True Crime with Kimbyr - Part 2: College Student Studied Forensics Then She was Murdered | Courtney Coco

Episode Date: February 22, 2026

The silence didn’t last forever. In True Crime with Kimbyr, Part 2 of Courtney Coco’s story uncovers the shocking break that reignited a case once left to gather dust. After years of heartbreak and unanswered questions, her family’s relentless fight for justice begins to unravel a truth far more disturbing than anyone expected. How was the person responsible able to hide in plain sight? What critical detail finally shifted the investigation? In True Crime with Kimbyr, Kimbyrleigha carefully pieces together the evidence, exposing the betrayal and the long-awaited path toward accountability. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So Sergeant Green, he has to look into all these different angles, and he was able to rule out the former roommate. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage on April 30th, the powerful vocals of Demi Levato on May 17th, and the signature Southern Country Rock of Eric Church on July 19th. Tickets on sale now at Yamavatheater.com. Only a Yama Vah Resort and Casino

celebrating its 40th anniversary. You win? Must be 21 to enter. You survived the Miami weekend. Nailed the speech and maxed out your credit card in the name of friendship. Now you've got one hangover, four pastel dresses, and zero reasons to wear them again.

Sell them on Deepop. Just snap a few photos and we'll take care of the rest. And you at least get some of your dignity. Money back. Someone on Deepop. Deepop wants what you've got. Start selling now. Deepop where taste recognizes taste.

But he was starting to have other suspicions. Ones that came as a complete shock to those closest to Courtney. Green suspected her own family. Could have killed her. Yeah. Now, families are usually the ones that investigators turn to for leads. And they had been providing them, the ex-boyfriend, the roommate, other potential suspects. But as a seasoned investigator, something about Courtney's family just rubbed him the wrong way.

And he felt like his suspicions were confirmed when he gets an anonymous phone call with a tip. And the voice on the phone doesn't give their name or any other details. They just said three words, follow the money. Yes, it's cryptic. It could have been even pointless. But when Green traced the origin of this call, he realized it had come from someone very close to this case. someone inside Courtney's family, her grandfather Nelson, the one who had a stroke at her funeral. Could there have been more to why that happened to him?

Was he hiding something and was it too much for him to handle? What did it mean? Well, Green followed up and what he learned unraveled a secret that most people didn't even know that Courtney had been keeping. I know. It sounds very dramatic. But remember how her dad had passed away? Well, before he died, he had suffered a cat.

catastrophic work injury that caused him to lose one of his legs. And through a lawsuit with his employer, he received a very large legal settlement. And there was only one beneficiary who received the payout after he died. He left it all to his daughter, Courtney, his biological daughter, because Courtney's sisters were actually her half-sisters, not entitled to her father's estate. Now, these payments were structured in increments. Every five years, Courtney would receive a lump sum, and the total was substantial. It was around $400,000.

And on top of that, Courtney would receive these monthly checks, which were about $1,500 each. And just weeks before her murder, she received a payout of $20,000. Now, I don't know about you, but Green thought this was very significant, and that no one mentioned it, not her sisters, not her mother. No one. That was suspicious. He started to wonder, could someone have wanted access to that money? Remember the lockbox being empty in her bedroom? That stood out even more now.

Green wondered how much cash Courtney normally kept in there. Or could there have been important documents that she was saving related to the settlement, maybe account numbers, special pins, ways to retrieve the funds? This seemed really big. The person on record to receive the money of Courtney died? was her mother. So he had to confront her. Point blank, he asked her, do you know who killed your daughter? Did you help them? Well, Stephanie was devastated. She couldn't believe this man was asking her these questions, and she agreed to take a polygraph to hand over her DNA without hesitation.

And she passed. And through some very hard questioning, Stephanie explained that she had managed Courtney's settlement money up until she turned 18, and after that, it belonged to Courtney alone. Stephanie said she truly believed that if something happened to Courtney, the money would revert to Greg's, her dad's side of the family, not to Stephanie. She said she had no idea she would be the next beneficiary. The suspicion still hovered, but he thought, if Stephanie would have been next in line, she wouldn't have had a reason to rummage through the lockbox.

So he turned his focus to another person, a person who provided a list of potential suspects, Courtney's sister, Lace. Now remember, she said Courtney had told her something. If anything happened to her, it was Jiddy. Well, Green's not so sure that's true. Now, he sort of tricks Lace into coming in saying, we have some updates in the case. And she was excited.

She thought they were making progress. But instead, she walks into a room, and there's two FBI agents waiting for her and two detectives. And Sergeant Crean says to her, you're in big trouble. Now, it turned out Jiddy wasn't the only one with a criminal record. Lace herself. had two misdemeanors, one for robbery, one for assault.

So to Green, that implied she was capable of violence. They questioned her relationship with Courtney. They pushed her hard, and she agreed to take a polygraph. But she failed. Mostly because she ripped off all the testing equipment halfway through and ran out the door crying. She said she was telling the truth. It just hurt her so much that they asked her, did you kill your sister and she couldn't take it anymore.

