Original subtitles

When a relationship sours...

Okay, fine. Leave then.

...it's hard to know who you can trust...

His scope of his mental issues ranged,

some would say, like Jekyll and Hyde.

...until it's too late.

Heather!

She was scared out of her mind,

and she probably had no idea what he was gonna do next.

Nestled among the lakes, rivers, and forests

of Michigan's lower peninsula

is the tiny town of onaway.

Onaway is kind of like a lot of northern Michigan towns.

There's a lot of vacation properties, hunting camps.

It's not necessarily a resort area,

but there are people who have properties

up there around onaway,

who enjoy seasonal summer activities.

It's a place where everyone truly

really knows everyone else.

But this is 42-year-old

Heather young's first time in onaway,

so, the divorced mother of two adult children

barely knows anyone.

Heather young came to onaway with her boyfriend, Gary.

It sounds, at first, as if it was idyllic.

They went there at summertime.

They were gonna go out and do some things,

like maybe pick berries or different things like that.

But she had very little funds,

so she was trying to establish a little bit of work there.

Finding employment turns out to be even harder

than Heather anticipated.

Man, you would not believe the day I have had.

I think I've been to every business in town.

One of them has got to hire me, right?

Come on. You've got to be kidding me.

You've been playing that thing since I left...

Three hours ago.

Heather's relationship with Gary,

the way I seen it, it wasn't that great.

They'd break up, and they'd be broke up for a while,

and then they'd be back together.

She couldn't live with him. She couldn't live without him.

Did you go to the service station, talk to the manager?

Yes!

Headshot. Wh--

the manager, what did he say?

Come on, I'll go first thing tomorrow morning?

I think Gary did take Heather for granted.

He didn't try to better his situation.

He wasn't trying to succeed in life in any way,

and I think he just wanted to latch

onto her and leech from her.

What happened to all the food I bought?

We've got nothing to make dinner with.

She tried to make things good,

but at the same time,

he was pretty much an alcoholic.

I'm going to the store.

Get more beer, will you?

He would mooch off my mother to get her to buy him alcohol,

and it just wasn't good.

It seemed toxic to me.

After several weeks in onaway,

Heather's situation doesn't improve.

In fact, it gets worse.

Yeah, well, if anything opens up,

I hope you'll keep me in mind.

Okay.

Great. Okay, thank you. Bye.

She was trying to get employment,

and she was also reaching out to her family

for transferring of funds to her bank card,

to see if maybe she could get money for gas

and making a decision as to what she was gonna do.

Hey, babe.

Guess what?

What, the service manager called?

Nope.

Even better.

Go on, open it.

Genuine rawhide.

Can you believe it?

I've wanted these my whole life. -We can't afford these.

You have to take these back.

Hold on.

The hell I do. Do you have any idea

how long I've been wanting a pair like this?

What about getting a job?

What about getting our own place?

It's been months, Gary,

and you're not even trying.

Nag, nag, nag.

That's all you do.

When did you get to be such a miserable person?

I'm so sick and tired of you always --

fine.

Then let me do US both a favor.

And they just kept arguing over different things.

She was just done with his anger issues,

and one thing led to another.

What in the world do you think you're doing?

You're acting like a child!

No,

I'm sick of living with a child.

Okay, fine. Leave then.

He would treat her like crap.

She left him, got all her things out of the house

and put it in her truck.

She had told Gary that she was going back to stay with her mom,

my grandma Gail.

Bye, Gary.

She might have just been done with him for good.

Without money for gas to make the four-hour drive

to her mom's Sherwood, Michigan home,

Heather searches for a place in town to cool off.

Hey, mom. How you doing?

She was just saying something about, you know,

having all her things in her truck

and saying that Gary and her had broken up.

Some fresh start this place turned out to be.

I told her it can escalate. It could get worse,

and I really didn't like the idea of them being together.

I made a comment to her,

and she says, "mom, I love him."

And I said, "I really can't get it."

So I don't know which way she was gonna go.

Honey, I'm behind you, whichever way you go.

Just let me know. Thanks, mom.

Love you. Talk to you soon.

I think that she should have just gotten on the highway

and just came home,

but for some reason, she ended up at the bar.

She probably was trying to blow some steam off

and trying to talk about her problems,

and I think that might have been what she was looking for,

going to the bar.

