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E147: Brittany Stykes
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Brittany Stykes was on her way to her father’s birthday party, bringing her 14-month-old daughter along with her, when she was attacked. Driving along on State Route 68 in Ripley, Ohio and only about three miles away from the safety of her parents’ home, someone fired into her yellow Jeep, striking both Brittany and her toddler with the bullets. Who could have committed such a heinous act, especially on an innocent child and on a young lady who was liked by everyone who knew her?
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Transcript
Eliza's Desperate Escape
00:00:00
Speaker
One of the main figures in Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, is a young woman named Eliza. When Eliza learns that her son Harry will be sold and taken from her, she knows she must act immediately, desperately, if she's to protect him from that fate.
00:00:19
Speaker
Of the moment of escape, Stowe creates a palpable fear when she writes, quote, a thousand lives seem to be concentrated in that one moment to Eliza.
00:00:31
Speaker
her room opened to a side door to the river. She caught her child and sprang down the steps towards it. The traitor caught a full glimpse of her just as she was disappearing down the bank and throwing himself from his horse and calling loudly on Sam and Andy. He was after her like a hound after a deer. In that dizzy moment, her feet
00:00:51
Speaker
To her, scarce seemed to touch the ground, and a moment brought her to the water's edge. Right on behind they came, and nerved with strength such as God gives only to the desperate, with one wild cry and flying leap she vaulted over the turbid current by the shore onto the raft of ice beyond.
Harriet Beecher Stowe's Inspirations
00:01:11
Speaker
It was a desperate leap, impossible to anything but madness and despair, and Haley, Sam, and Andy instinctively cried out,
00:01:19
Speaker
and lifted up their hands as she did it. The huge green fragment of ice on which she alighted pitched and creaked as her weight came on it, but she stayed there not a moment. With wild cries and desperate energy, she leaped to another and still another cake, stumbling, leaping, slipping, springing upwards again. Her shoes are gone, her stockings cut from her feet, while blood marked every step, but she saw nothing, felt nothing, till dimly,
00:01:48
Speaker
as in a dream she saw the Ohio side and a man helping her up the bank."
00:01:57
Speaker
This daring escape from slavery is grounded in historical accounts of a young mother who crossed the icy river with her young infant before reaching the home of John Rankin, one of the first stops on the Underground Railroad in Ripley, Ohio. A story young Harriet Beecher Stowe heard Rankin himself tell when she and her father had visited the preacher.
00:02:22
Speaker
Reverend Rankin's home is now a historic landmark as more than 2,000 escaped slaves had crossed through Rankin's house on their route to freedom. According to the National Park Service's website on the Underground Railroad, Rankin's guidance as a conductor is noted as the following. Quote, Rankin had 100 rock steps placed on the hillside for access into town. They became known as the 100 Steps to Freedom.
00:02:49
Speaker
when he then placed a light in the front window of his home to serve as a beacon of hope to guide those seeking freedom to his home." Brown County, Ohio, home of Ripley and Georgetown, is comfortably situated in the history of the Underground Railroad. It is a place synonymous with safety and hope.
Brown County Tragedy
00:03:13
Speaker
That is what made the events in Brown County, Ohio on August 28th, 2013, all the more shocking. Once associated as the lighted beacon of hope, the town was soon shrouded in the darkness of the callous shooting of a 22 year old pregnant mother and her 14 month old daughter. It is a darkness that the lack of answers and justice over time has allowed to multiply.
00:03:42
Speaker
This is the case of Britney Stikes.
Introducing the Mission
00:04:22
Speaker
Welcome to Coffee and Cases where we like our coffee hot and our cases cold. My name is Allison Williams. And my name is Maggie Dameron. We will be telling stories each week in the hopes that someone out there with any information concerning the cases will take those tips to law enforcement.
00:04:38
Speaker
so justice and closure can be brought to these families. With each case, we encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast, because as we all know, conversation helps to keep the missing person in the public consciousness, helping keep their memories alive. So sit back, sip your coffee, and listen to what's brewing this week. We have a little change to announce to you guys.
00:05:04
Speaker
Yes, even though it is our favorite part of the week to tell you how much we love and appreciate you all, we have actually discussed it and decided to move that portion of the episode to the end of each week's episode. Yes, and we're doing this for a purpose. Those of you who know us know how much we care about each case we cover and can appreciate those love notes that we give or even fast forward through them if you don't.