She called her mom crying, and Stephanie was livid. because Lace suffered from a condition where she would have seizures, and she was on seizure medication. And because this interview went on for so many hours, she missed one of her doses. They wouldn't even get her water, and that put her in danger. So after Lace calmed down, she did retake that test, and she passed. But still, Sergeant Green didn't let go of his suspicion.

He told colleagues he still believed Lace was holding something back, but he couldn't say what it was. was or why sometimes people just give off a vibe it doesn't mean they're guilty of anything other times it does but after seeing lace go through all these accusations the tears the pressure the trauma stephanie had enough she sincerely thought that it was very wrong for sergeant green to do what he did she walked into alexander police department and she demanded to speak to the chief and she literally begged for sergeant cedric green to be removed from the case And surprisingly, the department agreed.

He was pulled from the investigation. I felt when I was reading this that he was doing his job, that he was being very diligent. If he suspected there could be something shady going on, even with her family, I don't think it's necessarily wrong for him to follow that lead. He said in interviews that he had done everything he could with the limited evidence available,

that he took homicide cases seriously, and that he believed the family's expectations were impossible to meet. and that their interference had made things harder and suspicious. But at least he was working and making some kind of progress, because afterward, when the department reassigned the case to another detective, the momentum stalled. The case went cold.

Courtney's family did not want her to be forgotten, though. So on March 30th of 2005, what would have been Courtney's 20th birthday, more than 150 people gathered at a park in Alexandria to celebrate her life. Two long tables were set up with framed photos. There were candles and flowers and pink roses and white lilies. Balloons with handwritten messages from friends, family, and neighbors. Even strangers came. And as the sun dropped below the trees, they released those balloons into the sky.

Each one was a message that they hope might go far enough to reach Courtney in heaven. And a musician played amazing grace while all of this was going on. But this is the grief that everyone can see. but there's a lot of grief that nobody witnesses. Like the grief, Stephanie's mom felt. Going into Courtney's childhood bedroom, she couldn't move her things, she couldn't take down pictures on the wall,

her graduation gown was still hanging in the closet. A little stuffed animal of thumper sat on her bed untouched. And Stephanie wore a butterfly pin, and she would light a candle near Courtney's photo every single day. She said it was to protect her memory. And this entire experience changed her.

She said she didn't trust people the way she used to, and she didn't see strangers the same because someone out there killed her daughter and they were walking free. So now the family becomes their own investigators. They gather all of Courtney's phone records, her bank documents, and they create binders full of timelines, receipts, names, addresses, maps, and tips. They print out hundreds of flyers, and they go from parking lot to bingo hall to gas stations and churches handing them out, showing people Courtney's photo, telling them her story to anyone who would listen. Stephanie said she gave out her own phone number, not even trusting the detectives.

In case, somebody called and she would answer so that she could follow a lead, whatever it took. And the detectives slowly stopped updating Courtney's family like they used to. Sergeant Green said the family's constant involvement created chaos, that their tips were emotional, that they were chasing rumors, and that they were bringing them on wild goose chase. But I feel for her family too. Because sometimes you don't know what else to do. I have to say, it reminds me of several current cases in the last few years where families or even the public do get involved,

and they bring in tips that solve the case. Stephanie was doing everything she could, but the years were going by. And in 2008, four years after her murder, Courtney's case was featured during Victims' Rights Week. She was even honored in the victims of violent crime parade parade to bring awareness to her case and cases like hers. Stephanie even reached out to Dayline, hoping that Courtney's case would get national coverage. And it did. But they never got a break in the case. And I can't wait to tell you when they finally did. It's not what I expected and the entire

reason I chose to talk about this case. In 2019, 15 years after Courtney's murder, a new investigator gets involved. He had over 20 years experience in law enforcement, and he specialized. in cold cases. His name is Woody Overton. He was retired at the time, but he was working as an investigative consultant. And eventually, his wife convinced him that he had a voice made for podcasting. And he had a lot of stories to tell. So he went all in. He started real life, real crime podcast. And one of the very first cases that he presented to his growing audience was Courtney's. And it was an investigative series called Who Killed, Quarthe, Courtney Coco.

Today, we're going to beginning a new chapter, Who Murdered Courtney Coco. This case is 15 years old now, and I do not think it can be solved without the help of the public. And your lifers out there, we don't get satisfaction. We're going to take it to the media,

and we're going to blow it up. I do see why his wife recommended him to do a podcast. He does have a raspy podcaster's voice. Now, Stephanie had reached out to him two years before this. She tried to get him to look at her daughter's case, but the police department would not release documents to Woody Overton. The investigators said they had their own cold case squad that was working on it.

And it wasn't a good idea roping somebody else in, and Stephanie did not push back. But finally in 2019, she tried Woody again. She reached out and she said, I need your help, please. And he figured, with his listeners, being so invested in the cases that he'd been talking about. Maybe he could essentially solve this case, this new way. And I think this was at least an eight-part series starting September 2019.

