All language subtitles for CrimeFeed S01 E04_track3_[eng]

[narrator] This week on
Crimefeed...

Kouri Richins, her husband
died drinking a Moscow Mule.

She wrote a book about grief.

Now she's suspected of murder,
and her behavior

gets more bizarre.

And the disturbing case of
Sergio Brown,

the former NFL player
found partying in Mexico

while his mom's body was found
in the woods near their house.

This isCrimefeed
with Nancy Grace,

investigative journalist
Mara S. Campo,

and private investigator
Derrick Levasseur.

Good evening. I'm Nancy Grace.

This is Crimefeed,
and I want to thank you
for being with us.

The picture-perfect family,
a successful, glamorous mom

and a dad who built
his own business empire,

three beautiful little boys,
and a McMansion to boot.

But now the dad is dead,
dead of an over-the-top

fentanyl overdose and mommy
accused of murder.

Mara, what?

Yeah, Nancy, a year after
the death of a loving husband

and father of three children,
authorities in Utah uncover

what they believe is actually
a twisted murder plot

full of lies and deception,
and the motive could be money.

Here's the story.

[Nancy] On March 4th, 2022,
darkness descended on

the radiant town of Kamas,
Utah, when 39-year-old
family man

and wealthy business
owner Eric Richins

was found dead at
the foot of his bed.

Eric's wife, 33-year-old
real estate agent
Kouri Richins,

told authorities
she made Eric a Moscow Mule,

vodka, and ginger beer
before falling asleep

in one of
her children's rooms.

When she woke up
and went to her bedroom,

her husband was cold
to the touch.

Eric's sudden death became
even more shocking

when his autopsy revealed
something suspicious.

The medical examiner
determined he died of

an overdose after finding
five times the lethal dosage

of fentanyl in his system.

For Eric's friends and family,
it didn't make any sense.

As far as they knew,
he never used drugs.

Kouri said she was shattered.

She was left to pick up
the pieces for her three
young boys.

That included writing
a children's book about coping

with grief on the one-year
anniversary of Eric's death.

She even promoted
the book on a TV show

calledGood Things Utah.

I just wanted some story
to read to my kids

at night, and I just could
not find anything.

I couldn't find anything
that really, you know,
suited them

or helped them find comfort
and peace.

And so I was like,
let's just write one.

The book was even dedicated
to, quote, "My amazing husband

and a wonderful father."

But while Kouri was becoming
a national celebrity,

she was also gaining
the attention of authorities.

They suspected Kouri
may not have been the poor,

grieving widow
she wanted to portray.

Summit County Sheriff's
investigators found evidence

that pointed to Kouri.

They discovered that Kouri
purchased fentanyl

from an acquaintance just days
before Eric's death.

Detectives now believe
that Kouri Richins
poisoned her husband

by spiking his Moscow Mule
with the drug

on the night he died.

But why?

After looking into
her background,

police discovered Kouri's
real estate business

was in trouble, nearly
$2 million in debt.

And before Eric's death,
they found that she took

hundreds of thousands
of dollars from
his bank accounts,

plus nearly $2 million
in life insurance policies

on her husband,

without his knowledge.

And all the pieces came
together when detectives

learned about Kouri's
prenuptial agreement,

barring her from claiming
Eric's multi-million
dollar business,

except in the event of
his death.

She was arrested
on May 8th, 2023

for the murder
of her husband.

Now Eric's loved ones
are waiting with
bated breath to see

if a judge throws the book at
the infamous author.

Kouri's next court
appearance is scheduled

for November 3rd, 2023.
Nancy.

Wow. Okay.

That was an earful more
than I wanted to hear.

You know, you mentioned, Mara,
could the motive be money?

Well, yeah.

$2 million worth
of life insurance policies.

Four life insurance policies

that she, Kouri Richins,
took out on her husband.

-Yeah.
-Now, let me tell you
something.

If my husband,
David Lynch runs off behind

my back and gets $2 million
worth of life insurance on me,

I'm calling a PI.

Yeah, no, there's a lot there
to really dive into.

We have obviously
the incidents

leading up to the whole,
the murder itself,

thinking back to both the trip
in Greece, where that was

the first attempt
to kill Eric,

where Eric actually calls
his sister and says,

I think Kouri just tried
to kill me.

Then you fast forward
to Valentine's day
where you have

Kouri reaching out for some,
some narcotics

before the incident.

He, Eric, takes a bite
of his sandwich.

[Nancy] Did you just say
reaching out for narcotics?

-[Derrick] Yeah.
-You mean trying
to score a buy?

Trying to get a hit?

-Yeah.
-Okay.

Reaching out for narcotics
kind of sounds like

you're going to the doctor
to get your heart
medication refilled.

Well, she was, hydrocodone
was the first thing

she went out for.

That didn't work,
so then she upgraded
to fentanyl, right?

