MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF: Tripp Brazeale

One of my favorite seasonal shows counter-clock is back with a brand new season, and it is wild.

“Hostile Gideombra is digging into the 2008 Lane Bryant murders.”

I mean, this isn't just a recap, it is a reinvestigation.

She's talking to law enforcement people from the community even sources who have never spoken

publicly until now, and you know I love a show that asks all the questions. Listen to counter-clock season 8 now, wherever you get your podcasts. It's 12.40 a.m. on November 3, 2024, and St. Francis County Deputy Tray Bynam is in hot pursuit. He's on a rural road in Forest City, Arkansas chasing someone on a four wheeler, and they

are both booking it down this windy road in the dark. The sound of it, Bynam is right on their tail. So when they come on to this raised dirt berm in the road, almost at once, both the four wheeler and Bynam's truck go airborne before crashing back down to the road.

“Now both vehicles get turned around, but something happens to the four wheeler and it stops”

suddenly. So Bynam slams on his brakes and calls out to the rider. But before he can even approach the four wheeler, the rider is on foot. He hops off ends and darts into the woods. It's all so fast that by the time Bynam draws his service weapon and aims for the woods,

the rider is gone. Now rather than jumping the fence and following him into the woods in the dark, Bynam decides to run back to his truck and call in the stop over his radio. There was another deputy following close behind, Sergeant David Kenny, so it only takes a minute for him to pull up.

I'm good, but we went up ditch. I said I'm good, but we went up that ditch right there, both of us, made him both. I'm not in the trailer because I'm telling you, it's going to be a white male on a cam

“flyers hoodie and blue jeans, look like he went out that way, did he roll it or something?”

Hey, turned it and jumped off and took off running across the field. So Sergeant Kenny goes to get the trailer so that they can tow the four wheeler while more backup begins arriving and several deputies begin to assist in this manhunt. But they're having no luck, not after 420 AM when Kenny comes back and calls the fire department and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to come and set up thermal night vision drones to

assist, or after 720 AM when the East Arkansas Department of Corrections brings tracking dogs to the scene. Though they do find signs of the man who fled on foot, deputies locate a boot and a hat, a short distance from where he entered the woods, just one boot, just one. But even with this physical trail for some reason, the canines aren't able to track his path.

By the time daylight breaks, authorities are no closer to finding their man. So they decide to call in even more reinforcements. By that afternoon, there's not only the sheriff's deputies searching, but also state police troopers, the state emergency response team, two local fire departments, Forest City Police Officers, and volunteers.

They create a search grid and form eight teams to deploy in different areas, and they do

end up finding a second boot, a wallet, a phone charger, and hoodie.

But their man is still in the wind. In almost 19 hours, after they first began their pursuit, at 178 PM, the manhunt is called off, due to the dark, and it is set to resume the next morning. So they pick up again in the morning, but it's not until late afternoon, around 12 PM, as their search radius widened, that one of the groups finds several footprints in a creek.

A search of the creek bed comes up empty, but one game in fish warden notices a trail of broken twigs from the creek leading up to the base of a steep ridge. He follows it, one step at a time, and when she looks up, she sees who they were all after, and he is hanging from a tree at the top of the ridge with a green ratchet strap around his neck.

Now his death is ultimately ruled a suicide by ligature hanging.

The assumption being that this writer took his life, maybe so he didn't have to face the consequences, but Arkansas State Police still conducts a death investigation anyway. And as part of it, on November 12th over a week after the chase that set off this tragic

sergeant Kinney.

“Both interviews are recorded, and both men tell pretty much the same story.”

So I'm just going to play you part of Bionham's interview, edited for clarity. So you know the reason why you come here is that interview and everything, the only reason we're trying to figure out what happened prior, if they're making a sense. So you can relax, and then to be all stressed out about it, and I'll read in your rights and then like that.

I saw the video and everything, but just kind of describe what I'll took place in

how you get to there, and how you get, you know, always to me, you just, I mean, I'm a little

stupid. That's your talent. I'm not a harpsing on the actual times, they would get the callable. That's right. But we got to call to SFC through it.

“I think the editors with a 7/11 SFC through it to be exact for a ping that was due to missing”

juveniles out across kind of Arkansas, a little boy and a little girl 11 and 12 years old. Myself, Deputy Gage Milton and Sergeant Kenny, all the arrived on scene, checked the location and everything.

While we were there, checking everything, we could hear a number of full willers or ITVs.

So it's big, I'm not going to loud rock, it's still the network, everybody speaks, just in the box of stuff. So we cleared that residence from the normal one ping from that cell phone that was showing that June I was there, but we did not find anybody there. As we were getting back in the tropes to a clear that area, Sergeant Kenny turned out

a 3/0 on the SFC 3/13 back up to 284, there was two fullers sitting at the stop sign. Sergeant Kenny spoke with individuals and that's one of the fullers talk took off and the fuller turned around and come past us at a higher speed. I initiated my blue lights and my order was on to my traffic stop on the fuller and then that's when the chase began.

We went down to the SFC 4/9 for about a mile and a half and then we both went up a little hill and then back down and that's when the fuller lost connection with the barrier cable and they still didn't know it and the fuller died, the individuals who were right in the fuller, wearing a camel hoodie, blue jeans, boots, took off, running through the woods. Sounds good.

What about did you know who the guy was, I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know now, but you didn't probably know at the time, really. When I found out was approximately 15 to 20 minutes later, while I went on Sergeant Kenny and brought in the trailer back in the serious department.

Signum says he never had any personal interaction with the individual.

“And this is important because you see it seems like part of the reason this investigation”

is even happening is because in the week following the incident, rumors had begun to take hold in the minds of the small town community members in Forest City. Rumors that this man-hunt and this tragic suicide wasn't at all what authorities were claiming it to be. And this is all on the news channel 3 website where they were making comments and it said

it's right there, but that they personally thought that the deputy shot him and then called him. Any amount of real reporting will show you that nothing is what it seems in this case. That man that they were looking for was actually a 15 year old boy. And there is a very good reason that people in Forest City including his parents think that

they're being lied to. I have a feeling you'll think that too once you hear the full story of the night trip Brazil die. If you listen to this show, you already know that talking about mental health matters, but talking is just the start.