Hours of interviews with Woody as an investigative journalist diving in and hoping someone out there would come forward. This was the only way he would work on the case. He told Stephanie that, and she agreed. So he established a reward fund, a hotline where people could call in and leave tips anonymously, And he even had a private Facebook tied to his Patreon. So for $10, you would get access. Why?

Because he wasn't getting paid to do any of this. And it was going to be a lot of work. And also, it was an incentive for people to be serious about helping. If they had to pay for the group, they would be more incentivized to stay and provide more tips. In the Facebook group, he was uploading all the documents, all the evidence. And he was creating these episodes as his investigation was unfolding, providing. providing updates and information and speculation in any new leads that he came across.

He said he knew that he would need the public to solve this case, that it wasn't just cold. It was frozen. And of course, this podcast drew a lot of attention from the small town of Alexandria, Louisiana. A lot of Courtney's high school friends and just residents of the area got involved in listening to it. They would have entire friend groups passing information back and forth

trying to solve this case and piece things together. Now, I'm going to rapid fire tell you some new things that I learned through listening to this podcast, just so that we can be thorough. And then I'll wrap everything up when they actually get a true, viable lead that gets an arrest. One new fact from the podcast was that on Wednesday, before Courtney was last seen, she came over to her mom's house at 10 o'clock in the morning, still in her office scrubs from working at the dental office, where her sister Lace also worked. And she told her mom she just quit her job,

that she wrote letters for the dentist and his wife who both worked there, and she said she was reporting them to the Board of Dentistry, the Better Business Bureau, and the Medical Licensing Board because she had seen illegal things going on at their office. Now, this seemed to be another motive, but they were cleared. And they even came to her funeral. Now, a year after the murders, a check from Courtney's checkbook had either been stolen from her car or from her home

was used for a $600 utility bill out in Houston, Texas. And they actually signed her name. So the investigators looked into that as well. But since her account had been frozen after her death, the check bounced. And the bank just took care of it. No further investigation was conducted, mostly because they assumed that this was unrelated

to her murder and someone just retained the checkbook, maybe from using the vehicle after the fact when it was dumped in that high crime area. Something that really stood out when I was listening that definitely was connected to the murder and eventually the arrest was that Courtney's mom said she slept in a t-shirt and her bra and her underwear every night, and that she would wear a robe until she got into bed. Well, her robe was never found, as well as the comforter, which I already discussed, and the mattress was shifted, so it showed some kind of struggle or altercation on the bed. One other discovery that was found was DNA on the trunk latch of Courtney's vehicle.

It was to an unidentified male. So they thought maybe the perpetrator left something behind after all. But I want to summarize the overarching theme of the podcast. It really centered around shoddy police work and failures of specifically Sergeant Detective Cedric Green. And a lot of the officers from the Alexandria Police Department, they didn't like the fact that Woody was on this case. He was threatened. His truck windows were shot out.

There were wires pulled from his vehicle. I mean, it was definitely an attack on him. And if you have nothing to hide and you didn't do anything wrong, why would you go after this man for trying to solve a murder case? And many people that were connected to this case who were close to Courtney and her family said that the Alexandra PD, specifically Sergeant Green, treated them harshly.

He looked at them as suspects from the very beginning of the investigation. And he even said out loud that Courtney was just some crackhead, some dope head. And this could have been her connection to her boyfriend who had a history of substance-related offenses, or it could be because Courtney herself had reported those multiple break-ins recently to her home.

I don't know why, and we may never know why he made that statement, but it isn't appropriate. Even if the person was living that lifestyle, it doesn't make them any less important, and it doesn't mean don't solve their case. They still have a family, and this is still a murder. Now, I'm only relaying what Woody found through his investigative journalism, but it was clear that after 15 years, no one really cared about Courtney's case the way that the family thought they should. As a matter of fact, they tried closing it by ruling it an overdose.

Even when it didn't connect with the evidence at the autopsy, the medical examiner ruled it a homicide. So to try to go above a doctor and claim it's no longer an active case was very strange. And this was what was going on without the family even knowing, and it was uncovered due to Woody's work. Now, through all of this over the years, remember the first detective who found the body, Detective Rabelais? Well, he's back in Texas.

and he kept Courtney's picture on his desk, hoping that her case would be solved. He said he couldn't get the image that he saw out of his head. He actually ended up partnering with Woody on the podcast and his team, and any leads that were coming in, they were working together. And within three weeks of their very first broadcast, a phone call came in from a woman named Tiffany. She claimed she knew who killed Courtney Coco.

It's pretty unbelievable that so much momentum was created, specifically within the small town, somebody came forward. And she said, her ex-hus was the killer's childhood best friend. She said, he admitted to me, his best friend, David Anthony Burns, who everyone called Anthony, told him he killed Courtney.