Can I get a glass of red?

Sure thing.

I'm guessing that's either a bill collector

or an ex.

A soon-to-be ex.

Bill collectors call on mondays.

Yeah.

They call me cowboy Brent.

It's a pleasure to meet you.

Brenton Walker -- he was an affable character,

very likable. He had a charm to him.

No, no, no, no, put it away.

I got it.

Hey.

To fresh starts.

I will drink to that.

Thank you. You're welcome.

Brenton Walker fit the archetype

of a lot of northern Michigan kind of good ole boys.

Just a guy who liked to go have a couple beers

and hang out at the bar.

For the next several hours,

as the two drink, talk, dance, and play pool,

Heather's problems with Gary become a distant memory.

Whoa, yeah.

Okay.

Your shot. Okay.

There you go. Um, all right.

I think I'll... -But wait, wait, wait.

Hold on a second. Hold on, wait.

You don't want to hit it straight on.

What you want to do is you just want to kiss it.

I think, in a very short time,

she had become friends with Brent Walker.

He appeared to be friendly and easygoing.

Worked like a charm. Indeed.

Last call!

Gosh. Is it that late already?

You in a rush to get home?

No, but...

I don't really have anywhere else to go.

You know, I got a spare bedroom.

No, hey, no strings attached.

Had an idea it might give you some space, if you needed it.

You think about it. I'm gonna settle up.

She had a lot of stress on her shoulders

and a million things going through her brain.

Heather, where the hell are you?

You're being ridiculous!

Get your butt back home now.

With Gary, I'd hoped that Heather realized

that she could have done better.

But it didn't really work out like that.

After a fight with her live-in boyfriend,

42-year-old Heather young finds comfort

in a local man known as cowboy Brent,

who's just offered her a room at his place for the night.

So, darling, what'd you decide?

If your offer is still good,

I'd like to take you up on it.

There's nothing good waiting for me at home.

You're a smart lady.

Cunningham: Brenton Walker just came off to her as

"you can tell me, you know, filter out to me.

I'll give you a shoulder to weep on."

That's what she needed at the time, so she followed through.

I parked down here....

I think I should drive myself.

You sure? It's pretty far.

How far? It's not Canada.

I don't know. 15 minutes.

Brenton Walker was up in the millersburg area,

which is another small, little remote village,

east of onaway.

It's out in the sticks, and you've got to mind

the ditches or you might end up in one.

I'll be careful. -All right, I'll swing around.

You follow me.

At 12:45 A.M.,

Heather and Brent leave the pool hall

and head to his isolated property in millersburg.

If onaway is a small town,

millersburg is a real small town.

I mean, it's middle of nowhere.

The acreage where he lived was 80 acres.

When you drive by it, you don't see anything from the road,

definitely remote and definitely somewhat secluded,

even in its own little parcel.

He wasn't kidding about being in the sticks.

Home again, home again, jiggedy jig.

Bag in the back? Yes.

I will grab it.

Heather had been very upset about her breakup with Gary,

and I'm sure that was front, foremost on her mind.

Here we go.

You want a drink?

Just water, thanks.

It was a small place.

It was set up for someone that was, you know,

wanting to get away from everything

and maybe hunt, camp, fish,

and just, you know, have some peace and quiet.

Bitch.

No, not you. My ex-wife.

I'm afraid you're not the only person

with relationship problems.

Brenton Walker was married four times,

and he was currently getting divorced.

His ability to maintain a relationship was not good,

and that did not appear that any of his ex-wives

were willing to maintain a friendship

or relationship with him.

I'm sorry. It's still a bit raw.

I guess that's something I've got to work on.

They were commiserating about,

you know, fighting, relationships,

and just kind of venting about, you know, frustrations.

You know, I don't understand how this Gary guy

could let a girl like you get away.

I seem to attract nothing but losers.

Meanwhile, over in onaway, Heather's estranged boyfriend,

Gary Miller, is drunk and frustrated.

Gary came off to me as pretty much an alcoholic.

If he didn't have a beer, he would get angry.

I've noticed throughout their relationship,

he seemed to get violent when he was angry,

and he's actually hurt my mom

physically and emotionally.

Go home. We're closed.