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Visit Rosetta Stone.com/crimejanky3dmiore20% off. That's Rosetta Stone.com/crimejanky, and start learning a language for real. The comment that appeared on the news channel three website, the one where a community member implied that a St. Francis County deputy shot, trip, and then hung him. That didn't just come out of nowhere. There are a number of

discrepancies and gaps and red flags in this death investigation that lead people specifically trips family, friends, and a private investigator to the conclusion that everything is not as it seemed. And for you to understand, we need to go back to the beginning. To hear about the events of November 3rd from a different perspective, trips parents. But before I go any further, I want to note that deputy traybionum, Sergeant David

Kinney, and SSA Andre Mack declined to speak with us for this episode. So their side of things comes from the investigative files. Those files, though, and what we learn from speaking to trips parents and the PI that they later hired to help them leave a lot of unanswered questions. So let's rewind. Jennifer and Gil Brazil shared that on Saturday, November 2nd, trip was riding four wheelers all day

with his brother and his younger sister. According to them, riding was trip's passion. He was a pro-writer at 15, wearing out three dirt bikes a year. Jennifer said that if it did not involve riding a dirt bike or a four wheeler, trip wasn't interested. It's part of the reason that he was home schooled. Now, when trip wasn't doing schoolwork or laying tile with the flooring company that he worked for, he was riding. So the night of November 2nd after he's riding with his siblings,

he goes to a birthday party before then meeting up with his uncle and a family friend to ride around some more. That's who trip was with when Sergeant Kinney approached him in the early morning hours of November 3rd. Right before trip took off in the pursuit began, but what deputy's didn't know is that about 40 minutes after trip jumped off his ATV and ran into the woods. While they had deputies out actively looking for him, he called his mom. That call woke Jennifer

and Gill up, but they were glad that it did because their son was asking for help. Trip told them that the police got his four wheeler and asked if they could come pick him up. And the way he said it didn't make it seem like police were chasing him or anything. Maybe he downplayed it the way the teenagers do, but all Jennifer was hearing was that he was stranded and needed a ride. So she was in the process of telling him that they would get dressed,

they would head over. And that's when Gill's phone started ringing. And on the other end of his line was a deputy that he knew named Jason Bradshaw. And Bradshaw was asking if Trip was home. Said that he and some other guys from the department were out there looking for him. And I think maybe this is when the pieces started to click into place more. And honestly, whatever was happening, this felt like a good thing since Gill knew Bradshaw.

Trip knew Bradshaw too. So Gill took Jennifer's phone and told Trip,

“"Listen, Bradshaw is out there if you want to just go turn yourself in, go ahead."”

So that was the plan. Wherever Trip was in the woods, he said that he could see the blue lights

And his parents could see his location from the find my app and they said that they were going

“to meet him there. And they actually wanted him to stay on the phone with them. But Trip said”

that his phone was almost out of battery and so they hung up. Now as the Brazil's are getting dressed and they're preparing to leave, there isn't panic in the air. Like their teenage son probably did something dumb on his ATV and like truly in the grand scheme of parenting like the stakes for this feel low. But the mood completely shifts. When around 20 minutes later, a text from Trip's phone comes in. And it doesn't make sense with the conversation they just had.

It says that he loves them and he loves his sister and he's sorry to do this. He said that he wants all of his stuff to go to his brother. And it goes on to re-quote, "I love you all so much. You all have been great parents to me. I guess I'm just a f*** up. And I couldn't change that. I wish I could have. I'm sorry none of this is y'all's fault. Only mine. I love y'all. I'm sorry.

“I should have stopped. But I'm a dumbass. I love y'all so much. My phone is about to die.”

So I got to go. I hope this makes it to y'all. I never wanted to end this way. But I guess it has to.

I love y'all. I'm so sorry." Now this text immediately sounded alarm bells for Jennifer. But not because of the content. It was because of the wording itself. Jennifer said that the text did not sound like Trip at all. Like he would never say those things. He never talked that way. He definitely never texted in long paragraphs like that. Like this was all one big message. But the thought of her

son taking his own life wasn't even one that crossed her mind. So she is replied, "I'm on my way." The text that she got back was more the same. It said quote, "I'm so sorry. I love y'all so much. Y'all are the greatest parents. Anybody could ask for. I love y'all more than anything." End quote. 8 minutes later, "Gill and Jennifer pulled up to the woods and began walking to the exact spot where Trip's phone last showed his location. It wasn't actively tracking him

anymore but they knew where he was just moments ago. Except when they got there, there was no trip. And even weirder, they didn't see any one else around. No deputies, no patrol cars, no lights, nothing, just the dark and eerily quiet woods. They tried calling Trip but by then his phone was going straight to voicemail. So not knowing what else to do, they started looking for their son themselves with flashlights and an app that Gill used to make a search grid.

And they just began walking back and forth in the woods yelling Trip's name. And while doing this, they don't see a soul. Again, not Trip, but maybe more concerningly, not a single deputy. Where is everyone who is looking for him? So, her body camp timestamps and bindams own narrative report. It seems like he and Kenny are towing Trip's four wheeler to the sheriff's office at this point. And the sheriff's office is like sixish miles away.

Okay, that's two of them. What about everyone else? I don't know who else is supposed to be out there looking or where exactly they are. All I know is that Jennifer said when her and Gill arrived, they were searching by themselves for a long time. They said hours. In all that time, they said

they never saw any deputies. And they're just confused and looking around on their own until Gill

gets a call from Sergeant Kenny. According to bindams report, this call is made right around

“to 15 a.m. Which lines up with what the Brazil's remember to? So, how did he have his number?”

A small city. I mean, actually Gill used to be in law enforcement. He actually trained Kenny back in the day. Oh. And trips older brother was friends with Kenny's son. So, like, it's just a small network. Yeah, it's not weird that he calls. But what he says kind of is weird. Kenny called Gill to ask if he had found or heard anything more from trip. And Gill's like, "No." And why are we the only ones out here looking for? Like, he's kind of pissed at this point that they're more worried

about towing the four wheeler than looking for his 15-year-old son who is presumably lost out there in the woods that he's not even familiar with. So, according to bindams report, that's when Kenny went back out to continue searching. But just Kenny not by name. No, bindam writes that during that time, he and another deputy continued working leads for that other two missing juveniles from

cross-county, the whole reason that they were out there that night to begin with. And so, he basically

says that he is tied up with that until, like, 345 a.m. and then that's when he links up with the people looking for trip. And we know that it's some time after that when the search really picks up

really big, wait, what moments in this story. When we started the story, it sounded like a man

“hunt. Yeah, they were never hunting for a criminal. Every bit of this search was always a search”

for a missing kid. The kid is missing because the ATV he was writing stopped working after he was chased on it by deputies. He was being chased by deputies because, oh wait, apparently no one can say. Here is another excerpt from bindam's interview with SS say Mac. So, so we can get some clarification on one thing, you know, because it'll be brought up. The reason why he was fleeing him, he was chasing him, was because he had appeared to you, he was fleeing from David Kennedy. Yes. And do you know why

David Kennedy was stopped him? Or he was just, was he just blown away for a trip? And was there a reason

for him? Was there a road that went full and full will? It was on how much he was looking for

and in the area of that neighborhood that we was on driving at a right of space. And, you know, it's not just like, and so, do you often go like, this person, they may have been imparted at

“a kid that may have been missing, it's pinging across county, from cross county.”

