True Crime with Kimbyr - Part 1: The Dark Secrets of a Small Town: The Murders of Brooke Baker & Erika Norman

Episode Date: July 1, 2026

A fearless young journalist chasing the truth found herself uncovering secrets that powerful people wanted buried. Brooke Baker had dreams of leaving her small town behind and becoming an investigative reporter — but her search for answers on a college campus would put her in unimaginable danger. In this episode of True Crime with Kimbyr, Kimbyrleigha explores the life, ambition, and tragic final investigation of Brooke Baker, asking: how far can someone go for the truth before it costs them everything? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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You just moved into your own place. You're enjoying parties and good times and having fun dating looking for your soulmate. Except there's someone in the shadows with their eye on you who ends up stealing all of those dreams in one night. Everyone, welcome back to my channel. My name is Kimberlya. If you've never been here before, nice to finally meet you. The very first person I want to introduce you to is Brooke Elizabeth Baker. Brooke was born April 24th, 1978 to her father Maurice and her mother, Janet Baker. Just a year later, her little brother Braun came into this world.

Brooke grew up in a very loving family, and with a brother that was like her twin, they were so very close. And even though neither her mom or her dad went to college, Brooke just had a very family. Brooke just had an innate passion for learning, and she dreamed of getting out of her little town of incense, Indiana. It's a very small town right across the river, neighboring Illinois, and it's a rural area. It's one of the oldest communities in the state of Indiana. The first Christian churches were founded in this area, and people who either come from it or live there do have those Christian religious values, and it was no different for the Baker family.

They regularly attend to church and they believed in God. The town of Vincennes only has about 18,000 residents. But something you don't usually hear in these type of stories is instead of it being this safe little town where no one expected there to be murder, that wasn't the case in Vincennes. Actually, there was sort of a dark cloud over Knox County. It was a place where a number of murders had gone unsolved. And there was a saying, if you want to murder somebody and get a. get away with it, do it in Knox County. How can it be in a small town where everyone knows one another and they're so friendly, even to a stranger,

someone new comes to town, they're ready to lend a hand. So what brought evil and darkness to this little town? Well, some say it started back in 1911 with what is now known as the barnyard murder. It happened on Friday, November 17th, 1911, when a very wealthy local farmer, was found dead in his barn, one single bullet to the back of his head. Sadly, the perpetrators were his own two sons. Obviously, that crime was solved, and maybe it was that people went to stir crazy in this little town, but there were ones that were left unsolved. Like the murder of Lisa McCracken. She was a young student from Vincennes University who was killed in 1987,

or the death of Kathy Westfall in 1995 attacked in her apartment. So what was it? that made these crimes so hard to solve. Can we blame it on being a small town? Maybe the police departments are not equipped. The detectives don't know the right procedures, protocols, and don't have enough police power. Or maybe there's just not enough financial backing to solve these crimes. And that's why there's that saying,

if you want to commit a murder and get away with it, do it there. This is where the Baker family lived. Broke and Braun were very close, as I mentioned, almost like twins, being just a year apart. So Braun really looked up to his big sister. And the Baker family was a low-income family. They had very limited means, but a daughter that dreamed so big.

So they tried very hard to support her in any way they possibly could. Brooke had a very active imagination. So it wasn't a surprise when she began writing. Now she was just putting all of those dreams and that imagination to work by putting it onto a page and being able to share it with others. Brooke was adored by her friends and family. She was so sweet and so cheerful. Everywhere she went, she would be smiling and spreading that happiness.

And one of her best friends, Shauna, knew and admired how enthusiastic she was about everything. She was on top of the world about wanting to be on top of the world and do big things in life. Shauna and many other people just loved being around Brooke. She was inspiring, especially for a young woman. And by high school, she started to write for her high school paper. Now she could share her thoughts, her opinions, and her imagination with so many more. This was a real turning point in Brooke's life because she realized that her dream was to be a journalist. While she was still in high school, she started to research journalism programs at local universities.

As a matter of fact, Shawna knew about Brooke before actually knowing Brooke because she would read some of the articles that she had written in their school newspaper. Shauna actually met Brooke because she was so impressed by one of the articles that she had written that she went and told her that it was some of the best writing she had ever read in the high school paper and that really meant a lot to Brooke. She lit up whenever somebody praised her for something that she truly believed was one of her talents and everyone could see that she was different. She was someone with a lot of big dreams for growing up in such a small town. What really made Brooke stand out is that she was vocal about what she wanted to achieve, and sometimes we do that. To put our goals out there, like you're going to almost be kept accountable for them.