Now the podcaster Woody told Tiffany, I know this is risky. But would you be willing to record your ex-husband so you could get him to admit to this somehow? And she did. because she thought about it. And she would want somebody to do this for her if it was her child that would have been murdered.

Now, I do have a tiny portion of this recording. I cannot find the full recording anywhere, but I do like the way she framed it to get her ex-husband to talk. She was acting as though she was shocked that this podcast had been revealing so much information about Courtney's case. She was like, oh my God,

have you heard this podcast? You got to listen to it. They're talking all about Courtney. Maybe you can provide information. I mean, you know who did it, don't you? And he started talking to her. So before I play it for you, just for context, she gains his trust. And he says, I'm telling you, he did it.

It's crazy, man. And his mom even washed the blanket at the house right after Courtney was killed. And then he specifically says, Anthony did that shit. He actually uses Anthony's name 16 times in this recording, confidently saying that Anthony was Courtney's killer. Even though I looked and couldn't find the whole thing on what he's point. podcast. He relays everything that was in that recording, and I do have a portion

of that, so I'm going to play it for you. Oh my God, listen to this. Shamus, have you been following the broadcast? It's crazy. It's crazy, Shamed. His mom washed the blanket at the house right after she died. I guess they did that. But why would he do it, though? What was the

calls of that? I don't know, but he's your recording. I'll tell you that. You've got to listen to it, Shamus. You've got to listen to it. I'm telling me. I'm telling you. Anthony Barnes. He said that Seamus mentioned Anthony's name 16 times, as I said, in approximately six minutes. He said Anthony killed Courtney Coco, and that Anthony said he wrapped her in some kind of plastic. But during this recording,

Seamus kind of slips up. Because when Tiffany asked him, why do you think this happened? And how did he do it? Sheamus said he didn't know why, but that her body looked beat to hell. It was black and blue from her waist up. But then it's like he knew he slipped up. Because how would you know what her body looked like if you weren't there? He tries to kind of catch himself and he's like, oh, but I heard from the autopsy report that she wasn't beaten or anything, but he can't figure that out because of the way she looked like.

Thing is, that was never released to the public. They said severely decomposed, but they never talked about levidity. That was what was present. That was the marbled color on her skin from the position she was put in after her death. That actually wasn't bruises, but it can look like it because of the purple color. So now it seems like Seamus knows a lot more. It seems like this is more than just a confession from a friend. It seems like he was there and that he saw what the body looked like. Now after this part of the recording, he pretty much stops talking, he changes the subject. So you probably heard him

mention that Anthony's mom washed the comforter. Well, yeah, there's going to be more to that. Anthony had been living with his fiance at the time and they lived right down the street from where Courtney's house was. And on the night that Domino game was going on, Anthony left his house and was gone for about 30 minutes. And then a couple hours later, he leaves again and doesn't come back until Monday. So he's gone the entire weekend and doesn't tell his fiance where he's going on Saturday morning, which would have been the morning after Courtney had been killed. Anthony asked one of his co-workers to clock him into work, even though we never came in that day. Now, I don't know why a coworker would do that for you, but it is what it is.

The interesting thing was his mother had to come and get him in Lake Charles, where Seamus happened out of a house. He also had one in Alexandria. Now, I know this is a lot. But this makes sense. If Anthony drove Courtney's car with her in the trunk to his best

friend's house in Lake Charles and then dumped her body in Winnie, Texas, and then abandoned her car in that high crime area out in Houston, he could have gotten a ride from his best friend, Seamus. and then stayed at Seamus's house until his mommy could come get him

and drive him back to his car. It checks out. And now for Seamus. It appeared that he helped his friend at least move Courtney's remains. Well, his wife at the time, Tiffany, the same one that's recording him years later, said that weekend they were supposed to go to a birthday party and he was supposed to bring a bike or something

and he never showed up. Tiffany didn't know where he was that weekend. But she did know that on Friday He had been at his home in Alexandria, where Courtney lived riding four-wheelers with Courtney and Anthony. Because supposedly Courtney was interested in buying one of Shamus's four-wheelers. That puts Courtney, Shamus, and Anthony together in Alexandria, Louisiana on Friday before she came to her moms and before she played dominoes with Jackie and Lewis. Shamus shows back up in the middle of the night on Sunday, hours before Courtney's body is found,

and his wife, Tiffany is a livid. He's got a cut on his hand, and he's not wearing his wedding ring. He says he got an accident while he was riding four-wheelers on Friday, but she said he smelled so bad. She told him not to come inside. He said he had been camping, but she said he smelled like death. It was distinctive. It was overpowering.

She's not thinking murder, but she is thinking that he might have had an affair, because he's gone all weekend without telling her where he's going, and she searches his work van, finds a large amount of saran wrap, is weird and a pair of small blue female underwear that were not hers. Now remember, Courtney was missing her underwear when she was found. It all adds up. So Woody brings all this to Alexandra Police Department. And there's a new detective on the case named Tanner Dryden. It's not enough for an arrest, but it is enough to get Courtney's case reopened and that is a huge win. And now it's time for Woody to sit down with the family in person and to tell them everything.