Nelson, I don't, these two, like I said, was 11 and 12 years old. All right, so you just, in that area, but then ran across to him and decided to check them out. The reason why I was saying that was because it's late at night. Late at night, how are you ready for? But there's a lot of people driving through there at that time, you know, someone's intoxicated and stuff like that. Yeah. So, you're a reason, give me your reason

for chasing him. I'm going to make sure I understood your reason. And you said the blue lights and the silence for the forwarder to stop and that didn't stop. Okay, but what was the probable cause I just went down to say? The excess of speeds and you understand how it was? Yeah. Did you, did you talk more here? No, sir. No, I'm not trying to, you know what I'm saying, I was just, I won't, cause what the family's gonna say is, this and that, no other, you're

saying so. I know, my throat speed in the forwarder speed on how it's too early for was probably around 80 miles an hour. Okay. How's good? Sounds good? Those are barely answers, would typically have been speeding if he wasn't, I don't know, being chased by them? This is at the heart of everything for me. Why was he being chased? Yeah, it seems like they can't say. I mean, you saw the footage for yourself, like could he have slowed down safely with a Dodge

Ram truck right behind him going 80 miles per hour? So, to try and answer some of these questions, we reached out to the St. Francis County Sheriff's Office. They declined to sit down for an interview, referring us to ASP for any questions that Arkansas State Police, but they did provide some helpful information. Specifically, their agency pursuit policy. So, I'm gonna have a voice actor, Rita. Policy. Vacular pursuit of fleeing suspects presents a danger to the lies of the public,

officers, and suspects involved in the pursuit. It is the policy of this department to protect all persons' lives to the extent possible when enforcing the law. In addition, it is the responsibility of the department to assist officers in the safe performance of their duties. To affect these obligations, it shall be the policy of the department to narrowly regulate the manner in which vehicular pursuit is undertaken and performed. Another part of their policy reads this.

The decision to initiate pursuit must be based on the pursuing officer's conclusion that the immediate danger to the public created by the pursuit is less than the immediate or potential danger to the public should the suspect remain at large. If an officer does decide to initiate a pursuit, they have to immediately notify communication center personnel and give the following information. A, unit identification, B, location, speed and direction of travel of the fleeing vehicle,

C, description and license plate number if known of the fleeing vehicle, D, number of occupants in the fleeing vehicle and descriptions where possible and E reasons supporting the decision to

pursue. Why they were chasing him in the first place? From what we can hear,

Bynum doesn't give much of this information, and definitely no reason supporting the decision to

“pursue. Can he call it in at all? Like he's the one that went out there to the writers first, right?”

He was, but there's no documentation showing that he called anything it. There was only two times in the materials that we've obtained where Kenny talks about what

Mac, which is again over a week after the incident, and Kenny talks about how they were all at that house investigating that tip in the other case. And as they were wrapping up, there are a couple of four wheelers went by at a high rate of speed. He doesn't chase them, but it sounds like he touches up with them down the road, and everyone is stopped. But as he was getting out of the truck to go talk to them, one of the writers takes off on the four wheeler. He went a couple hundred yards

and stopped. Looked over his shoulder. I said, where's he going? One of the kids popped up and said,

“"We don't know, sir." And that's what he's just going to leave you all here. So that's what it looks”

lot. Lee come back by and he was approaching. He was slowing down like he was going to stop. Well, I was unaware that my two deputies that were with me, I thought they went out the other way, but one of them come up behind me, pulled up beside me. And as the kid on the four wheeler was approaching he took off, then the pursuit was all. Now, the one other time Kenny talks about what proceeded the pursuit was when he was captured on Binham's body camp. This is right when Kenny

had supposedly like just gotten back with the trailer to tow the four wheeler. Yes, so I said, it's going to help tow around some more they were going to hand up. You know, while they were running, they're going to hand up. That's the moment where Binham reaches his hand up

“to cut his cam before Kenny can say anything more. Wait, he turned off his body cam. He did,”

for the second time that night. What do you mean, second time that night? I mean, that I haven't

even gotten to the most suspicious can of worms, the missing time. We have Binham's body camp footage from the night of the pursuit, right? Like it shows the pursuit. It shows the towing of trips for wheeler. But what I haven't mentioned yet is that these two things didn't happen in quick succession, not even close. There is a 49 minute gap between when Binham turns off his body cam after he stops his truck. And when he turns it back on to tow the four wheeler. And when he does reactivate

his body cam after that time, he all of a sudden just happens to be wearing latex gloves. For decades, some cold cases have been reduced to files in a cabinet, but not anymore. I'm Ashley Flowers and me and my team on the deck have been traveling across the country to report on these forgotten cases. And in some instances, it's resulted in these cases being solved after decades. Join me every Wednesday as we revive these stories one card at a time.

Listen to the deck now wherever you get your podcasts. Before I get into the almost hour of time missing from Binham's body cam, I want to talk you through some of the important and strange details that the Brazil's learn through their records requests and the work of their PI. And this PI is a former detective

“in Cody Turner. And I think this is going to help you understand how critical the missing”

window of time actually is. So let's go back to when this pursuit began. We don't know why it started. There was no probable cause to go after trip on the ATV, but his parents start hearing concerning things from people in the community that make them wonder if trip was chased just because he was trip. The Brazil's say that trip had plenty of run-ins with law enforcement.

Now he never been arrested or anything, but he'd certainly been stopped on his four wheeler before.

And they say that he knew Binham and Kenny. Now we weren't able to corroborate this next part, but Jill told us that in the months leading up to the pursuit, a state trooper warned Jill that members of the sheriff's office were "hunting his son," which was obviously worrisome. Yeah. So the Brazil specifically told trip before all this to be careful. And a woman that we spoke to named Sandra Davis who lived near the Brazil's and who helped in the search

for trip. She told us that about a week before trips dad, he wrote his dirt bike up her driveway and back behind her house. And when she asked him what he was doing, he seemed really genuinely scared. And he said that someone was after him, and quote, "If he catches me, he's gonna kill me."

Who was he? Sandra said that trip never specified. But a few minutes later, she saw a sheriff's

office vehicle go down the road, and then trip said, "Okay, maybe he's gone so I can go."

trips dad trained Kinney. Trip's brother was friends with Kinney's son. But there's this weird distancing that both buy them in Kinney do, where they say that they don't even know trip.

“Kinney says that he wouldn't know trip if he walked up and spit on him. Okay, even if you want to”

say you didn't know he was the one on the TV, you said this is like a really like a pretty small community. Like why pretend you have no idea who this kid even is? I don't know. I mean one thing that makes the text seem like they're from trip, right, is that he mentions his siblings by name, but Kinney's admitting to knowing trips brother. All right, so it's I know, it's weird.