She wanted to move to New York, and she told her friends she wanted to work for Rolling Stone magazine one day. She was determined. She was going after what she wanted, and there was nothing that was going to stop her. The first thing she wanted was a journalism degree. She wanted to stay somewhat close to home until the timing was right, to move on to somewhere bigger and better. Therefore, she applied to Vincennes University, the oldest public college in the state. It was founded in 1801,

and it was the perfect school for book because it had a two-year transfer associate's degree in journalism. It was designed to prepare graduates to transfer to a four-year program or to start working right away after earning their associate's degree. Even more exciting was the fact that the students that were in the journalism program,

they got to work for the university university's award-winning newspaper called the Trailblazer and they were allowed to do this starting their very first semester on campus. The Trailblazer is a student-run multimedia news organization. Well knowing what you already know about Brooke, you can probably guess she applied and she was accepted to Vincennes University Journalism program. Her friends and family were beyond excited for her even though most of them knew that she would most likely get in, it was still a a big deal. But there was still something about the fact that you're from a family where this might not have been possible for your own parents. And they get to live vicariously through you,

pushing you, cheering you on, being there for you, and knowing that they created this amazing human being that's going to do really big things in life. When Brooks started college, she wasn't just like a lot of the other students that kind of just slowly go through the motions, trying to figure out what they wanted to do. She knew from the minute she got there, what she was going to do, and she didn't waste a second. This wasn't going to be a gradual thing for her. It was like she was going from A to Z and be on her way out of that small town and into the big city. Her first step was becoming an editor for the campus newspaper. She knew she was going to have to have that background and experience in order to make it as a

stepping stone to her real passion and career one day. The very first day that the journalism students got together, they sat in a group to discuss their future. dreams. Every person had maybe two or three dreams that they wanted to accomplish, but Brooke, she had 25. Some of them were to be a member of Senate, a congresswoman, and a reporter that would break all kinds of controversial stories. When two of the girls in the room, Deborah Davidson and Shauna Pearson heard what Brooke was saying, they were in absolute awe of her because they didn't think all the journalism students combined could take on even one of her dreams and complete it. They thought it would take more.

more than 100. Deborah and Shauna, they really looked up to her. Brooke got started right away. She wasn't afraid to kind of look like a big deal on campus. She would even have friends coming right into the journalism lab. And it seemed like she was always going somewhere with someone. People didn't know how she was making these friends so quickly, but she would just instantly bond with people. And as a matter of fact, Shauna became her pretty much her best friend and her partner in crime. They supported each other in the journalism program because support was necessary. You had to work as a team to support your colleagues. That was just a part of what they were learning in their program.

Sometimes someone else is going to break a story, but they know that you're the perfect person to tell it, and that's how it worked. But Brooke's biggest support system and cheerleaders were her family and her brother Braun. Even though she was off to college, her brother was trailing right behind her. So while in her freshman year,

Braun would make frequent trips over to Brooks Place, and it was fun, because there were a lot of guys that he could bond with. So he made a lot of friends, even before getting into college, if that was going to be one of his goals. She was setting things up pretty nicely for him. And they truly were best of friends. That's a blessing because you don't always have that kind of relationship with your siblings.

But Brooke wasn't just there to be serious. There was another side of her. As serious as she was, Brooke liked to party, and she was very attractive. So it was very easy for her to make friends, especially with boys. She had this very charismatic personality and this long, flowing, golden blonde hair and blue-green eyes and this smile that had these cute little dimples on the sides and, of course, enthusiasm for days. She liked to make friends with everyone, and she had a very diverse group of friends. And sometimes some of her friends would be surprised that she was friends with certain people

because they were so different than her, but that's just the way Brooke was. And she wasn't exactly into having just one guy either. That's not really how she worked. She was having fun. She was casually dating a number of guys trying to see like what she liked and what she disliked, especially where she wanted to go romantically. And there is nothing wrong with that, especially for a young girl, because this is an important time in your life. She can't be bogged down having a serious relationship.