And then you have Eric
who takes a bite of
a sandwich,

just one bite.

And he has this reaction
where he has hives,

and then he can't breathe.

And fortunately,
he was able to get

to his son's EpiPen,
which saved him.

But then again, he calls
his business partner

and says, listen, I think
Kouri just tried to kill me.

-Those exact words, Derrick.
You're right.
-Yeah, I don't--

Hey, and he was kind
of laughing about it.

He said, "Hey, [chuckles]
I think she's trying
to kill me, man,

for the money."

-Yeah.
-But truer words were
never spoken, Mara.

so much so that he then
changed his will

so that everything
was put in trust.

So the prenuptial agreement
that they had said that

she would get some of his
assets if he died before her.

And that's what
she believed all
the way up until his death.

But what he had done is,
in late 2020,

because he didn't trust her,
he created a trust,

he moved all of his assets
to the trust,

and he made his sister,
the personal representative,

in control of that trust.

Kouri did not learn that,

allegedly, until after
Eric's death.

She was trying
to drill into a safe

because he had about $165,000
in cash in the safe,

and she was told,
you can't do that.

And her sister-in-law said,
because I'm in control of
the estate.

And then, reportedly,
Kouri punched
her sister-in-law

when she learned that news.

That's right, guys.
And to top it all off,

Kouri Richins,
the so-called Moscow Mule Mom,

because, you know,
Moscow Mules are made

with ginger beer,
which is very tangy to hide

the taste of fentanyl.

She then goes on to write
a grief book for her children.

She's got three little boys
to help them deal with

losing their father that cops
say she killed.

I want you to take
a listen to Kouri Richins

talking about
her "Grief book."

So my husband passed away
unexpectedly last year.

So it's March 4th
was a one-year anniversary

for us and he was 39.
It completely...

took us all by shock.

We have three little boys,
10, nine, and six and, um...

You know, we kind of...
My kids and I kind of wrote
this book

on the different emotions
and [sighs] grieving processes

that we've experienced
last year and, you know,
hoping that

it can kind of help
other kids,

you know, deal with this
and kind of, you know,

find happiness some way
or another.

Some way or another.

Well, she says she wrote
the book with her

three little children,
but her Google
searches reveal,

"How do I hire somebody to
write a book for me?"

Ouch.

Yeah, well, there's other
Google searches that I find

incredibly compelling
in this case.

So on the evening of
Eric's death, she told police

that she didn't touch
her phone.

-Right.
-But they later found
that there was activity

on her phone, including
internet searches.

And here is some of what
she allegedly searched
that night.

"Can cops force you to take
a lie detector test?

Will life insurance
pay if the death certificate
says pending?

If someone is poisoned,
what does it go down

on the death certificate as?"

And, my favorite,
what is considered

a lethal dose of fentanyl?

One more thing about
the phone, because
that's incriminating,

obviously.

But also, think about what
she said that night.

She gives him the Moscow Mule.

She says she goes to bed
with her son,

who is having nightmares.

And she says she leaves
her phone on the charge
the entire time.

However, the phone tells
a different story.

You have multiple times
where the phone was locked

and unlocked while
she allegedly was sleeping.

And then you also have
her doing actual messages

between someone
who were later deleted.

And then finally,
they have movement
with the phone itself.

So clearly, what she was
saying did not happen.

I think cops are really going
to weigh in on that.

She's getting caught in
a lot of lies.

Eric Richen's family
has lived through H-E-L-L.

Did they believe Eric
was murdered?

When we come back.

[music playing]

A mom of three,
Kouri Richins, accused of
spiking her husband's

Moscow Mule cocktail

with a deadly fentanyl
overdose.

And then she goes on
to write a children's book

about grief for their
three little boys.

And now in a new twist,

jailers say she writes
a script for her family,

directing them to lie about
the murder.

So how does Eric Richins'
family feel about that?

With us right now.

High-profile lawyer
Greg Skordas,
the family spokesperson.

Greg, it's so great
to see you again.

It's nice to be
with you again.

You're representing
Eric Richins' family.

And what's amazing to me,
Greg, is this, I believe,

is not the first time
she's tried to poison him.

And that family,
the Richins' family,

must have smelled trouble
way back when,

when they talked Eric
into signing a prenup,

getting her to sign a prenup.

What's the latest
with this script that jailers

find in her cell telling them
to say Eric was a drug addict

and he would go to Mexico
and get drugs?

She's the one scoring
the drugs from a housekeeper.

The housekeeper's
already admitted.

Yeah, it's the walk the dog
letter, and the jailers found

that during a routine search
of her cell.

They found a letter folded up
in a book

that basically is a letter
to her mother

purporting to give
her brother information

about what to say,
and she sort of even says,

you know, you need
to spoon-feed it to the kid

because maybe
he's not the brightest,

-but...
-Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait.

-Yes.
-What?