And Kinney also says that in the three years with the department, he had never heard of any law

enforcement involvement with like trips name. And both he and buying him insist that they had no idea who was on that four wheeler when the chase began. Except then, why did Bradshaw call Gill at around 121 saying that deputies were looking for trip? Oh, yeah. Obviously, this is concerning to trips parents. Well, by the time Kinney are interviewed, there's an explanation. Apparently, at 1259 a.m., dispatch received an anonymous call from someone who said that they knew

the individual on the four wheeler was trip and they had his location. The caller said that he was spotted behind a church that was like down the road from the crash site or like or where the ATV stopped. Wait, just like a random call, like from someone. And this is like, this wasn't known, right? This was like an alert that like no, below, no one knew that they were looking for someone. It's just a random call saying like,

“I don't know if you need to know this, but trip is out behind his church. And by the way, this is”

let's one o'clock in the morning to your point. Like, yes, you might have heard some like or like seen Cyrus emotion, but yeah, it's not like they put out this like statewide alert or like there's no news about this yet. There's like nothing, but there's a 911 call with someone saying that they, oh, here's the person you're looking for.

How do they even know they're looking for it? That's exactly what I was going to say. And here's what

stinks about this even more. Anything about who this caller was or how they knew it was trip is adapted in all of the materials that we received. They will not reveal who call. And they say it's because the caller wanted to remain anonymous, but like it makes zero sense to me, like you don't need to protect a witness here. But this is a straightforward suicide. There's nothing to witness, right? What everyone is saying, like just tell us who called where is that person in the community? Like this

“case has gotten traction in the community. That one person could probably solve a lot. Where are they?”

Also, this isn't like a neighborhood. No, it's like reminding me of like where I grew up, right? Where they're just like land, exactly. And then some trees and a couple houses here and there, but not like on top of each other, right? There are really just like a few properties out this way. Literally just three that are even within like a half mile of the church where there's caller saying like he's in like the woods behind. And by the way, one of those people claims that they

weren't even home that night. So who called? Could it be the people that trip was writing with? Like, wouldn't they have told Kenny who was with them? Like, when can he stop them, though? I'm sure they would have like given trips name, given the opportunity. But Kenny didn't stick around. It seems like one trip like takes off and then like everything happens kind of quick. Like,

"Binem comes up, he takes off, Kenny, like jumps back in his car." Basically tells these other

guys to go home. And Jennifer says that she doesn't think any of these people were the ones to have called. But you want to know something weird? I don't know how common, like the Binem last name is in this part of Arkansas. But one of the three houses that I mentioned, like, in the only places that are closer to the area. Right. It's tied to someone with the last name Binem. But here's the caveat, like we pulled a bunch of records. I can't tie any of those Binems to deputy Binem.

Oh. So it might just be like the weirdest coincidence of the century. So we've got all of that. All of that. On to my weight what moment number two. So we don't know why the chase started. An anonymous person calls into ID trip as the kid that they're looking for. And we don't know why or how they know that. So Bradshaw calls Gil while Jennifer is on the phone with trip. Parents tell trip, turn yourself in. He says he's going to start walking toward the blue light.

What you can see from wherever he is. Then they get the weird text from him. But when they get out to the location where his phone last ping, there is nothing. And no one. So they had to start searching themselves. Right. Former law enforcement dad, I told you he set up his own grid. He knows what he's doing. Now, once other first responders showed up, they began guiding the search

the location of trips things that are found makes no sense to me. So the road that they're on

409. It is a small road for us woods on either side, few houses. They're traveling east, think left to right. They hit the berm, the ATV stops. And it actually like turns them around. So now they're like facing west. Trip runs into the woods just north of the road. That's where one of his boots and his hat is found. Then the call about him being spotted at 1259. That is like west of this road. There's like behind this church area. Right. But then all of trips other stuff

and eventually him is found south of the road. Like he would have had to cross back over. Yeah. Which is just odd to me when you really look at the map and also like how spread out everything is. Like I just don't understand the path that he would have taken on his own. And like not run into other people. Right. But that is assuming that all of the items found were left by trip. But what if they weren't? Where trips sweatshirt and phone charger end up being found?

This is the second weird thing. Gilles says that he swears. He had walked through that area over a

dozen times that night and he never saw anything at all. Now it was a camo hoodie. Okay, but they're

literally looking for a. They know what he was wearing hoodie. Like yeah. Yeah, I can see it because

“that's what you're looking for. Yes. So that's weird. I don't know how to explain it. Again,”

it was dark. You probably could make excuses. But let me tell you about weird thing number three. So remember Sandra Davis. She's the neighbor whose house trip hit at that one time. So she also had like come out to help with the search. And she told us that when she and her husband got to the search area to help on November 4th, there were a lot of people by that point. So her and her husband told a nearby deputy that he would go park at a friend's house in this place called Crow Creek.

But according to Sandra, the deputy responded, you better not go to Crow Creek. That's done been searched. You are not going to Crow Creek. You go to Crow Creek. I'll have you arrested. For what? Sandra's house has been asked. And apparently the deputy just said, "Don't go there. It's already been checked." Except. Guess where trip ends up being found. That very same day. In the area of Crow Creek, which weird. The Brazil's say that area was right outside of the search

grid. The one that the deputies set up. So if theoretically actually shouldn't have been checked when Sandra's husband was being told that they'd already looked there. So fine. Say the parents missed the items because it was dark or whatever reason you want to give. And say that everyone's

“wires just got crossed. Or there was miscommunication or like straight up bad luck. And that's why”

trip wasn't found earlier by searchers. Let's then talk about how he would have gotten to the place where he was found. It was a game and fish warden who found trip. And in the game and fish commissions incident report, they recorded the exact coordinates of his location. So Cody, the PI, and the Brazil's took those values went out into the woods themselves to try and find the exact tree where trip would have been found. And they did. They even later got confirmation from some law

enforcement materials that it was the right tree. Now if you look on a map, the exact location is about a mile and a half south of where trip jumped off his ATV, like as the crow flies. But it was hitch black out there that night. There is no walking path or anything that trip could have taken. The terrain is what Gil described as quote violent ground with like broken bottles, barbed wire ditches snakes. And he knows this because he and Cody have walked this path that trip

would have taken multiple times since his death at night. And they say that it would have taken

“hours on foot. And that's with shoes. Trips first boot, remember, is found pretty close to the ATV.”