But we will find out that there was this one guy that she was a little more serious with. And that comes later because right now it's all of it. about working hard to position herself for success. Brooke definitely got along with guys better than she got along with girls. And I'm sure a lot of the guys she hung out with wanted to be a little more than friends. She felt the same way about several of them too. And it seemed like they were okay with that situation. Just having fun in college, no strings attached. And I was thinking maybe because her and her brother were so close in age, she was used to having a guy around. So maybe that's why she liked to make friends with other guys because it was comfortable to her.

She was even living with a guy. His name was Jason. They were living together until she could afford to get her own place. Jason was just one of Brooke's roommates. During her first year of college, there were other guys that were living there as well. And Jason and Brooke were a little more than just roommates from time to time. The home itself had sort of an open door policy, so to speak. They all shared the common areas and they would walk around, talk to one another, bring each other's friends to meet the roommates. It was a lot of fun. College life can be some of the best years of people's lives where they meet people who are going to be their friends for the rest of their lives. It's just really sad that Brooke wouldn't be in her friend's lives for very long.

Remember that I said there was one guy that she was a little bit more serious with. Well, his name is Steve. He's a nice guy. He's sweet. He's sensitive. and he seems to be in love with Brooke or at the very least infatuated. But Brooke is more interested in succeeding in her career than succeeding in a relationship. She and Steve had an on-again, off-again relationship.

By the second semester of her freshman year, she was dead set on working for the school paper. She would spend most of her time just coming up with stories. Finally, she was a regular editor for The Trailblazer and to think she was only 18 years old. It's kind of mind-blowing how determined. she was. And the reason I say this is because it's not very common for a new student on campus that's only a freshman to be in a position like Brooke was. She was already rising to the top when it came to writing for the trailblazer and that's the thing that stood out about Brooke. She was always looking for very controversial topics because she knew that those stories were needed

for her to stand out and for her to be recognized, especially coming from such a small town. She needed to rock the boat. She needed to ruffle some feathers. And let me tell you, you're going to find out that she did just that. It didn't make everyone happy. Of course, people were proud of her when they were close to her, unless they were being talked about by her. That's another story. As much as she was good at making friends, she was also good and making people angry.

Because some people just don't want to be written about. They don't want their business being put in a university newspaper. Even if they don't end up in the newspaper, some people just don't want to be investigated. Brooke had her sights set on not only becoming a journalist, but an investigative journalist. And her goal was to be that person making friends with everyone so she could get the scoop. Well, some people didn't think they could trust Brooke. Maybe she was only hanging out with them to get information, and that's not always a very good feeling. I think we've all seen it in movies and TV shows where there's this reporter that's trying to get close to you.

you and they're like, listen, off the record. And I know you might not be thinking what I'm thinking, but I'm always like, right, off the record, but still in your brain. So there's a way that they can spin that story, use that information, maybe without saying who gave it to them, all the while risking the fact that someone might find out who had loose lips. But this wasn't that serious. Although it was award winning, the trailblazer was a newspaper at a university in a small town. So many of the people around Brooke thought it was pretty endearing. They knew that she meant, well that our intentions were to do something good, to uncover injustices, to make things right, to bring things to the surface that may be going on behind the scenes of some of the

organizations on campus and things like that. The newspaper was directly related to what was going on in either the community, the city, or the county as a whole, or just the university. The only people who really cared about the trailblazer were students on campus and possibly the professors. So all of that being said, it didn't really hurt any of Brooks friendships when she was getting acclimated to being a big part of the newspaper. As a matter of fact, and this is kind of sad, but it's to be expected. A lot of people just thought she was kind of making a big deal about being a big deal, but that she wasn't that big of a deal.

We've heard the saying, too big for your britches, that's what they thought about Brooke. There were a lot of fellow students that kind of laughed behind her back, thinking that she was just making these stories up, that she really wasn't that great at writing or wasn't going to be someone who did big things. It could have been jealousy, who knows, but she was sort of brag about investigating things. A lot of people just thought she was making it up for clout and to be cool and to be taken more seriously

or to be seen as somebody. Even though you shouldn't do this, some people who do work in journalism kind of skew the facts, making things just a little more interesting. I'm not saying Brooke was doing that, but there were some people who thought that she was, just so that she could have this captivating story on campus that no one else seemed to know about.