Now, he knew that this was going to be a very emotional moment, not just because he believes he finally figured out who killed Courtney, but because of who he was and his connection to this family. I couldn't believe this. He looked at Courtney's mom and he looked at her sister Lace and at everyone who would carry this case on their backs for 15 years and he said the name Anthony Burns. Y'all, that was Lace's ex-fiancee.

Like mind-blown. So wait a minute. Yes, Courtney's older half-sister, her fiance, Anthony, the man who stood by her side during her grief, the man who had been a pallbearer at Courtney's funeral, the man who helped build the wooden cross where her body was found as a memorial. This man who was considered family at one point,

The reaction was instant. It was devastating. It felt like the ultimate betrayal. Lace and Anthony had been together for years. He had watched Courtney grow up. They were all so close. Everyone thought that Anthony considered Courtney like his little sister, and then he cared about her, and he would never hurt her. So why? Why would he do this? Well, remember that Courtney had lost her father. She was a vulnerable young woman. Anthony was older. He was someone she trusted, and he took advantage of that. He groomed her. Lace said she felt ill when she heard her ex-fiancey's name and connection with her sister's murder.

She could not believe she was sleeping next to this man who could have easily killed her too. It was like every memory of that weekend rushed back because Lace was now looking at everything differently. She said she was remembering things that stood out more than ever because she had never suspected her own fiance. We're going to get a little more into that because you may recall, Sargent Green from the very beginning said he felt like lace was hiding something. He was the one pushing her, saying that he thought she was involved somehow some way. And what I found interesting was that in Woody's podcast, he never mentioned what Seamus really said. This episode is brought to you by Palm Olive. Family time isn't just the big moments. It's weeknight dinners, sitting

around the table, everyone talking all at once. So when the plates are empty and the sink is full, use palm olive ultra. Palmolive's most powerful formula removes up to 99.9% of grease, leaving your dishes sparkling clean. And the new convenient pump makes cleaning even easier so you can spend less time tackling dishes and more time together. Shop now at palmolive.com. Send help.

Is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus. We're somewhere in the Gulf of Thailand. Getting us out of here. be your focus. I'm your boss. You work for me. You're not in the office anymore. It's bold, relentless, and endlessly rewatchable. Discover white critics give it 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.

You're so fired. Oh, am I? No help is coming. Send help, rated R. Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus. When he was recorded by his ex-wife, Tiffany, he did not say Anthony did it. His exact words were, according to the court records that I pulled up after the fact. Tiffany's recording captured Seamus saying, Lace and Anthony did it.

They did it for money. Her body was black from the waist up. And Seamus kept saying, Lace and Anthony did it. And that they'll be shocked when they find out who did, as in her family would be shocked. Now, I am not really sure why Lace was kept out of the podcast episode. I thought it was probably because it would have seemed disrespectful at the time

since the investigation had not been fully conducted by the police when this podcast episode went live. And that's understandable. They had been through a lot already. But I want to be accurate. That is what Seamus said. Lace and Anthony did it. His words, here's a legal document saying it so you don't think I'm just making it up.

But here are the things that Lace said happened in the days leading up to and following her sister's murder. First of all, she said that in the months leading up to what happened to her sister, Lace actually confronted Anthony and Courtney with suspicions that they were having an affair together. Reason being, she called Anthony. It was at night one time, and she could have sworn she heard her own sister's voice in the background saying, who's that? Now that struck Lace as odd. And then, during one of the holidays, Anthony gifted Lace and Courtney gold rings. Laces, was just a plain gold band and Courtney's had a heart on it. And looking back, Lace felt like it was a set for maybe a guy and girl, like a couple's promise

rings, and that he gifted one to Courtney and to not make it look weird, he gifted the other one to Lace. Seems weird. And now she thinks that Courtney's had some kind of special meaning behind it. Now, all of this was eating at her, so she eventually talked to both of them separately according to her, and they both deny there was anything going on other than being friends. Now, moving closer to the time of Courtney's murder, that Friday night, the same night Courtney was playing dominoes with her friends at her house, Lace said that Anthony left their home

for about 30 minutes and then came back, and that at that point, they got into an argument. I don't know what the context was, but Lace says Anthony leaves with her only vehicle and doesn't come back until they all gathered at Stephanie's house to meet Sergeant Green. about the body that was found. Remember in the beginning, Lace was at work. She calls Anthony. She says, can you take me to my mom's? And he wouldn't drive her.

So she had to get her own way over there. And when he finally came, he brought her flowers. So was that a guilt thing? Or was he just trying to make her feel better because everything the family was going through that day? I don't know, but there's more. Moving to a couple weeks after the funeral, Lace says, Anthony begins writing

in Courtney's diary. And Lace thought that was really weird. She found entries that allegedly were written to Courtney from Anthony. So why was he writing to her to see Sister? I guess at the time it could have looked like a certain type of grieving since they were close, but there's even more.