The second boot is found in the woods, the ones like south of the road, maybe like a quarter of

the way into the trees, like based on where he's found. That means that he would have had to have made this like hours long trek without shoes over whatever is on the forest floor, man made or otherwise. So riddle me this. When trips parents go up to the funeral home and get their first chance to look at trips feet, Gil says there wasn't so much as a scratch on them. Why? Now he was wearing socks and in one of the autopsy photos, you can actually see them. They look dirty. It appeared like

close-ups of the socks to help us determine if he actually like walked all that way. I mean, I'm still stuck on where his boots were. Like why would he ditch them the way he did? Like so far apart. I mean, it looks like, based on where it is. Like the first boot might have come off when he jumped the fence. So I don't know if like walking it, it became kind of uneven. Like, I don't know,

“I think I would still keep my boot on. Yeah, at least one of them. And listen, we asked trips parents”

if they've been able to examine the socks because again, I feel like if you walked out that way,

you'd be able to tell them. Sure. The answer is no, because even though trips boots and his

phone and ATV and charger and sweatshirt were all returned to the family, for some reason, the sheriff's office won't release trips clothing, including his socks. Okay, but why? Like this is a, what do they call it? Like a closed suicide case, right? Yes, Brit. Why? Now, meanwhile, or what it's worth, Gill says that if you were to drive from where the pursuit ended to the like area of the road closest to where trips body was found, that's like a five minute drive tops. And in that scenario,

if someone did drive trip that night, that could also explain why the canines lost his scent so quickly in the woods. But, you know what, let's keep suspending reality. Let's pretend there is a good

“reason why they won't let trips family have the clothes that trip was wearing when he died,”

by suicide, they say. We'll just take them at their word that he walked shoelace through the

forest for hours to take his life. This is the next, wait, what moment? Do the logistics of the hanging itself actually make sense? Make sure this part has to be completely solid, right? For them to close this case and to be so short, this has to be rock solid. It has to make every other weird thing that's happened up to this point easy to write off. But this is a crime track episode, so I'm betting that's not how it goes. Of course it's not. When family went out to the tree that

trip was found hanging from, they found the exact sod off branch that was cut down to get trip's body. It was still right there on the ground at the base. And once they saw it, they had immediate concerns. You see, the family consulted with an independent medical examiner and forensic pathologist at a Kentucky. Her name is Dr. Ashley Matthew. Now all she had to go off of were the autopsy photos and the ME reports themselves. And while she does say that on paper, ships death does appear

to be due to ligature hanging, she adds that without photos from the scene itself, like when they found him, she can't open on the position that the body was found in or whether it corresponds to the injuries that she can see on trips body. What she did do was her freaking homework, though. In our report, Dr. Matthew writes that based on her own research, branches that are five inches in diameter are reportedly able to hold the weight of approximately 115 pounds. But the

branch that the Brazil's found looks barely more than two inches in diameter. And how heavy was trip? He's 119 pounds. I'm not good at math. It's not math, but it's not math. No, especially when you consider like the drop force and any sort of struggle afterward. Right. And we actually have a photo of the branch, Jennifer took it home with her. And she can fit her thumb and pointer finger all the way around it. Plus, even if the branch could hold trip without a ladder or a

stepsal or something, Cody's not sure about the physics of the situation anyway. And what really got Cody thinking when they went out there is the fact that there was a deer stand, about like 30 feet away from this tree. Investigators write that the ratchet strap used in the hanging, quote, "appeared to match the rope from that deer stand." But then Cody's question is, like, if trips stop by this deer stand to get this strap, why not make use of the actual deer

stand and it's ladder while you're right there? Why walk another 30 feet to a tree on the edge of a goalie where the act would be far more difficult? And Cody said that he has worked hangings where people have even used their phone chargers as a mechanism. Trip had one with him that night in

“abandoned it long before he even made it to the deer stand. Also, how did Trip even find the strap?”

Because Cody interviewed the owner of that deer stand and he said that he'd cut that strap down

two years earlier when he first put the deer stand up. And he hadn't seen it since because

it had gotten like buried under foliage. He said that he forgot it was even there, which to me raises the question of how Trip would have possibly found it in the dark unless

I don't- maybe they were just making an educated guess. I don't know if they like spoke

“to the owner of the deer stand like Cody did. And personally, I haven't even seen the rope”

that they're saying it looks similar to. So I don't even know if it's freely a match. So I mean, it's certainly a possibility that the strap could have come from somewhere else. And listen, while we're on the ratchet strap, there's another thing. The autopsy report states that it was tied into a slip knot with two loose ends. But Jennifer said, "Gill still tied Trip's fishing lines on for him and sincerely doubted that he would know how to make a sophisticated knot like that."

In the end, Dr. Matthew said this, I don't have you read it.

In the presence of a circumstance such as the deceitant being involved in a law enforcement pursuit

and reportedly fleeing from them into the woods, I would have liked to have had more information regarding trips behavior and health history to confidently rule his death as suicide. In my opinion, the manner of death would best be classified as undetermined as the role of law enforcement if any in the death is unclear. Know what would make it clear? That body cam footage. Yeah. So let's go back to that and take a

good hard look at what we have in light of everything you now know. At 1240 AM, Bynum turns his body cam on. That's when we get the start of the pursuit. At 1242,

Trip takes off on foot. There's no more vehicle chase. Bynum parks his truck gets out to check the

four wheeler, man handling it with his bare hands, and then at 1251, Bynum turns his camera off. The next video that comes from his camera is from when it's turned back on at 140 AM and all of a sudden, he's wearing latex gloves. So 1251, camera off. Then 1259 is when they get that anonymous call telling them that its trip and trip is in the woods behind the church. 121, trip calls his mom, tells her he can see the blue lights. He's gonna walk toward them, turn himself in, they hang up.

We have no idea what is happening with Trip in the next 20 minutes. But at 148 AM, Bynum's body cam starts again, and he's got those gloves on. A minute later, 141. That's when Jennifer receives that text message from Trip's phone that I read earlier. And are we sure that by

“them turns the camera off in between or do we just like maybe not have access to that foot?”

You can literally see his hand like reach up and manually turn it. Okay. Now, based on their statements, this 49 minute window should be the time where Sergeant Kenny was getting the trailer. But we have no way to know that for sure because there is no body cam for him. Now, what's unclear though is if there was camera footage and then it just didn't get released in the FOIA or if he was not wearing a camera at all that night. I know when I see him on the 140 video, he's just in like a

polo. So he definitely didn't have one on then and I don't know about earlier. But interestingly, I know at least one other person was wearing a body cam that night. And it was actually one of the deputies that went looking for Trip after he was spotted in the woods behind the church. But when Jennifer requested all of the body cam footage from that night, she just got bindums with that missing time and then another disc, but that disc was totally blank. I mean, is anyone freaking

out about this? Like this feels like it has to be some kind of violation. Like what's the point of body cams if you can just turn them on and off willingly? Trip's family is freaking out about this. Me and our reporter Nicole are freaking about this. Like we're all freaking out about this now. And listen, we asked the sheriff's office for their body cam policy and it states that deputies are required to turn on their body cams for every official interaction with the public, whether that

is a routine conversation and a rest or something more serious. The cameras are supposed to help back up things like probable cause and give supervisors a way to review a deputies actions later.

“But here's the key. Once that camera is on, it is supposed to stay on until, quote, "the event”

is completed in order to ensure the integrity of the recording." And quote, "which makes sense." Now, there are a few exceptions. Deputies are not allowed to record communication with other officers without permission, undercover officers, confidential informants, or private locations like bathrooms. Okay. Now, I don't know if buying them's actions fall under one of these exceptions.