Gary and Heather had spent a significant amount of time

over the last week at the bar.

It seemed to be a place that they were going

and meeting some people in town.

Hey, I'm looking for Heather.

All right, well, she's not here.

Heather left about a half-hour ago.

People that knew her said she was there and left at 12:45.

Yeah, just go home, get some sleep.

You two can work it out in the morning.

No, where -- where'd she go?

Just tell me this --

was she alone?

Okay.

Heather?

Back at the cabin, it's getting very late,

and Heather is ready to go to sleep.

So, we got extra blankets in there, if you need them,

and the bathroom is the first door down the hall.

You need anything else?

No.

She would have just stayed the night and more than likely,

leave the following day to go home.

But what she didn't know was that Brenton,

he couldn't take it no more.

I can't. I'm sorry.

Why?

Gary, I mean, he's being a jerk --

Gary is being a jerk?

Brenton Lee Walker is starting to get very angry

because he's relating what she's saying,

and it's reminding him about his past relationships.

That's right.

It's always the guy that's the jerk.

You know what, you women, you're all alike.

You're always so sweet, and you're coy

when you want something, but no.

Then you get it,

but it's all lies.

After his sudden outburst,

Heather is having second thoughts about her stay.

I think she knew when something bad was gonna happen,

and something was gonna go very wrong.

I think she could sense that.

Brenton had these problems with past women in his life,

and she didn't know it would spark a monster inside of him.

No!

Hoping to crash at the remote cabin

of her new acquaintance, cowboy Brent,

Heather young's night has just taken a terrifying turn.

Help me!

Help me!!

Probably she was petrified.

She was probably scared out of her mind.

She probably had no idea what he was gonna do next.

I didn't want to do that.

Heather: Aah!

I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me.

Aah! Aah!

I'm sorry. No, no, no, no, no.

I'm sorry. I-I --

Brenton Walker's, I guess the scope of his mental issues

ranged, some would say, a Jekyll and Hyde.

Come on. One moment is going down

into a deep part of his mind, and it says,

"I need to do something bad because I don't like

what this woman is saying about her boyfriend."

And the next moment, he's affable.

Come on. Let's get you to the kitchen.

Come on. No!

Come on. It's okay. I'm sorry.

Come on.

I wouldn't think that anything was making sense to her.

She probably didn't know whether to believe him or not.

It's okay. Come on.

Okay, get up on the counter.

Here, come on.

Let me help you.

Okay.

All right. I've got some peroxide in here somewhere.

All right.

To me, she would be confused of,

"you just really hurt me."

I don't see her being calm about the situation,

even if he told her that he would help her.

Okay.

This is gonna to help. Don't --

no, I don't -- I don't think it's gonna help.

Brenton Walker shot her in the leg.

She's not mobile.

I need to go to the hospital.

Yeah, you're right. You're right, the hospital.

...yeah, right....

You're probably gonna need some stitches.

Yeah.

Okay.

But then they're gonna know because you're gonna tell them.

No, I won't.

I'll tell them i-it was an accident.

You're gonna ruin me,

just like the rest of them.

No.

No!

She was the kind of woman you could look at

and think that you could overpower,

but, really, it was mind over matter.

She was a lot tougher than she looked.

It's gonna be okay.

It's gonna be okay.

Meanwhile, Heather's boyfriend, Gary, returns home.

Come on, Heather.

Pick up the phone.

Okay, come on.

Come on. Come on.

Okay, okay.

Come on. Pick up.

Pick up, come on.

My god. No signal.

Come on. Come on. Come on.

All right, okay.

It's ringing.

Heather?

Open the door, or I'm gonna break it down.

Heather young had to feel that she was in a trapped situation,

for sure, because she doesn't really know where she's at.

Phone service is minimal, at best.

There's no landline to call 911.

Although strong-willed, she's been shot.

She's disoriented, most likely.

I think she realized that this was a bad situation.

Open the damn door!

Open the damn door, Heather!

I get very angry, thinking of her

being forced to feel like that

because she was such a strong and independent woman.

I think she was terrified but also determined

that she was going to live.

Heather, open the door.

Heather. Heather.

Just open the door.

I'm not gonna hurt you. I promise.

I can make this good. I-I will make this good.

I swear to you I will make this good.

I am so sorry. Okay?