And she was working on one. So when she went into her second year in college, there was something that she was dedicated to uncovering, something happening right under everyone's nose on campus, that she thought, didn't just make a good story, but could possibly have some legal ramifications if it were true. I'm going to get into that in a moment because that's a big part of this story. Her dreams and the way that she was sewing them

could have left her trapped in a web of her own determination. By getting herself in a position, she couldn't get herself out of. As they say, sometimes you're in too deep. It all started in the spring of 1997. While still in the first year of college, she was investigating something, and no one really knew exactly what was going on. But she had been interviewing several women around campus. There were rumors going around about what exactly Brooke was trying to figure out.

Now, when you're hanging out with all guys, you're going to hear things and see things that maybe some ladies wouldn't know about. Maybe you overhear them talking about what they do behind the scenes when their girlfriends aren't around, or you might find out the gossip from the locker room. And that intrigued Brooke. She loved to be a fly on the wall. And maybe that's why she liked having male roommates. Some of her friends were in fraternities, and that started to grab Brooke's attention.

Not only did they throw these amazing parties, and we know that. know she likes to have a good time, but there was also power that they held. Being in a brotherhood and a fraternity is kind of a big deal, especially when your life revolves around campus. In that spring of 1997, she starts to tell the fellow journalism students that she wants to do something serious. She was only working on the newspaper for a few months, but she already wanted to write something that was harder and something that had more investigative work to it. That's why she decides to take on that powerful group of individuals on campus, the fraternities. They influenced the student life so much, and a lot of the student government came from the ranks of fraternities and sororities. They had the

most power on campus. And you know what comes with power, the ability to manipulate the most vulnerable and the weakest. Brooke wasn't one of those people, but she wanted to be a voice for them. She wanted to take a stand for those who couldn't speak for themselves. I don't know what came first broke investigating fraternities to see if there was anything bad going on or something bad going on that broke became aware of we know that they're her questionable activities related to frats you've got the parties the underage drinking you have the tradition of that greek life and i didn't have fraternities or sororities at my college so i didn't really understand what they were you might be like me or maybe you're familiar but fraternities i'm not really sure why they existed and it always

seem so drastic to me, like the things you have to do to become a part of these fraternities. For men, it's truly this brotherhood. Like, you would go down for your brother. There would be no snitching. You always have their back no matter what. So how do they even form and what are they? So at the basic level, fraternities are just social clubs. They're based off tradition and brotherhood. And they're supposed to be about improving yourself in the community. But that's not really what happens when you're in a fraternity in college. I'm sure you know that. There are steps to get into a fraternity. One of those is called rushing. The first thing that happens in fraternities is that they throw parties and you come and you're impressed by the parties and the house that they're in

and you say to yourself, I want to be part of this. I want to live in a cool place. I want to be introduced to beautiful women and to get opportunities on campus. And then you sort of have to apply to be a part of it. The people that are already in the fraternity, they look over your resume, your application, so to speak, and then they do a formal rush. Now, I always wondered why it was called Rush. Like, why do they call it Rush Week? And I found out while doing this case, it's because rush comes from that period of time when fraternities are rushing to get to the freshmen before another fraternity grabs them.

So this is just recruitment. It signifies this active role that the fraternity takes to find the very best members. There is also sort of a secret society in a lot of these fraternities. But if you're not familiar, Other things go on like hazing and terrible things like dares, where these fraternity members want you to prove that you're worthy enough to be one of them. And they can make you do some crazy things. You know, I can start out pretty innocent, like dare you to kiss a girl,

but then things can get way worse. That's why there were allegations of forced intercourse within the fraternities. There were stories of men trying to overpower innocent women and get them to do what they want at these parties. This can be a part of Rush Week. to see if the wingman can do his job and bring in the prettiest girls. Because they wield so much power on campus, these girls don't speak out. They're afraid of what would happen, especially if they're part of a sorority,

because they don't want their reputation being dragged through the mud. I think you probably know what Brooke was interested in uncovering. She had gotten information in regard to one of the biggest fraternities on campus, information that they were involved in harming women, and she wasn't the type of person to back down when she felt that someone had been wronged. Those students that she was interviewing in the spring of 1997 were women that were potentially involved in a supposed cover-up happening in regard to these fraternity members forcing women to have sex with them. It was said

that this situation had not been properly investigated or prosecuted. Through the summer, she's investigating. And when she gets there in the fall, she approaches the journalism department and some of her professors with her idea of this groundbreaking story with what she thinks is really going on to put her name on the map when it comes to the investigative journalism. And I have to say, her professors, as much as they believed in her and as much as they wanted her to succeed, and they knew she had ambition and that she could do this, that she could accomplish this. She could write this story and write it well. They were apprehensive. They knew that this was a risky move. They didn't want to discourage her, but at the same time, one of