The "script" says you need
to spoon feed him this?

Yeah, she says sort of
make it short make it easy

-Don't, don't use a lot of
big words. Right.
-Dummy down.

And so, and that, that Eric
was a drug user.

That he traveled to Mexico
periodically to get

his fentanyl, all of which is
completely untrue,

not corroborated by anything.
But, she says,

you need to give this
to my brother.

You need to tell him
when he goes to court that

what he needs to say is
A, B, C, and D

which would establish if true
that Eric was in fact,

a drug user when in fact,
it's just not.

I mean, this...
the county's actually
looking at it

-as witness tampering.
-Oh, yeah.

[Nancy] You're darn right.

So she doesn't want to just
kill him according to police.

She wants to drag
his reputation through the mud

I mean, what's worse
than that?

According to police,
she kills him,

murders him for money,
pecuniary interest

and then tries to paint him
as a dope addict.

Well, part and part of what
she writes in that letter

is coaching on what
they should say
during interviews

and she says during
an interview
with Good Morning America,

make sure you tell them
that he bragged about being
a drug user.

And is that the kind of thing,
if your beloved husband

had died of
an accidental overdose,

you would want people
to think?

Can you give us some
insight on what kind of
person Kouri is

as a person, as someone
who has a personal knowledge

of her?

I guess from just having
practiced law for 41 years,

I would call her a sociopath.

I mean, a person really devoid
of a conscience,

devoid of a-- I mean,
there's nothing there.

When you look at her,
when you see her in court,

when you watch her body
language, there is nothing.

And just like you talked
about, the writing of a book.

That is trying to make
it seem as though

your husband was
a sympathetic person,

that he's up in heaven
sort of coming

and reaching out
toward the children.

It's just such hypocrisy,
given everything

we now know about
the homicide.

But it just,
it never surprises me.

I mean, I've practiced
law long enough

to see that every case
has its own nuances,

and this one just,
and it continues to take turn

after turn after turn.

Can you tell us
about the party?

I love that part.

-Yeah.
-That would be state's
exhibit number one.

Please tell us, Greg.

Yeah, so right after,
I mean, she was ready to close

on a house about
the time Eric died.

That he disagreed
with flipping that house.

That he didn't want her
to buy the $2 million

so-called mansion in
neighboring Wasatch County.

So she still celebrated,
notwithstanding her husband

has just died, the purchase of
the part of the house,

and the house that
she was going to flip.

Of course, she was well
upside down with
hard money lenders

and with others in that house.

She was never going to make
the money that

she was bragging that
she was going to make.

And in fact, it got to
the point where she got in

a fight with one of
Eric's sisters

and was charged criminally
with assault

because she allegedly
punched the sister.

-Which sister was that, Greg?
-It was Katie.

As a matter of fact,
let's take a listen

to the dad, Eric, sister Amy.

Dear Judge Mrazik,
I'm here today to represent

my brother,
Eric Eugene Richins,

His life was taken
in a senseless act

of poisoning on
March 3rd, 2022.

His wife, the defendant,
has been accused of

committing this crime.

If she is found guilty,
she has committed

the ultimate act of betrayal.

Eric is gone
and I am brokenhearted.

He was my best friend
and protector.

The feeling of loss is
so great, it is visceral.

And with the sorrow comes
wave of panic

and not being able
to see him again.

I can never talk to him,
never hug him again,

and never more be
a part of his life.

With me, high-profile lawyer
Greg Skordas,

who is representing Eric's
family, the Richen family.

I think the whole thing
is bass-ackwards,

and maybe I'm projecting,
Greg.

But after my fiance
was murdered shortly

before our wedding,
the last thing I had

on my mind is throwing
a boozed-up party

over flipping a house
and making money.

Money?

What's money when the one
you love the most is gone?

Or hiring a locksmith
to come and drill his safe

while people are still
there mourning.

I mean, that's really
what precipitated
the conflict,

is she's got some guy
out there drilling a hole

in his safe because,
as you mentioned

earlier, there was a lot of
cash in there.

I mean, she was not holding
back at all, trying to access

as many of his assets as
possible as soon as he died.

[Derrick] Greg,
I think a lot of people,
when they hear this story,

are going to ask why.
Why did Eric stay?

I mean, as a detective,
we're looking for means,

motive, opportunity,
and very rarely do you have
a victim who's aware,

before their death,
of the means

and the motive behind it.

I know there are kids
involved,

but do you have any insight
as to why Eric chose to stay

under the same roof
with Kouri?

You just said the reason,
Derrick. Three reasons.

-Yes.
-Those three boys.

And he was a father
above everything else.

And he would have
done anything he could

to keep that family together.
And it's part of
the culture there.

It's part of the way
people live in that

particular community.

But he wanted to stay
with those children

and raise those in a family.