She was known to carry mace.

She was a little bit of a tough cookie.

She was trying to think of a way to get out of there

and get out of there alive.

God! Aah!

Aah!

She's trying with all her heart to get to her truck

so she could get away.

You bitch!

I am gonna kill you.

Trapped in a remote Michigan cabin,

with no cellphone reception,

Heather young is in a race to escape a violent madman.

Aah!

No!

She was fighting for her life.

You bitch!

Probably tried to get him down

and give her a little bit of a head start.

You have a person that you just maced, who's already shot you,

and you're in the middle of nowhere on his property.

Heather young's options

to escape from that situation are limited.

There's no neighbor to run over to next door

that she's gonna be able to get help from,

and with the thick foliage,

they wouldn't know if someone was back there or not.

Heather!

300 miles away in Sherwood, Michigan,

Heather's mom, Gail, is having a sleepless night,

thinking about her last conversation with her daughter.

Every time I tried to get ahold of her,

it kept going to voicemail.

I had a very, very bad feeling all --

red flags just went up all through my body,

and I just knew something was wrong.

Heather!

Heather!

Heather!

She's probably with all her mind, body and soul

trying to get away.

Heather!

Heather!

Heather young's options to escape from that situation,

there was only one --

get in her car.

She didn't have her keys, and her truck was locked.

I'm gonna get you now.

I'm coming for you.

Heather debates trying to circle back to retrieve her keys.

Now or never.

At daybreak, Heather's boyfriend, Gary,

awakens to find she still hasn't come home.

Heather?

I remembered her saying,

"mom, if you can't ever get ahold of me, call Gary."

I said, "could I talk to Heather please?"

I don't see her stuff. No, I --

I understand that. Yeah, I know.

She's supposed to be with me, but she's not.

He said, "well, she was supposed to have gone home.

You mean she isn't home?"

I kind of went livid with him. I just said,

"Gary, you and I would not be having this conversation,

would we? If she was home, why would I be calling you?"

She's just like her mother.

I just thought he had done something to her,

and the next morning,

I reported it to the state police that she was missing,

and they got right on it.

Three days after Heather was reported missing,

detectives pay a visit to Gary Miller.

Gary Miller? Yeah.

Gary was considered a suspect

in the disappearance of Heather young.

I mean, we had a fight,

but just like a 100 other fights.

These fights,

they ever get physical?

Obviously with cellphones,

when someone is off the radar for three or four days,

we now have to start looking at is something else going on here.

No, they're just arguments, sir.

She always comes home afterwards,

and this time, she didn't, so...

Any idea where she might have gone?

Yeah.

Gary's involvement in this was somewhat questioned

because he was almost too cooperative.

Yeah.

There.

Thank you.

Detectives leave Gary and head for the bar where he claims

Heather spent time on the night she disappeared.

How are you?

State police.

Wondering if you've seen this woman lately?

Yeah. Heather, right?

Yeah.

Yeah, she comes in from time to time.

When is the last time you saw her?

A couple nights ago.

She was hanging out with this guy, um...

Cowboy Brent.

Folks found him comfortable to speak with and be around.

They just knew him as "cowboy Brent."

There was "bill." There was different ideations

of his name being tossed out.

Do you have a real name for me?

I can't help you there.

Did he pay with a credit card?

Let me check. Thank you.

It appeared that we had a date of when Heather was at that bar,

and that was the last time that she was seen

because Gary had seen her earlier in the evening.

Here we go,

Brenton.

That's it -- Brenton Walker.

Did you see Heather with anyone else that night?

Pretty much from the moment she walked in

till the moment she walked out, Brent stuck to her like glue.

You sure they left together?

Sure as my eyes can see.

Once we had his name,

Brenton Walker became our focus.

Nearly a week after 42-year-old Heather young disappeared,

police are honing in on 55-year-old Brenton Walker.

Michigan state police do a thorough search

of Brenton Walker's background

and discover some dark secrets about the affable barfly.

His history indicated there was a complicated man.

There was history of him being arrested

for domestic assault out in Washington.

He was a felon.

Law enforcement is able to track down Walker

at his family's property in nearby millersburg.

How are you?

I'm good, thanks.

We had things put into operational play,

which was to secure him,

engage him in a conversation...