Lace says, not too long after this, Anthony shows up with a new comforter set. It's in the package, he just purchased it for him and Lace, and it was the same style. as the one that went missing from Courtney's house. The same as her dead sister's comforter. Eventually they break up. Now, a couple years later, they get back together

and laces over at Anthony's mom's house. And this is a lady who has very plain style. Like if she has a blanket, it's one color. She walks on the door. His mom sitting on the couch covered up in a comforter. It's the exact leopard print one that went missing from Corny's bed. not just a similar one, the exact one.

Now, remember in the recording, Seamus said that Anthony's mom washed the comforter? Whether it was done unknowingly or not, we don't know. But somehow, Anthony's mom is now in possession of Courtney's comforter after her murder. Lace also handed over a video recording that she had of Seamus and Courtney riding their four-wheeler together. Now, the date on the camcorder is wrong. It was October 1st of 2004, and this is them.

Meanwhile, I know this is a lot. Detective Dryden, who is now on the case, has all this new evidence. He's not allowed to just take it and run with it. He has to do his own investigation from the very beginning. He has to go back and look through every file. And buried deep inside, he finds an overlooked report. It had been dismissed because of a clerical error. Someone typed the wrong date.

And it was buried into the wrong section. There was a man from Texas named Jude Wilson. he called the police the day after Corny's body had been found, and he said he was driving on that same road that the abandoned building was on. And it was at night on October 3rd, and he had to swerve off the road to avoid being hit by a car

that was speeding out of that driveway from the abandoned building into the main road. Now, he described the car as a dark green boxy sedan with Louisiana plates, and what was so crazy is this man recalled part of the license plate because his initial, were in it. He said it started with J. U.D. His name's Jude Wilson. He says there's also a number eight in there, but he can't recall anything else. Her license plate was J-U-W-468. So it was a match. Now, as far as the

driver of the car is concerned, Jude says he only saw the side of his face, just the profile, but he said he was a young man with short hair, maybe even bald or just light in color. And this was never looked at any further because it just got shuffled around. And meanwhile, this moment had always stuck in Jude's mind because of the fact the body had been found in that exact location, you wouldn't forget that. You'd be thinking about it, thinking that you probably saw the killer. So he never forgot that man's face, even though nobody interviewed him. So Trident tracks this man down. He asked, you still remember that night? And Wilson's like, I never forgot it. But it gets crazier.

When Dryden asked him if he could look at a composite sketch of their suspect, who's Anthony Burns, if he would be able to identify him, Jude was like, I already drew one. What? How? Of all people that could have accidentally been hit that night by the supposed killer backing out or just coming into the road from this abandoned building, this man with a photographic memory because he's an illustrator, because he draws people for a living. drew the suspect.

And when he shows the sketch he made of the profile of a supposed killer, Dryden couldn't believe it. It truly resembled Anthony Burns. So now Dryden showed Jude a six-pack, which is a six-person photo lineup. And without hesitation, he picks out Anthony Burns right away.

So I think you know it's time for Anthony to come in for an interview. Now, this didn't happen until November of 2019. He claimed the week the Courtney was killed, he was with his then-fiancee, her sister, Lace, the entire time. He said they were in bed together on the night that Courtney was last seen and the whole weekend. They never left each other's side. But we know according to Lace, that's not true. We know they got into an argument and he left.

So Dryden decides to bring Anthony Burns in for what they call a computerized voice stress test analysis. Before the test started, Burns literally asked him, is my stuffy nose going to affect the results? Trident's like, no. When he asked if he had anything to do with Courtney's death, whether he moved the body or he killed Courtney, he said no and he failed. I don't know he's kind of running.

I think you're going to affect you, didn't it? No. There's absolutely nothing that you can do that will take this. Now, I know what you're thinking, like, please arrest this man, but no arrest could be made yet. But the case is building. Behind the scenes, more witness statements are stacking up. People who had never spoken before, who had never been taken seriously, now started

telling the same story. Within those files, there were actually two people who did come forward during the initial investigation with Sergeant Green, who, I can't believe this, literally gave Anthony Burns name and admitted that Anthony told them he killed Courtney. But apparently, they were not taking it. because in both of those statements, Anthony Burns had been drinking. So Anthony confessed not once, not twice, but at least four times over the span of a few years, to his best friend Seamus, to his wife Tiffany, to a woman named Charlene that he met at

a party one night and an old drinking buddy. So when Dryden went to go to speak with Seamus, he said he'd been waiting over 15 years for that moment. Everything that was in that recording from Tiffany. And there were some other things. He mentioned that he was scared to come forward because he believed that his DNA might be on the trunk latch. That was odd. And also, he told them that his work truck, it passed the route in front of the abandoned building where Courtney was later found. It seemed like he was trying to distance himself from things that might be found at the crime scene, right? Because maybe they would see his phone pinging in that area. Or maybe his DNA would be on that latch. Seems kind of sketchy.