So, maybe when the chase ends and the ATV is stranded, that's complete in buying them's mind.

“But then that doesn't totally add up because then why turn it back on as you're getting ready to”

tell it? Right, because like to me, if you know you're going to tell it, telling it would be like the end of the event that like you're like with it until it's done being told. I also want to note something weird about the policy document itself that the sheriff's office sent us. So, is this like three-page document with numbered bullets? But at the end of the first page, it skips from 3B when and how to use the BWC to 3D restrictions on using the BWC.

See, it's just missing. When we asked the sheriff's office about this, a representative said

he never noticed the type of before and it quote, "Feel safe to say it is a clear clear."

Who feels safe about this? Because that, I don't, because it makes me feel safe. And also like, I mean, you're like making a word document. It's kind of automatic. It should say, say, literally you like had entered. It doesn't say are you. Okay, sorry. So do with that what you will. 1251, camera goes off. 140, it's back on and buy them is wearing latex gloves. And the camera cut just makes no sense. Like, if you're going to tell you said,

it's going to turn it off at all. Like, why are you turning it back on? Like, why not just call the event complete? Like, it's not like there's a new, this is the same thing. It's not like someone new

“comes in. Like, you're not dealing with a new citizen or like, why? Yes, right. Why turn it back on?”

Why just when you're trying to get the four wheeler on to the trailer? Well, and like, why are you wearing gloves now? Like, now, especially maybe? Now, like, listen, I think some people could say, well, you know, he's like, processing the ATV now. Like, it's evidence. But the problem I have with that is, like, if you go back to before the camera turned off, oh, you said, you, like, he's manhandling that thing with bare hands. He is raw dogging that ATV. So the question that the family's P. I Cody

has, the question that he is raised is whether it's possible that buy them maybe hit the four wheeler during the chase. Cody actually has the four wheeler in his possession now. And before getting into law enforcement, he actually was an EMT, which means that like, he's worked quite a few wrecks. And he said that it really looks to him like the four wheeler was struck by a vehicle. He just can't prove that it was bindems vehicle. So, not that we followed a ton of protocol so far.

But isn't there like a sort of police tactic where they can use their vehicle to purposely hit that like hit another vehicle to stop it? Yeah. It's called a precision immobilization technique. Yeah. The sheriff's office pursuit policy, though. Again, like, we referenced that earlier. The one that we received specifically states officers may not intentionally use their vehicle to bump or ram a suspect vehicle to get them to stop. So, okay, do we see anything like a collision

on the body cam? We don't like we have the pursuit, or at least the end of the pursuit right, but

like the problem is the camera is like right at bindems chest. And he's like right on top of trips

four wheeler the whole time. Like you can see the moment that both vehicles supposedly jump that hill, but it's really loud with like the sirens and the four wheeler engine, so it's hard to

“know if there was a collision. One I think is so interesting is this part, though. Deputy”

Bynam gets out of his truck. He's surveying the area. He's looking at the four wheeler and Kenny comes to follow asking him what happened and he said this. And he's gonna be a white male on a camouflage hoodie and blue jeans look like he went out that way. Did he roll it or something? Hey, turned it and jumped off and took off running across the field. Yeah, he left his bodies. Hey, yeah, I got him. Step around, man. Wait, which step rail was bent?

Bynam's. The part that caught me is the I got him line. Like what does he mean he got him? Because like, no, you didn't. No, he took off running. You were chasing him. Yeah, and he like ran off into the woods. You told him to stop. He didn't. What do you mean? You got him. Could it be that you got him like your truck hit the ATV? Now, you can see Bynam's step rail is bent like in the body camp footage, but it's hard to clearly see the front of his truck.

And I can't say whether the bent step rail is from hitting the ground. When they like what up that the burn or whatever or if it's from something else. You know, though, there is something besides the body camp or the truck damage that could tell us

but for the entire duration of the pursuit and presumably that 49 minute blackout,

“Bynam had a civilian ride along with him. What? Yep. Another set of eyes and ears who witnessed”

that night, someone who could put this whole thing to rest, if only his statements and actions didn't raise even more questions. And just you wait because the biggest shock of this entire case comes at the very end. For decades, some cold cases have been reduced to files in a cabinet, but not anymore. I'm Ashley Flowers and me and my team on the deck have been traveling across the country to

report on these forgotten cases. And in some instances, it's resulted in these cases being solved after decades. Join me every Wednesday as we revive these stories one card at a time. Listen to the deck now wherever you get your podcasts. We don't know much about 21-year-old Preston Cox, who was deputy tray bindams right along the night of November 2nd and into the early

morning hours of November 3rd. Preston never got back to us for this episode, but through

trip's mom Jennifer, we learned that Preston didn't know trip personally. And from what we've been able to gather, it doesn't seem like Preston was a part of some civilian program like the explorers or anything like that. What we know is that Preston was a mechanic who wanted to try his hand at law

“enforcement because he was drawn to the idea of helping people. So I think the ride along was like”

a little peek behind the curtain, see what it's really like, try before you buy kind of thing. Now in my experience, you kind of got to know someone to get to do a ride along or like know someone who knows someone. Yeah, have a connection. Right or maybe you just call up the sheriff's office and they let you. According to a sheriff's office representative, there is no written policy on ride along. But quote, if a deputy chooses to allow a rider it has to be cleared through the

supervisor, though there's nothing formal about like what that actually does like no process for it. So I don't know how Preston ended up on that ride along that night or if he knew any of the deputies on the force before this. But if the goal was to see some action, he got it, right? Like

in that first body can footage, you can hear Preston. Like right after that last clip that I just

played where buying him says, I got him. Preston sounds excited when he's asked if he's good. Step around me. Are you good? I don't know. I don't know if he's been going on. Yes, are you good? Yeah. Preston said he was highly thinking about going into law enforcement at 12.45 a.m. on November 3rd. At 12.50 a.m. As buying him is walking around his truck looking

“at the damage, Preston asks buying him something in a hushed tone. You want camera?”