00:05:32
Speaker
But there are some listeners, and we have realized this, who may not continue listening into the episode thinking that we are just like some of these other podcasts who chat about our daily lives for 30 minutes or more before really getting into the case. And we want every possible listener for the friends and families of the victims we cover.
00:05:56
Speaker
So starting with this episode and continuing from now, we will send out our love notes, but we will do so at the end of the show. We are dedicated to doing whatever we can to ensure we do the best we can in sharing these cases. So with that promise, let's get into this week's case.
Brittany's Upbringing
00:06:16
Speaker
And Maggie, it is a case for which I had the privilege of speaking with Brittany's father, David Dodson,
00:06:22
Speaker
and with the sergeant in charge of the investigation of the case, Sergeant Quinn Carlson of the Brown County Sheriff's Department. Yeah, I'm intrigued after the introduction. Ripley, Ohio, like I mentioned in the introduction where a case this week is set, obviously has those ties to the Underground Railroad, but it is also this
00:06:45
Speaker
a quaint, perfect, rural community in which to raise a family. And Brittany's dad, David, described it as, quote, a small little town, quiet, not a lot of issues. It was a town in which David and his wife Mary had raised their five children and where several members of the family, including Brittany,
00:07:08
Speaker
had made traditions of their own that seemed to only happen in these small rural towns. They actually had a tradition of riding four-wheelers all day long on their family farm on Black Friday. So rather than going shopping, they spent the whole day riding the landscape of Brown County, exhausting themselves with laughter as the Dodson spent time with their favorite people, each other, their family.
00:07:33
Speaker
It was an area that prided itself on the communal love that filled the air during the Brown County Fair. It was a fair in which Brittany herself, as she was growing up, had shown goats and chickens and ducks.
00:07:49
Speaker
So I'm going to be honest, I have, so county fairs weren't a thing in Pike County. They're obviously really popular in central Kentucky, but I have never been to a county fair. Like, can you get a funnel cake there and a lemonade? Or like, is this just where people show off how giant their pumpkins are? Oh, it's both. You can absolutely get your funnel cake. Yeah.
00:08:17
Speaker
You may need to venture out that way this year. Exactly, exactly. You can tell because she showed animals, Brittany was a nurturer, but she didn't just have this nurturing side toward animals. She was also a nurturer with her siblings. Her dad actually told me that when Brittany's two younger siblings were attending junior church,
00:08:40
Speaker
His wife, Brittany's mom, Mary, would walk them back. But as Brittany got older, she told her mom, she was like, no, you stay sitting with dad because I'm going to go back to junior church with them. So Brittany wanted to make sure that they were taken care of and that they were behaving. And even at bedtime, she would say, mom, I got this. And she would go read a book to her siblings, say prayers with them before getting them all tucked in and turning off the lights. That's sweet.
00:09:10
Speaker
But this is where you're going to be super impressed. Britney was more multifaceted than that. She was one of those enviable girls who could be in a beauty pageant in the morning and be working with her father in the garage tearing apart an engine that evening. Impressive. I am not mechanically inclined. No, me neither.
Brittany's Passions
00:09:34
Speaker
I don't understand any of that. I'm like, I'll ask Anthony.
00:09:38
Speaker
Maybe I could watch a YouTube video, but probably not. But her family set up her that when she put her mind to doing something, it was wholehearted. And it sounded, Maggie, like she could do anything. So let me illustrate with this story that her dad told me. So Brittany's grandpa had a motor home in which the transmission had gone out. This was right after David, Brittany's dad, had back surgery.
00:10:07
Speaker
And so Brittany said, I'll make you a deal. You sit in the front seat and spin it around. And you tell me which bolts to take out and what to do. And I'll take this transmission out for grandpa. We'll go have it redone and I'll put it back in. And she did it.
00:10:26
Speaker
Oh my god. That is so impressive. I mean, like, somebody could be telling me what to do with a transmission and it would be like you were speaking another language to me. I just don't think I'm smart enough to get that. I'm thoroughly impressed. I know. I know. I'm impressed with myself if Rodney says, hey, go get the channel locks. And I know what that is.
00:10:48
Speaker
Yeah. And you know what they are. Yeah, exactly. Let alone taking out a transmission and putting it back. And so, yeah, he said he walked her through it. She pulled out the transmission. She managed to get it put back in herself. And when her older brother needed a new clutch in his four wheeler, she asked her dad, David, to sit like right there with her just to watch just to make sure she was doing it right. But that's just so impressive to me. Yeah, because again, I could never do any of that.