Now, he was certainly
looking in terms of
protecting his assets

and maybe even had consulted
a divorce lawyer.

But he was not going
to do anything that would

jeopardize the health
or safety of those boys.

[Nancy] You know, we've got
more of Amy.

Let's take a listen one more
time to Eric's sister.

His own family seem to be
the only ones standing up
for him.

He has no voice
of his own now.

He's been murdered.
Listen.

Not only did she betray
our brother,

it feels as though
she has murdered

and taken away a part of
our souls as well.

Because of our actions,
there has not been a day

that has gone by
we have not lived

with paralyzing anxiety
and fear,

worrying for the boys' lives
as well as our own.

I may be naive, but I never
knew evil like this existed.

The twists and turns
in the case,

her writing the book,
her going on TV,

drilling into his safe while
literally the mourners are

in the home mourning,
throwing the party.

It's almost laughable.

But I think you get lost in
the fact that Eric is gone.

These boys are going
to be raised without a father

and possibly without a mother.

Right, and you know,
at the time, and even today,

when a person dies of
a fentanyl overdose,

it just seems that
law enforcement

sometimes takes it
for granted.

And I think that was
her miscalculation.

They assumed, oh, another one
is dying of a drug overdose.

They're not going to do
an investigation.

And so she was quick
to do all the things

you're just talking about,

not realizing that
law enforcement,

and especially
the Richins family,
was not going to give up

on this case and were going to
make sure that

somebody found out exactly
what happened here.

They're not the only ones.

We're not giving up
on it either,

and neither are you,
Greg Skordas.

Greg Skordas, you're awesome.

Thank you for being with us.

Guys, when we come back,
Sergio Brown,
a former NFL star,

faked parties in Mexico
while his mother's body

is found outdoors

wrapped in a sheet
near the family home.

Stay with us.

[music playing]

Welcome back
to Crimefeed,and now
to NFL star Sergio Brown

in Mexico, living it up while
his mom is found dead.

Her neck snapped?

Mara, what happened
to Miss Myrtle?

Well, Nancy, we're talking,
of course, about Sergio Brown,

the 35-year-old former
NFL safety who had played

for major teams like
the New England Patriots,

the Indianapolis Colts,
and the Buffalo Bills.

His disappearance, along
with his mother last month,

prompted a major search
for the pair.

Let's take a look
at what authorities have found

in this case so far.

Sergio Brown
and his 73-year-old mother

Myrtle Simmons Brown
were seen on the night of

September 14th by a neighbor
near the house

they shared together
in Maywood, Illinois.

It was the last time Myrtle
would be seen alive.

She and Sergio
were reported missing

two days later on the 16th.

But later that same day,
Maywood police recovered

the body of
Myrtle Simmons Brown

from a creek near their home.

A medical examiner determining
her death was caused by

multiple injuries
from an assault.

Sergio, however,
was still missing

until two days later
when he posted a bizarre video

of himself in Mexico
addressing his mother's
disappearance,

saying he believed
she was simply on vacation

and claiming the FBI had tried
to kidnap him.

[speaking]

[bleep]

Then, two weeks later,
despite the recent discovery

of his mother's body, Brown
was spotted partying

in Tulum, seemingly
without a care.

Finally, all of his partying
came to an end

earlier this month when
Illinois investigators

issued an arrest warrant
for Brown for

the first-degree murder of
his mother.

Mexican officials intercepted
Brown on a flight

he was trying to take
to Colombia.

This is a kidnapping.

They're in uniforms.

I was going to Colombia.

I'm from Chicago.

I should not be going
to Tijuana.

Relax, relax.

Let me go.

This is kidnapping.

Witnesses say it took
an hour and a half

to escort him off the flight.

Brown is now being held in
custody back
in Maywood, Illinois,

after his extradition back
to that state.

Nancy?

Amazing that a professional
NFLer takes on an air marshal.

That's what you don't want
to do, is take on

an air marshal that's trying
to arrest you on a plane.

You know, speaking of
the body of Miss Myrtle,
who's 73 years old,

the one person,
the one person in the world

that has stood by Sergio Brown
since he was born.

She lets him live with her.

She is found completely nude,
wrapped in a sheet,

not too far from
the family home with--

You saw the picture
of her, Derrick.

This frail little lady,
her neck was snapped.

Yeah. This doesn't seem like
it was a premeditated murder,

but more of a heated argument
that escalated.

Clearly, there's things
going on with Sergio.

It might be related to CTE.

We're going to get into that
a little bit later.

-But forensically,
it doesn't look good.
-Right, right.

-You mean the concussion
impairment, CTE?
-Right.

So you think that could
possibly be a defense

to killing your own mother?

-Sounds more like a robbery
gone wrong to me.
-Yeah--

He has her credit cards,
her iPad.

I think she got tired of him
mooching off her

and they had an argument about
money and he killed her.