Just need to ask you...

...do you know this woman?

That, - that looks like a gal

I met at sneaky Pete's the other night.

Said she was having some problems at home.

She needed a place to crash.

So, she slept here?

Well, we...

We didn't get much sleeping done.

Brenton Walker says she came here willingly

and she left willingly Saturday morning,

when the sun came up.

He doesn't know where she's at.

When did she leave?

Early, 6:30 maybe.

Didn't even stay for coffee.

Why? Something happen to her?

It had been a week already,

but we noticed a Mark on his forehead.

What happened to your head?

Excuse me?

Your forehead.

I was trimming some trees in the yard, and I...

Real dummy, just scratched it.

Yeah.

He, being out in that property, was claiming,

"I got stuck with some brush,"

but that thought was there was defensive scratch wounds.

I would try to get him to understand

that we just want to make sure that everything is okay.

Detectives decide they need to take a hard look

at the Walker property.

Six days later, state police return, search warrant in hand.

We're looking for evidence of Heather young's body or DNA

or body fluids or some indication

that she was there and did not leave there.

Nice antlers.

Store-bought?

This is my brother's place.

Not much of a hunter? No, I'm not.

He was tired of being questioned.

He, again, would vacillate between,

"hey, I'm just an innocent guy. I don't have anything to hide.

I don't know where she's at,"

to defensive.

Detective? Yeah?

We definitely got blood.

I cut myself chopping wood.

Okay.

Let's cut out this section and process it.

Brenton Walker's statement was still that he had nothing to do

with Heather's disappearance.

However, we started to put together

the, what I call the planks, or the foundation of that,

based on my training experience,

that Heather young did not leave that property.

Still, it's not enough to arrest Brenton Walker,

that is, until police make another disturbing discovery.

Detective, found this under a mattress.

The barrel tests positive for gunshot residue.

We found the .22 rifle,

which I believe was key in this case.

I use that gun -- I hunt squirrels with that gun.

Squirrels? Yeah, squirrels.

He was a felon,

and he was not allowed to be in possession of a firearm.

Based on him being the only person up there for that summer,

we determined that we would make that arrest

of a felon in possession of a firearm.

As detectives bring Brenton Walker

back to the station for booking,

the suspect makes a startling change to his story.

I think things started to, for Brenton, come to play,

that, "I'm gonna be going away.

They're gonna find this stuff.

There's state police lab personnel in booties,

and there's helicopters and canine dogs

are all over the property,"

and he decided that he wanted to confess to his crime.

He claims that Heather young

tried to leave the house early that morning,

but Brenton Walker wasn't willing to let her go.

Heather.

He was saying that my mother reminded him

of his ex-wife and other women he's been with

that betrayed him and he just couldn't take it anymore.

It's like opening up a door into these demons in his mind,

when the situation presented itself.

Isolated, someone doesn't really know

that Heather young is there.

The opportunity, everything came together perfectly,

as in a perfect storm, I guess,

that Brenton Walker was able to act out

on the many years of his mental anguish

or mental frustration against women.

Okay.

That was the dark side coming out.

Brenton Walker was just willing to just say whatever he wanted.

He even had to make sure he got his digs in on Heather.

Finally, with confirmation of what happened to Heather young,

police travel to Sherwood, Michigan,

to break the news to her devastated family.

My husband had come to my bedroom and said,

"sweetie, the state police are here."

I already knew, without a doubt,

just the look on his face told me

he was gonna tell me the bad news.

People were texting me.

My granddaughters were texting me,

"grandma, what's going on?" And I couldn't answer them.

You're just really not in the state of mind.

It hurt me so bad I couldn't even walk.

I mean, I fell to the ground, and I couldn't get back up.

I was just broken.

On may 15th, 2017,

Brenton Walker pleads guilty to Heather young's murder.

He is sentenced to 45 to 70 years in prison.

A beautiful and beloved daughter and mother,

Heather young is deeply missed by all those

whose lives she touched during her 42 years.

The world lost a wonderful person,

and there's no one out there,

out of the billions of people here today,

that would even come close

to being the kind of person that she was.

I get lonely, and I miss her

and just long for her company

and wish she could just walk in the door

and just say, "what do you want to do tonight, mom?"

I just think about...

...all the great things that we did together.