00:11:19
Speaker
No. And she was mechanically inclined. Her favorite show was Orange County Choppers about motorcycles. And Brittany actually dreamed of being a motorcycle mechanic. Wow. Which is crazy because you feel like, I feel like she would be very
00:11:38
Speaker
like a stereotypical tomboy, you know? But you said that she was so perfect, she could be in beauty pageant. So I feel she was very, like you said, multifaceted. So the garage for Brittany, that was her happy place. Her dad recalled that Brittany would actually just amble in while he was painting a car or doing something like that. And she would just stand there and he would look her way and she would smile and just say, dad, I just love the smell.
00:12:08
Speaker
after you've painted something in the garage. I just love it. Well, to be fair, I also find the smell of garages very satisfying. I don't think I've ever been in one when something's been painted, but a garage in and of itself most of the time smells pretty good in my opinion.
00:12:28
Speaker
And so after high school, Brittany's plan was just that, to eventually own her own motorcycle shop, but to do it right there in Ripley. Because Brittany was too close to her family to have ever moved elsewhere to begin a career.
Family Bonds
00:12:44
Speaker
To show how close she was, she would actually call her parents every morning, sometime between 7.30 and 8, to ask what they were doing for the day since they were both retired. So she'd just call them up and she'd say, hey, what are you doing today?
00:12:58
Speaker
And she would end the call the same way each time. She would say, well, don't leave the house until I get there. And so she had her dreams. But obviously, I know being close to her parents was part of that dream.
00:13:14
Speaker
I love that because I feel that's very Maggie. I also call my mom every morning on my way to work. So I love that I'm not the only one that does that. Right. That's right. And so after high school, Brittany was working at a local subway.
00:13:29
Speaker
And she had just recently finally broken it off with a boy who she had dated all through school. When a young man who frequented the subway restaurant, Shane Stikes, asked her out. One report said that he had asked her out several times before, but this time the two began talking. And this was in early 2011.
00:13:52
Speaker
Okay. Again, very much like me. I also dated a boy all through high school and we finally broke it off. And after Anthony asking me out multiple times, finally agreed to it. So Brittany, I'm feeling you. I know, but well, this, this relationship though, it was initially a small point of contention between Brittany and her parents.
00:14:18
Speaker
especially when she had come to her dad and told him, quote, I'm going out with someone a lot older than me. You see, Brittany was 16 years younger than Shane. So when she was 20, yes, he was 36 and actually only a few years younger than Brittany's mom.
Marriage Struggles
00:14:41
Speaker
Oh, that's a little awkward. Yeah. Right. Well, especially for parents.
00:14:46
Speaker
But she had been happy, so her parents tried to be as well. Her parents actually thought in their minds that, okay, this relationship, it's only going to last a couple of months, and then she'll move on. And they didn't tell me why they imagined it would only last for a couple of months.
00:15:05
Speaker
I could probably infer it was because she had been in that long term relationship just prior to her relationship with Shane, that they maybe thought, okay, well, this is a rebound relationship or, you know, like, people tend to like, they wouldn't have a lot of stuff in common because the age difference, and they'll break up that kind of thing. Exactly.
00:15:30
Speaker
But far from breaking up after a short month out of the blue, Brittany called her parents early one morning and said, quote, I know you're good friends with a preacher. Do you think you can get him to marry us today? Shane said it's either today or never, end quote. And in February 2012, Brittany and Shane married.
00:15:54
Speaker
And four months later, in June 2012, they welcomed their first child, a beautiful little red-headed girl they named Aubrey.
00:16:06
Speaker
and whom they nicknamed Little Red. I love red-headed babies. They're so freaking cute. I know. And what a great nickname. Little Red. I know, Little Red. And I hope that stuck. That's so cute. I know. Well, Brittany had been really nervous after just finding out that she was pregnant. She was nervous to tell her parents.
00:16:28
Speaker
She hadn't been with Shane for very long at that point. He had two children from previous relationships. They weren't married yet. And she was worried about disappointing her parents. But when she told them, they actually reassured her that, you know, it is what it is. And you just have to move forward. And then they all hugged and they cried together. And
00:16:53
Speaker
It's that image of the family loving each other, even in times when it's difficult. That is the perfect image to describe them. And, you know, I think in the end, the baby is a blessing. So yes, like like they said, it will all work out. We're moving forward.