her professors told her to please be careful, tread lightly. But Brooke, she was hard-headed. She was one of those people that when she thinks she can't do something, she wants to do it more. And she was determined to move forward. And she did full force. One thing she noticed was that the rules were different for the individuals that were in fraternities and sororities. That's why I was assumed that these claims were never followed through with. People who want to bury things usually want them to stay buried. So of course, once the fraternity got wind of what she was doing around campus, even talking to other men in the fraternity, well, they looked at Brooke with a lot of concern and animosity, and they did not have a very favorable opinion of Brooke at that point.

Now, the thing I failed to mention is that her roommate Jason, he's actually in this fraternity, the biggest fraternity on campus. He knows all the stories. He knows everything about what goes on at the parties. He's friends with a lot of the alleged perpetrators. He's the best source of information that Brooke has. So she comes up with a plan. She's going to go with Jason to all these different frat parties to get her foot in the door. And then she's going to ask questions to the people there. She's hoping that someone would give her information that she could dig into. She hopes that will lead her to more tips. And hopefully she can go deeper and deeper into this rabbit hole. but like I said, once something is deep enough,

there are going to be people out there that don't want it to come to the surface. I view you. This spring, denim gets a softer, lighter update. Introducing Old Navy's drapey denim wide leg, a new fit that moves with you. It's everything you want denim to feel like for summer. Easy, breathable, and effortlessly cool.

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So she recruits her friend Shauna, who's also an editor for the school newspaper. and she accompanies her and her friends Brian and Jason. They all go to these parties together that night. They're drinking. They're smoking. They're definitely having a very good time. But that's the thing. Shauna and Brooke are not there to have a good time.

They're busy. They're going through different groups of people and basically taking notes, seeing what they could learn about this alleged situation that was going on during Thursday. It ends up being worth staying out late because Brooke was able to get the nilts. and contact information of the girl that made the claim that she had been forced and intercourse by someone in this fraternity and this was huge what you have to remember and it's something that Brooke might not have taken into account she's doing this in a public place there are other people standing around other people that are hearing the

conversation even if she didn't notice it wasn't only people that were in the fraternity that were listening in on those conversations and had moles of their own so to speak going around and making sure that she wasn't really infiltrating their little secret brotherhood. Her own friends were starting to hear rumors that she was in for it. She began receiving threats, mostly through her own friends, so they were told and they would relay to her. If she didn't stop what she was doing, something bad was going to happen. They're not just concerned for Brooke's safety,

because that was probably the biggest concern, but they're afraid that someone is going to get her in trouble and she's going to get expelled. because after all, she does not have permission from the school to do this. The school paper is its own entity. And yes, obviously it's associated with the university, but at the same time, some of these things might be borderline harassment of their own, especially when these are just allegations.

You are innocent until proven guilty. She wasn't even sure if this woman had pressed charges or what was going on, and at this point, a lot of her friends were getting concerned. They came to her, and they told her their thoughts, and she pretty much told them, I'm not afraid. I can take care of myself. And as a matter of fact, she had a plan. She was going to move out of Jason's once and for all

because she was doing better. She was at a point where she could live on her own. Not only that. She wanted to be in a place that would make it easy for her to get to campus, not only just to campus, but to the journalism department. And she gets lucky. She finds a quaint little house right across

from the journalism lab and the humanities building, where she's taking most of her classes. She also has somewhat of a family there. She was really close to a professors. Two in particular, a married couple who both worked in the department, Rebecca and Michael Mullen. They were her advisors. They loved Brooke for her drive, her ambition,

and even kind of looked up to her in some ways. It was like she was wise beyond her years. But was she? It was actually a really good thing that she found this house to move into, because she did start receiving threats herself. And now, Brooke was scared. The good thing and the thing that made her feel secure was that the house that she moved into

was owned by a campus police officer. That made her feel really good about her decision. She knew at any moment, if there was a problem, there would be somebody right there who could help her, who wouldn't mind doing things like walking her to and from campus. The landlord's name is Mike Nardine. And Brooke moves in July, July 1997 during the summer. It turns out the campus officer slash landlord couldn't really stop