But just let you know, the DNA that was found on a latch, I don't want to like bring you on a wild goose chase, uh, that was not connected to him. It was connected to someone else who was cleared. So just that has nothing to do with this. But let's go to the woman who Anthony Burns confessed to at a party. Her name was Charlene Dyer. Now she had told the police years earlier that Anthony Burns confessed to killing Courtney when they were drinking together, and he said he choked her to death, wrapped her in plastic. Remember that missing shower curtain? And that was never released to the public, by the way. And he even made a disturbing gesture with his hands while he was mimicking the act. Charlene tells her friend, and they say, go to the police, and she did. But it didn't go

anywhere until now. And the person I called a drinking buddy, that is Waylon Durson. Now, Now, he had known Anthony their entire lives since they were kids, but according to investigators, he was incredible because he was living on the street and he had a criminal record by the time he was interviewed. But he said that Anthony told him he had done something bad right after Corny's body was found. And later in 2011, when they were hanging out, Wailen said something like, I could never kill someone. And Anthony said, it's not as hard as you think. At which point, he admits to killing Courtney, smothering her with a pillow, wrapping her in a blanket, and dumping her in Texas.

This was in 2011. Think about that. Now, Charlene and Waylon, the two witnesses, they didn't want to come forward, but they were subpoenaed. And in April of 2021, the case went to a grand jury. It only took them 30 minutes, and they returned an indictment for second-degree murder against Anthony Burns. And that was it. A warrant was issued for his arrest, and Dryden did it himself. He walked into Anthony's workplace with a team of officers.

They cornered him before he could even realize what was happening. Now, he didn't struggle. He didn't protest. He smirked at them. Dryden said his expression was smug, almost like he was pleased, and he called it arrogant. Dryden couldn't wait. He called Stephanie on the way back to the station with Anthony with him,

and he said, guess what I have in my backseat? He didn't even have to say the name. She knew. She was so flustered. She said she almost ran a red light. She had to pull over to the side of the road. And he finally said Anthony Burns. He's been arrested.

And he was booked on a $500,000 bond. I really do think it's incredible that a podcast helped solve this case. I can't explain what happened with the initial investigation. But clearly, the fact that Anthony Burns was someone so close to Courtney that her own sisters speculated there was something going on between them and he was never thoroughly investigated or interviewed.

There's something wrong there. It seems like a misstep. Usually the people closest to the victim are ruled out first and that happened with a lot of people. Her mom, her own sisters, her stepdad, why not her sister's fiancee? This is a man that's on holiday videos with her who gifted her things,

who was with her the afternoon before she was killed. Now, a special prosecutor, Hugo, Holland, was called in for this case because they knew it was going to be really hard to try. It was mostly circumstantial evidence. What I did find a bit humorous was that Hugo reached out to Anthony's defense attorney, Chris Lecor, and he offered to give him a plea deal to manslaughter. I'm talking about Anthony. Manslaughter. They rejected it.

They told Hugo, we're taking this case to trial and Hugo said, okay, bitches, let's do this. So right there, you get an idea of this man's personality. He was going to give them a fight if they wanted one. But I think it's important to tell you what Hugo's theory was of what happened to Courtney and why. He believes, over the years,

Anthony took the opportunity to get close to his own fiancé's little sister. He was 26 when she was 19, and they had been involved in a sexual relationship. We don't know how long, but the night Anthony killed her. He went over there after her friends left so they could hook up.

And at some point, an altercation ensued. We will never know what it was about. But it's theorized. Courtney wanted to end it. She had other men in her life. She was older now. She was thriving. She had her own house, her own car.

She didn't need Anthony. She didn't even need the job that lace got her. She quit that same weekend. And when she rejected Anthony, he snapped. And a struggle occurred in her bedroom while she was only wearing her t-shirt, underwear, bra, and robe. Anthony smothered her on her own bed with her own pillow, wrapped her in a shower curtain, covered her with her own comforter,

put her in the trunk of her own car, and then he called his best friend Seamus, who was already in town. Remember, they hung out that same afternoon, and he called him to come help. First, they believe that Seamus drove to Courtney's, and then followed Anthony in Anthony's car and dropped it off somewhere, and then Seamus drove Anthony back to Courtney's, where her body was already in the trunk. Anthony drove her car, Seamus drove his, and they drove to Seamus's other house out in Lake Charles, an hour and a half away. This was early Saturday around 5 a.m., and that's where the car sat in the

sun, with Courtney's body decomposing at a faster rate, as they scoped out places to put her. Now, I know this sounds weird, but the fact that Anne's Anthony was close to Courtney and her family makes sense as to why she would be found out in the open instead of burying her. He wanted her to be found. There were so many places, even right near that house, there was a cement wall that he could have dumped her over. And they wouldn't find her until she was skeletal. Investigators actually said that. Seamus had driven past that area on his truck route many times.

