were taught to always be compassionate and do

the right thing. They discussed it between themselves. for a minute and they decided that they would help Matthew reach his home safely in their car. Around 9.30 p.m., the three of them left the Newtown Mall in Brandy's car toward what was supposed to be Matthew's house. They also mentioned that it was becoming very late and they both had curfews to maintain and abide by. But Matthew kept reassuring them that his house was close by and it would only take a little longer to get there. Eventually the girls did get tired and they started to doubt Matthew. Brandy decided to pull over to the side of the highway and she told Matthew to walk the rest of the way home since according to him they were close enough

which I find to be absolutely frightening and confusing and at that point I just say to myself first of all I don't know what I would do but I would definitely try to get him out of my car but let's just wait and see what happens. They had to be so afraid right now because at this point you have to know that something is terribly wrong. This was the moment when Matthew revealed the gun that he had had with him this whole time. He threatened Randy and Liz to give him all of the money they had, but they weren't off the hook yet. Matthew had other plans in mind. After robbing them, he told them to drive down a dark road and follow his directions. Randy and Liz were absolutely mortified, so they followed his instructions, and they drove further and further out of town

until they pulled over in a hayfield. Matthew was all a facade. The seemingly nice, polite gentleman was in fact very far from it. It would later be revealed that Matthew was actually being held on a probation violation for grand theft auto and forgery. When he saw the girls at Hollywood video, he made up his mind on a whim. and decided he was going to rob them. So of course he went ahead and fabricated the lie that his car broke down to get inside the girl's car. Once they arrived in this secluded area,

Matthew told Brandy to park the car on the side of the road. He instructed both of the girls to take their shoelaces off of their shoes and demanded that Liz tie Brandy's wrist to the steering wheel as tight as possible. He wanted to make sure that it was tied tight, tight and tight. enough so she was not able to move or to operate the car at any point in time. Liz was holding onto Brandy's hands and crying uncontrollably and telling her that she loved her. Brandy was equally distraught and she kept reassuring Liz that they would see each other again.

Matthew then yanked Liz out of the car and led her up a hill. Brandy watched helplessly and in fear as Matthew took her best friend further and further into the darkness until they were both out of sight. Brandy tried relentlessly to free herself, but shortly after Matthew returned to the car alone and yanked open Brandy's door as he yelled at her to get out of the vehicle. Brandy was completely frustrated and furious, and she actually stood up for herself and yelled back at him, even ridiculed him. But this is when Brandy noticed that Matthew was carrying a knife. He then reached over with the knife and cut her free from the steering wheel. He started to lead her up the same hill

that he and Liz had walked to. And as they moved further into the wilderness, Brandy looked everywhere frantically and searched for her friend. Right as she saw something in the distance, Matthew grabbed her face and pulled her in the opposite direction. But not before she noticed a pile of dirt packed up in a mound in the distance. And soon enough, Brandy came to the realization that Liz was buried there. Matthew grabbed Brandy's arms, dragged her back down the hill to the car, and told her to start driving.

Once again, they resumed their aimless journey into the darkness, and Matthew decided to toy with Brandy. He kept repeating that the only reason he took her up the hill was that he wanted her to notice that her dear friend was lying dead in front of her own eyes.

Sadly, the torment wouldn't stop here, and in fact, it got much, worse. Matthew suddenly switched up everything completely and he started to imply that he was just joking and he reassured Brandy that Liz was in fact alive and that he just let her go and made a pretend grave to scare Brandy. The truth was that Matthew had slashed Liz's neck at least three times. He had taken the blade and cut a 10 inch long, two and a half inch deep wound across her throat severing her trachea. He stabbed her in the neck, the back, and five times in the scalp, and left her cold, blood-drenched body buried in a shallow grave. Inside the car, the torturous mental