Yeah, I don't think
it's a defense,

but I think it's something
we have to acknowledge

that may have played
a factor in this.

Sergio Brown was
not a superstar.

He wasn't like
an Aaron Hernandez.

He didn't have a troubled
past, because if he did,

we would have known about it.

He wouldn't have been playing
in the NFL.

The fact that he had--
and I was looking at

a lot of his old
Instagram videos.

He seemed like
a pretty good guy.

There was nothing
really publicly put out there
about him.

He was a New England
Patriots player.

I'm a fan of
the New England Patriots.

Never heard anything
negative about him

in the area where I worked
as a patrolman.

But forensically,
as far as the case itself,

it doesn't look good.

You have DNA
that was taken off

Sergio's toothbrush
that was found potentially

under the fingernails
of Myrtle,

which shows defensive wounds.

You also have Sergio's blood
found on the patio.

And then finally,
you have the Ajax cleaner

that was found in the bathtub.

-It's just not good. Yeah.
-In the drain, specifically,

as if trying to get rid of
evidence.

You know, it's funny, odd that
you mentioned all of

his prior posts as seemingly
being like a "Normal guy,"

which would directly
contradict any claim

of a concussion-related
ailment that led him

to do this and then go
fake party in Mexico.

And by the way, he also said,
"Fake news, I'm being framed,

the FBI did it,
the local police did it."

And lied about his mother's
whereabouts.

[Mara] But Nancy, I actually,
I have to side with
Derrick on this one.

Because when you look at
these videos,
something ain't right.

Yeah, he's drunk.

It looks more than drunk
or high.

This person, and I am
no therapist, I'm not trained

in psychology, but this person
seems maniacal.

Even in the videos
of him so-called partying

without a care,
you can see that he's so off

that someone else
is moving his limbs

as though he's a puppet.

All of the behavior that
we have seen is erratic.

It seems like we have
someone who is in the midst of

a mental health crisis.

-That is certainly
what it looks like.
-Can I ask you a question?

So, if he's in the middle of
a mental health crisis,

how did he get a ticket,
drive himself to the airport

or get a ride,
find his location,

the right gate, get on
the plane, travel to Mexico,

order drinks, take pictures
of himself drinking tequila?

Are you saying that
he has a mental defect

that just vanished once
he got to Mexico?

No, but I do think
that those two things

can coexist at the same time.

That someone
can be in the midst of
a mental health crisis,

but also be competent
enough to carry out

day-to-day functions
and know that they need

to flee after they've done
something bad.

I think those things
can coexist.

I think it's very hard
to look at these videos

of this man and not say
that there was something

deeply wrong with him
at the time that

-those videos were released.
-[Derrick] And I think
when the CTE comes in,

it's more of a justification.

Like we see in previous cases,
there's this paranoia, right?

There's some way where
he looks at his mother

and doesn't see her as
his mother anymore.

He sees her as someone
that's trying to hurt him.

And again, I don't know
what was happening.

It could have been
financially related.

I think we'll learn
more based on digital data

from his cell phone records.

But I wonder if there was
a conversation between

Myrtle and Sergio
that escalated about money.

And that's where
the argument ensued,

and a verbal argument became
a physical argument.

You said the words,
"Financially related motive."

This guy has made going
on $10 million over the course

of his career and he's living
with his mother.

So financially related,
you mean...

He wanted her
to give him some more money,

and she didn't want to.

That kind of
financially related?

These guys blow through
that money. They really do.

$10 million, they can blow
through it pretty quickly.

But this to me, Nancy,
is, in my mind,

is further evidence of
something not being right
with this man.

We've seen the behavior
since he left the league.

He's not able, he has not been
able to hold a job.

You can look at his LinkedIn.

He posts, you know,
jobs every couple months
he's moving jobs.

You mentioned all the money
that he made.

Where did it go? Why was
he living with his mother?

Then you see this erratic
behavior on social media that

is so vastly different from
what we've seen in the past.

It definitely seems
like there's another
component here.

[Nancy]
Question. When you say
something is wrong,

I agree with that,
with both of you,

that something is wrong.

But in order to beat
a murder charge,

and of course, he is pleading
not guilty.

He has not been proven
guilty in a court of law.

These are just allegations
right now.

"Something is wrong" will not
carry the day for the defense.

There has to be a proven
mental defect

that rises to the level
of insanity.

Insanity in our jurisdiction
means you don't know right

from wrong at the time of
the incident.

And the fact that
he fled and wrapped her body

in a sheet to conceal it
suggests to me

that he did know murdering
your mother is wrong.

Excuse me, allegedly
murdering your mother.

From a legal standpoint,
you are 100% correct.

There is a lot of evidence
here that I think

is going to make it very hard
for the defense.

But from the perspective
of trying to understand

what happened here,
how could this man with this

long career
and this upstanding life

seemingly suddenly snap
and allegedly harm his mother

in this way, I think
that's what a lot of us

are struggling to understand.