He knew how desolate it was, that there were not many houses nearby, and it was abandoned. but it was close enough to the main road to be seen. And once they pick that spot, it's believed, Anthony drove Courtney's car out there in the night of Sunday, the third, drove right up to that garage bay, leaving the tire marks, her body was removed from the trunk, and under the cover of the night,

still inside the comforter and shower curtain, she was rolled out and posed, either to throw off police or to shame her because she rejected him or both. He threw the curtain, and comforter back in the trunk, and he quickly backed out and onto the main road at 10 p.m., where he nearly hit Jude Wilson. And then he drove Courtney's car back to Seamus's.

Seamus followed him out to that high crime area, where they left Courtney's car with the keys inside, and Seamus drove Anthony back to his house, where he stayed until the next morning when Anthony's mom came to get him and take him back to his car. I mean, I know that's a lot. You can see how everything fits together. It's believed that Anthony got rid of the shower curtain, probably because it had blood or DNA on it, and he probably retained the comforter to try to put it back

before anyone found out she was dead, but he never got that chance. Now, they cannot prove definitively that Seamus was involved, and he did agree to testify against Anthony. But we know he described the way Courtney's body looked. So at the very least, he could have seen her. after she was dead. I'm sure Anthony was the type to show her off before getting rid of her. Maybe it was just him in the state of shock, who knows. But remember, Seamus's wife said that he

smelled like death when he returned. So could he have been more involved? We'll never know. The trial was intense. The courtroom was packed. 18 years of rumors, 18 years of fear, Years of a man sitting at family dinners, now sitting at the defense table. Anthony showed no emotion. He wouldn't even look at Courtney's mom. Nothing. The witnesses I told you about testified. But when Seamus took the stand, he changed his story.

He said he didn't want to be there, but he was subpoenaed. And that was the only reason he was. He did admit that Anthony told him that he killed Courtney, but he wouldn't go into anything. any of those other details, nothing that was in the recording. It was clear that he was holding back, and I think the jurors could tell. Now, the pathologist Dr. Brown testified, and I thought it was interesting that there were French fries and a piece of gum discovered inside her stomach upon autopsy.

This was another reason this doctor believed that Courtney was smothered to death because she was chewing gum and it went down her throat. People don't usually swallow their gum, so that made sense to him. Now, Anthony's defense, they just post. holes or tried to in all the evidence. They tried to point out inconsistencies saying that they don't really know how Courtney died, that it was all speculative. Remember, there were no marks, there were no wounds.

I personally thought that his argument about why Anthony Burns would admit to killing Courtney was a little ridiculous. The defense attorney said, well, you know when you're drinking, you'll say things that you don't mean. No, sir. When people are drinking, they don't usually. tell people they killed someone. In Courtney's forensic class, she wrote in her notebook. These words, in her own handwriting, Corpus Delecte, the body of the crime. She wrote, You must prove a crime occurred. You must prove that the person charged with a crime was responsible for the crime. And she listed reasons. People commit crimes, one money, two revenge, and three sex.

Courtney had no way of knowing that her own life would be stolen by a man who would ultimately be accused of all three. He wanted to control her. He didn't want to lose access to her. And when she started pulling away emotionally, romantically, maybe even physically, he snapped. Courtney understood what justice required. She wrote it down.

She studied it. And even in death, she left her record. Her body transported and staged and discarded was the corporal. was the corpus delecti. The prosecution proved both elements of her own definition. A crime occurred, and the man who committed it

was finally held accountable. Anthony Burns was found guilty of second-degree murder, and he will never walk free again. But it doesn't heal his family. They're shattered. When Courtney was found murdered, her mother didn't even want to live.

His family was torn apart. Holidays were never the same. futures were ruined. In court, when he was sentenced, Stephanie spoke right to him while holding up a picture of Courtney. She read from a junior high school assignment that Courtney had written,

listing her goals for life, to be a mother with two daughters and a son, to become a pediatrician, or maybe a teacher, because she loved helping people, to own a beautiful home, to drive a forest green convertible Mustang, and that's when Stephanie's voice trembled.

She took a child. told Anthony, you denied her that. You denied her that chance. And then Stephanie said, what she had waited 18 years to say, I hate you. And I pray you rot in Angola. I hope I never see your face again. And I am so sorry to Courtney and to her family. I hope you remember her story. And I will see you soon in my next video. investing, but I really didn't know how to go about it. Meet Corey, a Walthfront client. With Wealthfront, it could put money in, and it would automatically distribute it into a diversified

portfolio. Then it starts to compound. The compounding compounds on the compounding. Just let it wrong, and it's great. Over 1 million clients trust Wealthfront. Get started at Wealthfront.com. Client was paid $1,000 for their testimonial, creating a conflict of interest. Outcomes vary. Investment management and advisory services provided by Wealthfront Advisors LLC and SECD-RECD-Rigerned Investors. Investing involves risk to principle regardless of the strategy used. Tass performance does not guarantee future results. Bye.

Thank you.