the threats that were coming in because they were verbal and through email. But again, Brooke at least felt safe. She was a little shaken, but it didn't phase her. Then her parents started to become worried. Now I have to go back to before she moved. She got a little scared because she was at a friend's house and a truck full of frat boys arrived. They started yelling at her and threatening her, and that is what prompted her to finally move off campus to the little house. Her mom convinced her to make a report. In this report, Broke explained that one of the fraternity members said that if she didn't stop, she was going to be dead. This was in the summer when school was not in session, but fall was soon approaching. Before they knew it, they were

back in classes. It had been a couple months since she settled into her new house, Braun was visiting. He would come over on days when they could go out and party and he would just follow along. And with the new beginning of the semester, it's a fresh start. She's in her second year of college, which is actually the final year of her program. And then she plans to transfer somewhere in New York. It's really just unfortunate that all of the work Brooke was putting in would never amount to finding success because someone had other plans. When you're 19, like Brooke was, there's nothing to stop you. You feel like you can take on the world. You don't think you're going to leave this world anytime soon.

Maybe in your 70s, maybe in your 80s, or maybe you'll even live to your 90s. But there just wasn't a thought in her mind that this semester would be the last one she ever attended at FinCenz University. The beginning of the end was that fall semester in September of 1997. Brooke was just going through her normal everyday routine, but one thing that worried her friends was that she did live alone. And yes, there was some comfort in the fact that she had a campus security guard right there if she needed him. Besides, she spent most of her time on campus. It wasn't until after classes were out that she would go to parties or other events to further her goal of gaining enough experience to become a real journalist. And that's the only time she was out and about.

She was excited too because she was getting so close to uncovering the truth about what happened to this woman who claimed to be assaulted on the steps of the fraternity house. She made that call and set up an interview with the woman. It was to take place the second week of September. She's more excited than ever. She's determined to dig deeper no matter what and this was just one month before Brooke becomes the victim herself. It's 9.34 p.m. on the night of September 7.

7th. A call came in to the Indiana State Police Department. The terrified voice on the other end was Brooke's brother Braun. He was calling from Brooks House. He had just stumbled upon a scene that no one should ever have to witness, especially when it involves someone you love. Ron was only 18 years old. What he saw that night is something that will probably stay with him for the rest of his life. because that is what detective said after they arrived on scene and walked into Brooks' bedroom. No matter how seasoned or tough you are as a detective, it never shriled you from the trauma that you experienced when you have to witness something as absolutely horrific as what they saw that night. Just like many nights before, it wasn't unusual for Braun to head over to

Brooks House before the weekend came to an end. He came by a couple times earlier that day, once around 4.30 p.m. and again around 7.30 or 8 p.m. That second time, he ran into Brooke's classmate Jill, who told him that she tried to drop off some schoolwork to Brooke around 10.30 in the morning, but Brooke never came to the door. Jill then gave the papers to Braun, and he said he would try again later that night, so he came back around 9, 10 p.m. and he expected Brooke to greet him at the door after he knocked, but again, he did not get an answer. However, he thought he could hear something inside, so he let himself in with his key. As soon as he walked in, something didn't feel right. Braun calls out to his sister, but she doesn't answer. So he walked

further into the house, and that's when he heard something. It was something distinctive. It was the sound of running water. It didn't take him long for him to put it together. The water in the bathtub was running. His first thought is the obvious one. Brooke is taking a shower or a bath. So again, he calls out to his sister, letting her know that he was coming inside. When he still gets no answer, after calling out while he gets closer, thinking that maybe she hadn't heard him over the water, he decides to look inside. The first thing he saw were towels, but they were inside the bathtub soaking wet.

That's when he felt comfortable enough to kind of walk further. into the bathroom and he notices that Brooke is not in the shower and she's not in the bathroom. The water was still running loudly, so he reaches over and turns it off. He thought this was really weird. It's very out of character. Why wasn't Brooke in there but the water was running? And why were there wet towels in there? He keeps calling out to her and still he hears nothing. He turns around, heads back out of the bathroom and goes towards Brooke's bedroom door. He calls out again and doesn't hear anything. So he starts to slowly open her bedroom door.