Agree.

I often wonder why, but in
the black and white letter

of the law, I'm just trying
to figure out, did he do it?

Is he responsible for
murdering his mother?

Guys, did Sergio Brown
have anything to do

with his mother's death?
If so, why?

An expert in sports stars
turns felons next.

35-year-old former NFL star
Sergio Brown now charged with

murder one and concealment of
a dead body, his own mother's.

Sergio Brown partying
in Mexico

with her body found near
a creek in Maywood, Illinois,

where the two lived together.

Joining us right now,
Dan Lust,

high-profile sports attorney,
expert at sports stars
in trouble.

Dan, what do we know
about Sergio Brown?

I think it's important
to go back in the history
of Sergio Brown.

Played for four teams
over seven years,

made in the vicinity of
$7 million in his career.

But for all intents
and purposes,
wasn't a pro bowler,

wasn't an all-star, never won
the Super Bowl, right?

This was a guy that was,
we'll say, a career
special teamer.

He started, I think,
about 10% of the games

he played over seven years.
So not a household name.

He did play with Tom Brady.

He did play with Pat McAfee,
played with Andrew Luck.

But not someone
that we'll ever know about

outside of
this particular story.

A guy that played
for Notre Dame

and worked his way up
through seven...

pretty successful careers
as a special teamer,

but again, a relatively
unmemorable career

other than for this
incident, but I think
that's important here.

So he's played for multiple
NFL teams.

He's amassed close
to $8 million

over the span of his career.

He's a special teamer,
a safety...

I don't know, that's pretty
impressive to me.

And let me ask you this,
why is it that people

that seemingly
have everything,

specifically in your arena,
sports stars,

they've got fame,
they've got money,

they have access to mansions,
whatever they want,

and they end up behind bars.

You're the specialist
and sports stars turn
felons, why?

Yeah, it's tough.

I mean, those type
of athletes, celebrities,

musicians that grow up
at a young age with that

level of fame maybe
aren't as accustomed

to just daily life as
most people, right?

So from the age of about 19,
he was playing for Notre Dame,

one of the top universities
in the country.

From ages 18 to about 29,
he was basically a celebrity.

He got kind of whatever
he wanted.

He did play for the Patriots,

the Colts, the Bills,
the Jags.

It's a fair question.

And I think, you know,
to this question about

$8 million, right?

That's $8 million pre-tax.

That's not $8 million after
the lawyers, after the agents,

[Nancy] You are parsing words.

-$8 million versus $5 million,
it still ends in million.
-That's there. I take it.

In this case in particular,
there are some

who are wondering
if his career in the NFL

is perhaps linked to
this crime due to CTE.

Is it possible that if these
allegations are true

that his career in the NFL
had something to do

with this erratic behavior?

I think it's possible.
I mean, he retired.

He signed a three-year
contract with the Jags,

only played one year before
he was released.

He said it was because
of injury, but we never

really know that question.

I think there's been
studies done when hundreds

of brains have been looked at.

Families have donated
their deceased ones' brains

to be analyzed for CTE,
and some studies

have showed about 90 percent
of brains.

For every ten brains,
nine of them have CTE.

So that goes to say, it's not
to say that for every

ten football players,
nine have CTE,

but if you think one has CTE,
and you submit their brain,

there are studies
that show that 90%
of those brains have CTE.

So I think that's a fair
question, that CTE

could be linked to these
kind of troubling events.

[Mara] But they only know
for certain after death.

After death. You cannot know
at the present time.

You know, with,
with this case, we've seen
a lot of comparisons

to Aaron Hernandez, right?
And with Aaron Hernandez,

what we know especially you.
Superstars,

a lot of things get swept
under the rug.

Right? If they have things
in their history

that would prevent them
from playing football

or baseball, whatever
it might be.

They kind of disappear.
We've seen that
with Aaron Hernandez,

but as you mentioned,
Sergio was not a superstar.

And there doesn't appear
to be anything in his past

that would indicate
he was this troubled kid

throughout his college career
and in the NFL,

because he wouldn't have been
playing if he was.

-Correct.
-Do you think this
is a more classic case

of someone
who played football,

did the right things,
but yet later in life,

CTE finally caught up to him?

That's probably right.

And there is kind of
an actual direct link

between Aaron Hernandez
and Sergio Brown.

They both were rookies
on the 2010 New England
Patriots class.

He had two, we'll say,
accused murderers

for the time being,
but two people

in the same rookie draft class
with Rob Gronkowski.

-Yeah.
-So quite the rookie draft
class with the Patriots.

So I do think that's possible.

Again, he didn't play for his
first two years at Notre Dame.

So no one had heard of him.
He didn't play in college.

Then his last two years,
he got some playing time,

but was not a star recruit.