tug-of-war continued. Then Matthew suddenly instructed Brandy to drive back along the same path they traveled earlier. They started to drive closer to town, and Brandy got hopeful that Matthew might change his mind and set her free. He told Brandy to stop, and to get out of the vehicle and follow him. But this is when Brandy got really brave. This is when Brandy knew she had to do something where she was going to end up dead. She decided to try to befriend Matthew

and be nice to him. This must be so hard, but at the same time, I can see why this sometimes works. Brandy went on to endlessly talk to Matthew about life, relationships, and memories in hopes that somehow Matthew would feel empathy for her and let her go. It seemed to be going well. She seemed hopeful, but then all of a sudden, he snapped back into reality and told her to shut up. Once they reached the bridge rails of the railroad

car, Matthew instructed Brandy to remove all of her clothing. Brandy refused, but unfortunately Matthew overpowered her and he ended up forcing himself on her. After this, Matthew led Brandy towards a nearby railroad track that was right along the river. He told her to kneel down in front of the railing, in an almost executionist style. Before she could begin to understand what was going on, Matthew began to strangle Brandy with her shoelaces, and he choked her to the point of unconsciousness. Brandy passed out, but then she gained consciousness once again,

and she decided that she was going to play dead. Talked about this in another video. This was the one about the mother and daughter that died the same way 20 years apart. You can look at the cards in the description box. This has worked for many people. She hoped that if she played dead long enough, Matthew would leave her out there to die and he would disappear.

But unfortunately, Matthew suddenly lost his temper and started to beat her. He kicked her relentlessly over and over again. He kicked her so hard that it knocked the wind out of her and she couldn't pretend that she was dead any longer. And once Matthew understood that she was dead. she was still alive, he was frustrated. This is just torture. At this point, she could no longer pretend that she was dead. And when he realized that she was still alive, he tried to snap her neck multiple times, but he was still unsuccessful. At this point, he was completely fed up with his

lack of success. And he decided to throw brandy against the railing of the bridge. And finally, he pushed her off of the side and into the river headfirst. But miraculously, Brandy survived. After falling into the water, she floated along with the current. She didn't want Matthew to know that she was still alive. And although she was being carried away by the current, she could still see him pacing back and forth, kicking stones into the water and smoking his cigarettes. I cannot imagine this but Brandy waited patiently in the freezing cold water for Matthew to leave and once she saw him leave she waited just a little bit longer to make sure he was actually gone at this point this poor woman crawled up the river bank and

continued to run straight towards the highway what are the chances I don't know what the chances are of what happens next happening but this is insane After multiple attempts, Brandy managed to motion for help. She was so tired and so weak, but somehow she was able to raise her hand and a passing car stopped. Brandy lived to tell this story. The person who stopped to help her was a police officer. What are the odds of that happening? Punching my back and kicking my back, trying to see if I would wake up or breathe to really see if I was dead or not.

Took a hold of my head and tried to twist my head around to try and snap my neck. My face was still in the water and my back was floating. I just let my hands and legs just sort of flow with the water and pretended to be dead. During the investigation, they were tipped off by. Matthew's brother-in-law Jeff. Jeff told the authorities that Matthew took him to the crime scene late one Tuesday night, showed him the victim's body, and told him he had murdered her. Why do they do that? Why? Leave a comment. Why do they admit this to someone? It's just, what do you take that to your own grave? Part of the knife had actually broken while he was

attacking Liz and Matthew and Jeff stumbled upon that part of the knife. Matthew picked it up and threw it into the river because he was afraid that fingerprints would be on it. In the end, Brandy Hicks decided compassionately to allow Matthew to avoid the death penalty in exchange for pleading guilty. But he will spend the rest of his life in prison because he won't be eligible for parole until 2096. It was my choice. It was my option. And as I made the decision, yes, I'll forgive this man too. I could feel this like someone was pouring pancake syrup all over me. And it was just kind of coming down and it was such a soothing feeling. And with that feeling came total peace.

Thank you so very much for watching. I will see you in my next video. Bye.