00:17:13
Speaker
Right. Right. Yes. So with the pregnancy and then being a young mom, Brittany did have to put her dreams of the motorcycle shop on hold, but she was OK with that because remember, whatever she sets her mind to, she is determined to achieve. And that dream had not left her mind. Its importance had just shifted for the time being so that all of her attention could be on. Which is good because she's a mama. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. The best mom that she could be to Little Red
00:17:42
Speaker
and raising her the way that she was raised and for Aubrey to grow up as close to her grandparents as Brittany was to them. Aw, love it.
00:17:52
Speaker
So after David's back surgeries, so Brittany's dad, he and his wife, Brittany's mom, Mary, had actually once talked about selling the farm and moving south. And when Brittany heard that, she said, well, dad, you'd better have a seat for me and Aubrey in the truck because if you're leaving, I'm going to.
00:18:14
Speaker
And David said, he replied, honey, you're married. And she said, I don't care wherever you and mom go, I'm going to live right beside you. That makes me tear up a little bit because I mean, I'm sure, you know, this feel this too, but it was really hard to move away from my family when I got married. And I love that she is so dedicated to them that she would just go wherever they go. I love that they have that relationship.
00:18:41
Speaker
Yeah, they were her rock, her confidants, and that closeness became more and more important in the first year of Aubrey's life, as according to Brittany's father, David, her relationship with Shane had begun to break down a bit.
00:18:58
Speaker
In our conversation, David informed me that Brittany had begun to lose confidence in herself when, in his words, Shane, quote, stopped coming home, end quote.
Fears and Self-Defense
00:19:11
Speaker
And David recalled the time when Brittany was over at the house and she looked at her mom, tears streaming down her cheeks, questioning, Mom, am I ugly? Am I fat? Is it me or what is it?
00:19:26
Speaker
Oh, that's so sad. I know. David and Mary knew that Brittany and Shane were struggling in their relationship, but they also didn't want to overstep their boundaries unless Brittany asked them to step in and say something. Yeah. In the last few weeks, the early scorching days of August, the tears seemed to come more often than the smiles.
00:19:49
Speaker
And it was one of those days when Brittany came into her safe haven of the garage to find her father. And it was clear that Brittany had been crying. When David asked what was wrong, she told him that she was soon to go have another sonogram to find out the gender of her baby. You see, Brittany was pregnant again. David asked if she had even told Shane that she was pregnant again and she hadn't.
00:20:21
Speaker
In fact, her dad told me that that was the reason she was upset because they had been having problems. Neither one of them were happy. And she said to her dad that she knew he didn't want to have any more children. And according to her dad, when Brittany did tell Shane, her father said that they'd had a huge fight about it.
00:20:50
Speaker
Now- Oh, I hate that for her. That's so sad. I want to pause here to be completely transparent. I attempted to interview Shane as well for this podcast episode, and he actually responded promptly to my request, but he said he wanted to check with the local law enforcement to ensure that him giving an interview wouldn't be damaging to the investigation by doing so. And I respect- Oh, okay. I get that.
00:21:16
Speaker
And Sergeant Carlson, who I spoke with, did reach out to Shane to let him know that it was okay to complete an interview. However, when I reached out again to arrange a time, Shane had said he didn't feel comfortable with phone interviews, that he preferred in-person interviews.
00:21:33
Speaker
But I wasn't able to make that happen. And I did want the opportunity to hear about the relationship, the good, the bad, the ups, the downs from him as well, because I think that would be fair to do and I was not able to do so. And since news reports typically don't delve into personal relationships,
00:21:54
Speaker
And I wasn't able to speak with Shane. I want to be completely transparent that the information I am sharing in this episode about Brittany and Shane's relationship is based on what I learned in my interview with her father, who himself acknowledged
00:22:12
Speaker
that he and his wife have kind of a shaky relationship with Shane even now. So I wanted to be completely upfront about that. So David told me that after that big fight, when Brittany told Shane about being pregnant for the second time, that Brittany had called home hysterical.
00:22:35
Speaker
Her mom Mary had, and she was hysterical because of the way the argument had escalated, that he had locked himself in a room, just very upset.