Aaron Hernandez,
star recruit,

-Yeah.
-and they swept that
under the rug.

A little bit of
a different situation.

I have a question for you.

As much as I would love to go
over and over and over

his sports history,
can we talk about the murder?

He's used to being a safety
and sacking

huge football players.

This is a very frail
73-year-old mother

of all people, his own mother.

You three are speculating
that CTE,

a concussion-related injury,
may have had something

to do with him
allegedly murdering

Miss Myrtle, his mother.

Was he ever treated for CTE?

Yes, no. Was he?

-I don't think so.
I don't believe so.
-Okay.

Did he ever exhibit
problems with CTE in the past

that you know of?

Not that I'm aware of, no.

Do you know the injury
that threw him out of

the roster with the Jags?

-It was not CTE, was it?
-Yeah, it was not
a head injury.

I believe it was an Achilles
if it wasn't.

Yes, as a matter of fact,
it was Achilles injury.

So, why are
we talking about

the possibility his judgment
was clouded with CTE

if he had never been
diagnosed, never treated,

showed no signs of it,
and in fact his injury

was an Achilles injury,
which is horrible,

but it doesn't lead to murder.

I think what we're trying
to do here is understand

the why, right?

The motive.
What's the reason behind it?

And with someone
who may have something

underlying that
we haven't diagnosed yet,

it could be something that
we don't really understand.

And CTE is so new.

I think, as an investigator,
I want to know more about it.

Because what we're finding is,
now recently,

there's a lot of changes
in protocol within the NFL.

But there's still going
to be a lot of players

who weren't under
those protocols
who we're now seeing

later in life
the residual effects.

And I want to understand that.

So maybe what we can do
in the future is prevent it

-from happening
to other people.
-I agree.

I want to understand it, too.

But what I really want,
you're a practicing lawyer.

I want justice for
Miss Myrtle, 73 years old,

supporting her former
NFL star son.

And then he's found
with her credit cards,

her iPad, all of her stuff.

And she was murdered brutally.
Look at her.

This little lady had
her neck snapped.

And all of her clothes
taken off her,

I believe, because
they were bloody.

And that is more evidence
of premeditation

and knowing full well
what you're doing.

They didn't just look at
the bathroom for evidence.

They looked down the drain...

where he apparently
was getting rid of evidence.

That is not crazy.

But wouldn't that be after
the fact, though,
not premeditation?

-We know that-- We know--
-It's contemporaneous
with the murder.

We know that he burned
some clothes, allegedly.

They have it on the ring
camera where you see that.

Could it be a situation
where he loses control

out of anger,
something happens,

and then after the fact,
he realizes,

"Oh my God, what did I do?"
Now he has to respond.

Now there's things
he has to do to clear.

-From the lawyer.
-Yeah, I was gonna say
in, in the moment.

We're talking about CT
and I think this is
really relevant

outside of his sports
background.

He was a content creator.

He was posting
videos online

and from about 2019
to the present. He's off.

He's off the grid.
He's not on social media.

We don't hear anything
about him.

So it's not just
a let's pretend he has CTE,

I think there is something
that changed with him

over the last couple years.

So to Derrick's point,
is it possible?

There was some kind
of heated interaction

and then he had some
lucid moment thereafter,

I'm not sure 'cause
the videos that we see

of him in Mexico are...

I'm not seeing someone
that's so lucid.

Maybe it's alcohol,
but then on the plane,

can we really blame
the alcohol at that point?

So Nancy, to your point,
maybe it's some kind of

conjured up image
he's creating
in anticipation of

some type of
insanity defense.

But there is some, really,
for the last four years,

he's been off the grid.

He worked for Google,
digital account manager,

had graduated from Miami
with an MBA post
his playing career.

So there was some levels
of him being out there.

So this is fairly new.

This is the first time
we've seen him

in a number of years
at this point.

Did you guys ever think
his behavior in Mexico

had something to do with
that empty bottle of tequila

sitting in front of him?
Just a thought.

When we come back,
a young wife found dead,

her husband armed
and on the run.

That's next.

[music playing]

We did find a vehicle.

The vehicle was located
by a hunter.

So we're asking anyone
with trail cams,

any hunters, any people
with video cameras

at their houses,

please give it to the police.

I'm going to have the number
in a second,

the Gardner police
or the state police.

It's incredible how
often that these tips

help us solve crimes,
find people.

So we're asking the public
for all their help.

You are hearing
the Worcester
Mass District Attorney

asking for your help finding
Aaron Pennington.

As of this taping,
he's still missing.

No one has seen him
since October '22,

the same day his wife,
Breanne Pennington, found dead

with a shotgun wound
to the face.

[female reporter]
Did Mr. Pennington has
a military background.

Do you think he has the skill
set to survive in the woods?

Well, you know, that's part of
the training.

Those are the questions
that the state police

have been asking,
and they're finding out
exactly what training

he would have had,
wouldn't have had.