He sees her right away. I don't know what his first thought was, but she appeared to be asleep. The thing is, she was completely nude, lying face up on her mattress. As Braun's eyes adjusted, he realized that she was not sleeping. It was apparent to him right away

that she was wounded and it was bad. It was really, really bad. The first thing he did, out of instinct, was to cover her body with a blanket because no one should have to see something like this. He couldn't believe it. He couldn't bear to look at his sister in that condition. He immediately walked out of that house and called 911. That is where we left off. It's 9.34 p.m. And Braun is frantically calling police to let them know that he just found his 19-year-old sister dead in her bedroom. He is in complete shock. He can't believe his big sister, his best friend, is gone. Officers race to the scene and they arrive at 10 p.m. The first person they want to talk to is Braun. Immediately after arriving, police decide to tape off the entire front yard

and the perimeter of Brooks House. They need to keep people from getting on this scene. They didn't want anyone near that house or to enter the house for any reason. Police want to know what happened when Braun found Brooke. He told him exactly what I just told you. You can't hide something this big on a close-knit university campus. As soon as police cars were rolling down that road right across from campus, people already knew something was going on. Students were trying to gather around and people were walking towards Brooks House wanting to know what happened. It was obvious that it was something bad. When you see that yellow police tape, you know that someone is probably deceased. The word is going to travel fast and they know that. So they're trying to contain this crime scene as fast as

possible as much as possible. Guess who else gets word? Brooks' mom and dad. And as expected, they are completely devastated. Out of all the cases that I've done, I have. I have. I have haven't gotten this close to understanding what a family was going through, but in this case, the family was so vocal. They were a huge part of Brooks' life. This was their only daughter. They were going to do anything and everything in their power to find out who did this to her. So from the very moment that they found out, they were there. They ran to that scene and they wanted to know everything. The police had to watch them as they're crying, as they're bawling their eyes out as Janet screamed.

A mother standing there wanting so badly to rush in and hug her daughter, but is unable to get close to her. Detectives go in. They do their initial sweep of different areas of the house, the living room, the kitchen, trying to see if anyone broke in. And there are no signs that any windows were part open, that the door had been opened with any kind of tool or anything. There was nothing to suggest there was any kind of force entry.

They come into the bathroom. One detective named Detective Winkler sees the towel in the bathtub. There's also a bottle of bleach on the floor next to the bathtub. The very first thing that he thinks is that someone tried to clean up. Somebody was comfortable enough that they stayed after what they did to Brooke to attempt to clean up and cover their tracks. When he makes his way into the kitchen, he notices that the kitchen sink is filled with water and laying on top of all these miscellaneous items are two empty bottles of dishwashing soap. Again, the detective considered the fact that this person went out of their way to clean up. When he looks deeper into that sink, he notices that underneath some dishes there's a knife. He collects the knife and he sees blood on it.

It's bagged for testing. The house is pretty cluttered and that's normal. She's a college student, a lot of things going on, but it was hard to differentiate between normal everyday items and weapons. For example, they found a pair of scissors. They didn't know if that was possibly used in some way or another. And when I say used, when they got that call from Braun, they already knew that she had been fatally wounded. So they were already preliminarily looking for things that could have caused those wounds. When the detectives make their way into Brooks' room, they see a blanket covering her body. They have to remove that blanket. And they have to remove that blanket. And they have no idea what they're going to find underneath.

One of the detectives carefully lifts it up and he realizes that Brooke has several wounds, multiple wounds, to her chest. These wounds are through and through. At first glance, it appeared as though she had been stabbed in the back. And what he believes he's seeing in the front were exit wounds on her chest.

So imagine how hard and how deep someone would have had to go to cause those wounds. The amount of force that's needed is over the top. As though they were angry or they were in rage, but something else stood out. The detectives have been doing this so long that they knew right away that there were signs that the assailant forced Brooke to have intercourse.

So they know they need to collect DNA from around her body, on her body, and inside her body. It's so important in these cases to get a semen sample if there's one present, and there was in this case. In forensics, homicides, the victim's body can tell a story. It can hold the key to what happened. So that initial examination of her body indicated that she had probably been deceased for less than 24 hours. They also noticed that there were some blood smears on a wall that

appeared to have been from a struggle of some kind. And they were in a race against time. They have to gather as much evidence as possible and get it tested as soon as possible. Brooke's body is being transported to the medical examiner's office for an autopsy. Meanwhile, detectives interviewed Braun again to gather information about who could have done this to her. Who was she close to? What was she doing the night that she was killed? I don't think that they were prepared for what they were about to hear. They weren't prepared for how busy Brooks' social life really was.