Huh? Yeah, I'm okay. And then Preston, you can just catch a glimpse of him on the side of the frame. He proceeds to mouth something to buy none that for the life of me, I cannot make out. I have watched this video a hundred times at this point at every rate of speed I split it up. I've slowed it down. I cannot tell what it is. After that, they exchange a few more words about the damage. That is step road. Pretty messed up. Got pike, all the miles. I'll go up and see if I'm

up. And that is where the video cuts off at 12.51 a.m. And whatever happened after that first

body can video cut out, seems to have changed Preston's mind about going into law enforcement. Because according to the family's PI Cody, shortly after this incident Preston moved out of the area and decided not to pursue a criminal justice career. Again, Preston wouldn't talk to us,

in law enforcement, because it's not worth it. Is it not worth it? Because you just saw a couple

of deputies out there doing a stand-up job. Even though they did nothing wrong, community members are suggesting some kind of cover up. Not worth it. I don't think that's it. Because in order

“for that to be the case, there's that hole you have to be doing a stand-up job doing all the”

right things, right? When Cody asked Preston straight up about the allegation that the public had been making, Preston said, quote, "I hate that it ended that way. I really do. But I couldn't have done anything in my power to change what happened without getting Mr. Bynum in trouble." What does that mean? He didn't explain. He just said, "I'm a ride along and at the end of the day." That's it. Also, I don't know what to make of this, but when Cody interviewed Preston for his

investigation, Preston said that while his and Bynum's interviews with the state police were the same day, Kenny was brought in the day before. But it's weird because all of the ASP reports and interview logs put the interviews happening on the same morning. Do you think he misremembered? I mean, he sounds completely certain of it, which just makes me wonder if there was a pre-interview like some kind of interview with Kenny the day prior to the documented interviews that for some

reason wasn't recorded anywhere. Or maybe they were a log drawing? I still, I do not think that's it because you can literally hear, as I say, max, saying the date and time in the audio. So, unless he's lying to, like, "I don't know. It's just another thing I can't explain." I don't know what happened in the early morning hours of November 3, 2024. But the more our team looked into trips case, the less the official story added up. Yes, a message came from trips

phone that some read as a suicide note. But when it comes in at 141, I don't know where his phone is. I can tell you that for the full minute at 141, I can see Bynum's hands. He's messing with the four wheeler. Remember, he turns his camera back on at 140. And at exactly 141.24, Kenny comes on screen. He's standing on the other side of the four wheeler as they're trying to get it

“on the trailer. So, just going off this body cam footage, I think it would be easy to say that”

what they couldn't have sent the text message. We see them on camera at the exact time. Though, to be fair, I don't have eyes on Preston that whole time. I mean, I know he's there. I

can first see him on camera right after they get before we learn onto the trailer. But, you know,

something was bothering me. Like, and it's what we keep talking about. Like, it was itching my brain as I was like dissecting this video over and over. Why turn it back on? Yeah, I think this whole thing is more explainable. It could just left the camera off. Yes. Based on their own policy, you know, they have the right to decide when the event is over. If it's over, it's over. Why turn it back on? I turn it back on at 140 and only for a couple of minutes, by the way,

and how convenient that it is the exact time that trips phone sends that message. It's just

itching at me, right? Like, I was playing it over and over looking at like every move, every second,

and then I can't even explain how it hit me. But this thought came to me. This is early November. So I opened Google and I started typing, when was daylight savings? No, in November 2024. It was November freaking third 2024. On this night, it was 140 twice. That means that the missing 49 minutes could actually be an hour and 49 minutes. Right, because at 2 a.m, it goes back to 1 a.m. For like fall back. So it's possible, not definitive, but possible that trips phone sent that

at 141 and then went to a clock hit 20 minutes, 90 minutes later. It goes back to 1. So

“was the body can footage at 140, actually like 240, if it wouldn't have been daylight savings?”

Now, we went right to Jennifer to try and like pin this down. And she said she didn't even realize that the time changed that night. Like, she was so caught up in looking for her son. She had a lot going on. Yeah, the thing is she's like, I don't, she can't even pin down. She's like,

in the woods. She doesn't know which 140 it was. If it was after though, like, as they're in the woods, like that actually makes so much sense to me because one thing that was really throwing me was how trips dad was saying like, they were out there alone. There was no one there for a long time, right? Yeah, but because when I look at the activity logs from the sheriff's office, it seems like, I don't know, maybe an hour, maybe even less. So, you know, was that just because it felt like forever

because your son is missing and you're looking by yourself. Were the logs wrong? Or like, is it like, there's like this weird hour that's like not real or how did for? Yeah. Now, there is one log from dispatch that shows time out of order. Like, like it reset for daylight savings. So listen, it's very possible that everything is on the up and up and this is just

“another one of the craziest coincidences of all time. But how many of those do you get in one case?”

A few more because I was about to say that one of the things we so desperately wanted to get our hands on to help like sort this out was the actual dispatch calls from that day. But in another one in a

million chance. In a documented letter from the sheriff's office, they told Jennifer that they

couldn't give her the audio or like those calls because they're hard drive that like they kept all that on was struck by lightning. So the logs from that night were burned up and they just don't have them anymore. You're kidding me. Where do they keep this hard drive? Like on the top of a flagpole? Like, it makes no sense to me. And by the way, there is one more thing that could maybe sort all of this out. And that is trip's phone. And this is where I actually have good news.

His family has the phone. It has been in the PI's possession in a fairer day bad because

“they know that its contents are important. They want to get it forensically analyzed.”

And we actually asked Cody if we could help facilitate that. And he assured us that he has someone working on it and that the data should come back as soon as this month. And that data should tell us a lot if not everything. Like what time calls or texts were sent is in a universal time code. So we can see it irrespective of daylight saving. And it should be able to show us a clear path of how trips phone moved through the woods. This might be the definitive thing to help his family

understand if there really is something shady going on here. Those who knew trip say that they never

saw this coming and they can't possibly understand what about that night would have triggered something like this or something like what the sheriff's office is saying. And it's not just his

“mom and dad who were struck by this. The day after trips death, when the N.P. at their family”

doctor heard about this, she was so taken and back that she actually reached out to Jennifer and Gill and ultimately wrote a letter for them to show anyone who had questions about trips death. And this is actually her reading the letter for us. To whom it may concern, trip Brazil was last seen in our clinic on October 9th, 2024 for acute medical issues by me. During that visit, I questioned him about life in general. He seemed pleasant, happy,

and I had no concerns of any mental health issues. I had no concerns at all about him having suicidal thoughts or ideations. He was very excited about his current job and life in general.

He was a typical teenage boy. I also see other family members and have never had any concerns

about his home life or his well-being prior to his death. I am a family nurse practitioner and have no training in forensic pathology. There are some concerns in his autopsy report, but I am not in a position to offer input to the calls of his death. However, I was very surprised by his death by alleged suicide based on my previous visits with him. The missing pieces, in this case, tell a story of their own. The lack of probable cause for

pursuit trips last called to his parents asking to be picked up. His uncut feet, the mysterious anonymous call Ideing trip as the ETV writer, the gap in body cam footage, the late text gloves, just to name a few. Cody and Jennifer and Gil even Sandra, they all believed trip was met with foul play in the woods. If that's true, who would he have encountered? Anyone could have theoretically

is the two deputies were around the woods. And I also know that both of them have a history

“of misconduct. In 2023, Bynum was formally disciplined by the Forest City Police Department”

for in-subordination and neglect of duty. This is before Trip's case. According to the records, he repeatedly ignored direct orders, failing to respond to messages from supervisors, skipping, required administrative tasks, and refusing to follow instructions during his shift. Supervisors described him as argumentative and defiant. And according to his disciplinary records, which we have, at one point, Bynum pushed back by saying, quote, "You are not going to talk to

me any kind of way. I am a grown man," which sounds like the least grown man thing to say.