Yes, that is part
of the equation.

We're going out there
in numbers,

and we ask, please,
no one in the public

go out and try
and look for this guy.

If you run into the guy,
call the guy in the police,

call the state police,
call the police department,

and just back off from
anything that you might see,

but provide us with
the information
that you might get.

Mara, Derrick,
what else do we know?

Well, I think some of the most
compelling information

that we have is from
the arrest warrant

and the reason that police
believe that he's responsible

for Breanne's death,
aside from the fact

that he has disappeared.

And in the arrest
warrant, they say that

they found a note
written on his phone

that he wrote the night before
she was killed.

And if this is not
damning evidence,

I don't know what is.

The note said, quote,
"Don't say anything. Be quiet.

If she wakes up, just say
you're getting nasal spray.

Get on side of bed...

very close proximity to head,
put hole in her head."

-Yeah.
-That information, of course,

led to the arrest warrant
and is why police have
launched this manhunt.

Yeah, so there's some
premeditation there,

and to me, it sounds like
we might be dealing with

another situation,
not exact, thank God,

Robert Card, where we have
a situation.

And by the way, thoughts
are with everyone
in Lewiston, Maine.

I think you have a situation
where he felt like

the relationship was ending.

If he couldn't have her,
nobody could.

There's some other Facebook
posts that indicate

that's some of the thoughts
he was having.

I think we may be
in a situation

where police are going
to find him and he's going
to be deceased

from a self-inflicted wound.

Right now, police are
on the search for

Aaron Pennington, age 33.

He is a white male, 6'2",
blonde, 175 pounds.

Now, his car was found deep
in the woods.

What we've learned from
doorbell and surveillance
footage

is that he drives away
from the home.

You see his four children...

leaving the home,
going to a neighbor's home,

asking for help.

They tell the neighbor,
Mommy is lying down in

the bedroom crying,
and they can't find Dad.

She wasn't lying in
the bedroom crying.

She was dead in
the master bedroom

from a gunshot wound
to the face.

In the home,

three cartridges were found
from a shotgun.

Hence the warning,
armed and dangerous.

We also know Pennington
had special clearance

within the U.S. Air Force,
and according to sources,

worked on special ops.

We know that he had active
secret clearance,

and that's a quote,
an engineer with an illegally
owned firearm.

Mara?

Yeah, but the part of that
story, Nancy,

that really breaks my heart
is the children,
ages two, five, seven,

and nine, leaving their house
on foot in the morning,

going to a neighbor's house
and asking for help.

You have to think
that they heard the gunshot,

and at least the older ones,
the seven and the nine,

I have the seven-year-old,
that they would have been
aware that

something very bad happened
and very scared,

and that's why they went to
the neighbor's house for help.

Because if they just thought
Mommy was crying,

that's not great,
but not cause to leave
your house

and go to the neighbor
and say, "Please call
the police."

And that's what's really
sad here, is that

now those kids don't have
any parents.

And you see him pulling out
and leaving the children alone

with their mother's dead body,

lying with a shotgun wound
to the face,

just like in that
"Note to self,"
he wrote to himself.

Yeah, and Nancy, from what
you said earlier, I know that

I said that he more than
likely has killed himself.

Again, we don't know,
but police can't approach it
that way.

So right now,
they're setting up a grid

around the area where
the BMW was found.

You have
a multi-jurisdictional
operation

with a lot of moving parts,
and they're treating this

as a still alive, armed,
and dangerous.

Because think about it,
as a law enforcement officer,

you're going into these woods,

and the perpetrator has
the tactical advantage.

He can see
and hear you coming.

You don't know where he is,
so it's a really dangerous
situation,

and I hope they find him
sooner than later,

because until they find him,
he's a danger to
the community.

But to your point, Derrick,
those who knew the family said

that in the past he had
threatened suicide,

and that also the alleged
motive here, if in fact

he is responsible
for this murder,

is that she was threatening
to leave,

-Yeah.
-that she was going to leave,
she was going to take

the children with her.

So I think there's a very good
possibility that you're right,

that he left the house
and went into the woods
to take them.

[Nancy] And, clearly,
she was right.

What had she been enduring
in the years

leading up to this,
giving birth to
the four children,

trying to raise them with
a dad behaving like this?

No thought at all to what this
would do to his own children.

As of this taping,
Aaron Pennington's
still missing.

If you have info on
Aaron Pennington's
whereabouts,

call the FBI.

1-800-CALL-FBI. Repeat.

1-800-CALL-FBI.

Every week, we bring you
the breaking crime

and justice news from across
our great country.

In the coming weeks,
we talk about

the biggest bombshells on
some of the biggest
crime stories

from the headlines,
and some cases

you may never have heard of.

On behalf of Mara and Derrick,
we'll see you next week.

Good night, friend.

[theme music playing]