This crime was going to take them in so many different directions. 90% of victims of homicides committed in the United States know their killer. So they need to begin their investigation with all the people that Brooke knew. And you already know, she knew a lot of people. Detectives believe one of those people wanted her dead. After speaking with Braun, there's one name that rises to the top of their list, Steve Huffman. This is the guy that Brooke had been dating on and off for a while. That's where they want to start, the jealousy angle.

From what they gathered, Steve wanted more, and Brooke was not interested in being more serious. They know they're going to focus on him first, but they need a canvas the immediate area to find out if anyone saw anything that night. Then they're going to create a timeline of Brooke's final day. And then from the inside out, starting with the people she knew best, and then to those on the fringes. We're talking about a very busy university campus, not a quaint residential neighborhood. everyone thinks they have information. They've got tips, they've got clues, and all of them want to be involved.

It's a very hard task for investigators to separate the truth from invalid information. And as the word gets around campus, everyone is freaking out, especially women. They're used to walking around campus at night, going from one party to the next after drinking, and sometimes they're alone. Now they're carrying mace and not wanting to leave their dorms.

No one expected anything like this to happen. When Brooke's close friend, Shawna, finds out what happened to Brooke, she falls to the floor and cries. She's an utter disbelief. She grew up in Vincennes just like Brooke, and she couldn't imagine anything like this would ever happen there. The entire journalism department was in shock. The ambitious girl that was always looking for the most compelling story was now the story, but not in the way she would have ever wanted. It's really hard for me not to think of someone's last month. moments. With everything she had to look forward to, there had to be a phase of emotions and thoughts

and feelings that a person goes through in their final moments. I think about it like this. There's the survival instinct. Having this confidence and hope that you're going to get away. To the next phase, to being overpowered with thoughts that you may not make it, but still thinking there could be a way out because we have that will to live. But then you come to this realization at some point that you're probably not going to survive this. You lose all hope. And you're looking into the eyes of your killer and succumbing to the pure evil

that they're about to unleash. But finally, there's the pain. And that's what bothers me the most, and it should. It's what makes me cry in these videos as uncomfortable as that might make some of you feel that maybe you can relate. That pain is beyond terrifying to me. I put myself in Brooks' position

to see what's happening through her eyes, through her tears, through her begging and pleading to be let go. She was alive when she was stabbed. So to think about the pain that she went through knowing that there was nothing she could do, the thoughts that were going through her mind, what were they? I can only imagine were they family, friends, her brother, her future, then it must just turn to darkness. And I'm sorry I even have to go there, but it's just unfathomable to me.

Now let's go back to the day before Brooke was murdered. It was Saturday, September 6, 1997. It wasn't a school day, but Brooke had a busy day. She went to a number of places on and off campus. She met with several people, went out to eat, out to parties. It was a lot for them to sift through. It's a tough job. There are thousands of students rushing around to different functions all day and all through the night.

The first person that Brooke met up with that day was Steve. You remember Steve. They met up at 3 p.m. And they hung out for a few hours, and then they walked to, to a local subway restaurant to grab a sandwich. Then at 7 p.m., Brooke's friend Biff Elliott, who was from the journalism program, came by her house, and they walked together to the softball field

for a concert they were covering for the newspaper. After their work was done, Biff dropped Brooke off at a party, which was a couple blocks from her house around 9 p.m. She went there to meet up with one of the guys she was seeing named Tommy Williams. They hung out there for a while until about 10.30, and then they left for another party that was being hosted

by some of the university soccer players. They stayed there until about 12.30 a.m. and then left for Brooks House. Around 1 o'clock in the morning, a campus police officer recalls seeing them as they walk through campus towards Brooke's house. This was the very last time that they have any record of Brooke being alive. 19 hours later, her brother Braun found her body. That's a pretty big gap of time. Before they dug deeper into each individual that she had been with that day, the

autopsy report comes in. It confirms that Brooke had been through a violent attack. She had multiple bruises on her body and she had been stabbed 13 times. At least one of those times was in the breast and the others were in her back. Both of her lungs were punctured and she had been restrained, violated, and strangled. But the cause of death was bleeding out from her wounds. The weapon was the steak knife that was in the sink. And even though the assailant attempted to wash away all the evidence, there was a small piece of Brooks flesh still attached, which was confirmed by DNA testing. There was also a DNA profile of the semen that was left behind. They didn't have a match in the system, but the number they gave it in the lab was 137F.