It's always like something my teenage son would say. As for Kenny, he was terminated from

the Lee County Sheriff's Department in 2021 after repeated complaints about his behavior. Internal records describe ongoing in-subordination, yelling at his superiors, and outright refusal

“to follow orders even after multiple warnings. But it doesn't stop there. Citizens also came forward”

accusing Kenny of speaking openly about calls that he responded to, and even making inappropriate comments about involved parties. Officials said that his behavior wasn't just unprofessional, it reflected poorly on the entire department, and they decided they couldn't keep him on any longer. So he just went to work for the St. Francis County Sheriff's Office.

Did they know all of this when they hired him?

Oh, it's all right there in the employment file, and they're both still with that department today. Well, as of this recording, Kenny is. But according to Cody and Gill, Bynum now works for the Marion Police Department, or at least he did while we were reporting on this case. But that actually changed as of very recently. I don't know what happened in the universe,

“but trips case started picking up some real internet steam. Facebook posts made about trip from”

like months ago went viral recently, and the community reaction elicited a pretty strong response from the city of Marion, who put out this press release on March 18, 2026. I'm going to have you read it, Brett. The city of Marion and the Marion Police Department understand the strong emotions surrounding the tragic death of Trip Brazil. Nothing about the situation diminishes the grief his family has experienced, or the community's desire for answers. On May 12, Mayor Tracy Brick

received a formal citizen request asking the city to review the hiring and continued employment of Officer Tray Bynum with the Marion Police Department. That same day, the police and fired a committee began a review of Officer Bynum's hiring process, prior employment history, and related records. The committee also met with representatives of the Brazil family's private investigative team as part of that review. Officer Bynum was not employed by the Marion

Police Department at the time of the 2024 incident involving Trip Brazil. Today, no state investigative agency has filed criminal charges or concluded that Officer Bynum committed misconduct related to Trip Brazil's death. During the review, the city identified that a prior law enforcement agency had not been included on Officer Bynum's original employment application submitted to the Marion Police Department. Although Officer Bynum later discussed the prior employment and related

disciplinary history with the department, the admission resulted in the department not obtaining and reviewing the complete employment documentation at the time of hire. After careful consideration of all information reviewed, the city has determined that continued employment with the Marion Police Department is no longer in the best interest of the department, the city, or the community, moving forward. This decision should not be interpreted as a finding of wrongdoing related to the

death of Trip Brazil. Rather, it reflects the city's responsibility to maintain integrity and public confidence in the law enforcement hiring process while acting in the best interest of the department and the community moving forward. Caramelungis, I hate to interrupt this broadcast, but something just happened that I need to tell you about, and you are not going to believe this. So, you just heard Brit Readest Statement from the city of Marion, saying that Tray Bynum was no

longer employed by the Marion Police Department, and that's true, but it turns out he just got employed again, and not by Marion PD. According to a Facebook post from the Forest City Times Harald, he has been re-hired by the St. Francis County Sheriff's Office. The post says, quote, St. Francis County Sheriff Bobby May confirmed to the Times Harald that Tray Bynum has been re-hired as a deputy with the department. May said Bynum, a certified law enforcement officer,

a good officer, and said he looks forward to working with him again. And quote, so that means,

“Bynum is expected to be back with the same department where all of this started. Obviously,”

I don't know what that means for this case moving forward. So, we are going to keep following this, and we'll try and update you as we learn more. Make sure to follow us on social, sign up for our newsletter on the Crime Drunky website. But for now, this doesn't change the rest of the episode, and there is still more to come. So, I'm going to send you back to past Ashley and Brit. Now, Jennifer Gill, Cody. They don't have any event that is with police. Cody even told us

that when he first heard the official details of this case, but like before he took it on,

he was fully prepared to have to tell the Brazil's that their son took his own life. But then once he started going through the materials, the gaps and the red flags caught even him by surprise.

“Him, a former military former EMT, former CID detective, and Gill, he was in law enforcement for”

14 years before taking over his family business. In fact, it is precisely because of Gill's law enforcement experience that he has so many questions about his son's case. He told us that he specifically worked hanging cases before, and what he is seeing is just not adding up. Plus, he says that many of the officers involved in his son's case, I told you, like he worked at them. He trained some of them. They were his friends, which like made their

handling of his son's death all the more frustrating. Yeah, like they aren't trying to help him from the inside now. No, not really not trying to help him. He doesn't even speak to them anymore. And Gill is actually running for St. Francis County Sheriff now because of everything. By the way, Cody isn't just sitting around frustrated with the system either. He's running for Sheriff, too, in Lawrence County. We need more good people at the helm, protecting the community,

“not protecting their own. Remember, guys, election day is November 3rd, 2026. And again,”

there is a chance that all of these red flags are really red herrings. But if they're not, then trips family has gone too long without justice. They're still grieving. They even considered filing a wrongful death suit, but they want to make sure that they have all their ducks in a row. So, Jennifer is still foiling, still trying to get trips, clothing, and the ratchet strap and more employment records. She says she knows something more happened to her son out there, and she won't

stop until she gets the answers she deserves. Now, when we asked Jennifer, how we could use our platform to help her. She said that she just wants people to understand the power of the freedom of information act and how to use it. All they had when their son first died was just this gut feeling that something wasn't right. Jennifer had to get all of the records to be able to point to exactly what it was that made her feel that way. And even though Gil used to work in law enforcement,

Jennifer said she had no idea how to go about getting this stuff. Like, she'd never filed a

FOIA in her life. So, she had to ask friends, she was a googling her way through this stuff, and she doesn't want any other parent or sibling or loved one to have to figure it out all on their own like she did. Like, in the middle of the worst time of your life, right? So, we actually created a FOIA guide on our website, inspired by this case, to help crime junkies feel confident making their own requests. No one ever expects to live a case like this, but it does happen,

and when it does, it can be so overwhelming to even get your bearings. So, we're going to slowly start building out our resources for families and for law enforcement, and this is our like

very first step towards that. I'm going to link directly to our guide on how to submit a FOIA

in the show notes. And hopefully, I'll be able to come back with an update on this case soon. Until then, if any of our listeners have information to share, email our tip line, [email protected] You can find all the source material on our website, crime junkie.com and you can find us on Instagram @crimechunkeypodcast. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode.

Crime junkie is an audio check production. I think Chuck would approve.

Okay, Crime junkies, you know I absolutely love a twist and a turn, especially when it comes to

“people who turn out to be someone they're not. That's why I have been obsessed with the podcast”

community. And every Thursday, host Josh Dean, deep dives into a scam, so bizarre,

it will leave you wondering how to take it away with that. It is truly one of my favorite podcasts

“right now, and I've been listening for years. I think you'll love it too. Listen to community”

wherever you get your podcasts.