00:22:48
Speaker
Her mom Mary had told her that, you know, she really has two choices. She could get Aubrey, pack up her things and come home, or she could wait it out and see what happens. I'm crossing my finger. She packs her things and comes home. She did not. She waited it out with Shane. Dang it. Um, and actually by the next day, David said that Shane had done a complete 180 and seemed tickled to death that they were having a child.
00:23:17
Speaker
So I don't know if he is trying, it's, you know, he's just trying to convince himself that he should be happy if he had, you know, like a come to Jesus moment. Right. Yeah. But it was a shift, though that seemed a positive shift.
00:23:35
Speaker
David told me that one morning while sitting with him and Mary for a bit, that Brittany had looked at them, actually looked at her mom, and said, I want Aubrey raised the way I was raised. Don't let them raise her.
00:23:54
Speaker
end quote. Who is them? Well, what that comment meant or who she was referring to, David and Mary didn't know. So, listen, we could speculate. Obviously, we would come no closer to actually knowing what that comment meant. I mean, it could have to do with a conflict that Brittany may have had with Shane's mom.
00:24:18
Speaker
because David said that they didn't have a good relationship. So maybe it was a comment about that. It could have been her, you know, reminiscing about her own upbringing and just how close she was with her family and wanting that for Aubrey, too. It could be honestly out of this legitimate fear that something is going to happen to her in, you know, that she maybe hadn't told her parents about.
00:24:48
Speaker
you know, of something that was going on. And that would have been weird because Brittany was extremely straightforward and she talked to her parents about everything. And then ultimately it could just be the fear that a lot of women have of childbirth, you know, that a lot of women worry about death when they think about childbirth, you know, and so it could have even been that. Or maybe even fear like,
00:25:14
Speaker
you dying and leaving your kids alone I think would be a fear. You know what I mean? And I think the reason the childbirth that came to my head is because it does seem ominous in a way that she didn't mention her baby that she was carrying, only Aubrey. So I do think that that is, it's odd. It is ominous. Yeah.
00:25:43
Speaker
However, Maggie, the ominous comments continued. Comments that, in hindsight, make David and Mary wonder what had prompted them. David said that also in the weeks leading to August 28, Brittany had been at her parents' house and said, Mom, Dad, I think it's time I learned how to shoot
Brittany's Murder
00:26:07
Speaker
a gun. I have this feeling that I need to learn.
00:26:10
Speaker
And David told me, he said, you know, some people are comfortable with a gun, some people aren't. Brittany was not. In fact, he said her whole life, she had been petrified to shoot a gun. So despite the fact that Brittany was all about being with her family, when her family would get together to target shoot on the farm, Brittany did not want anything to do with it. So for Brittany to want to learn,
00:26:37
Speaker
To shoot that is that is bizarre and then less than two weeks later. She was gone. Okay, so So many similarities between me and Brittany I also just no matter how much that I
00:26:54
Speaker
do target practicing or whatever. I just never can feel comfortable with a gun. They just make me nervous and I hate shooting them. Every time I shoot them, I scream. It's just not for me. But I want to say that something has had to happen to her. If she's as petrified as I am to shoot a gun, to say she wants to learn how, because I didn't say that until, remember the one time I've told it on here,
00:27:20
Speaker
that i was like stalked on the mountain parkway by a vehicle they would pass me and then slow down and pass me and slow down that's when i was like oh yeah i need to learn how to shoot so i feel like something has had to happen that made her feel that way mm-hmm i know yeah that one that comment out of left field that yeah it seems to indicate something
00:27:43
Speaker
On Saturday, August 24th, 2013, just days before her murder, Brittany had been per usual at her parents' home. It was actually the weekend of the tobacco festival in Ripley, and Brittany had made up her mind about something, and you know what that means.
00:28:02
Speaker
Right? Because when she makes up her mind, it comes to fruition. It's gonna happen. Yes. But she had looked at her dad and said, Dad, let's get the two collector cars out. Let's clean them up. I want to go to the car show on Sunday. And David actually hadn't felt up to it.
00:28:19
Speaker
But he said that Brittany hounded him all day long until he finally caved and agreed to not just take one car but to take them both which is what she had wanted to do actually both cars one first place at the festival.
00:28:35
Speaker
in their separate competition but she was like i told you i'm sure yeah and afterward to celebrate they had gone to the boat club cuz remember ripley's right along the river so they had gone to the boat club to along the river to eat and they had such a great day and ended it was so much joy laughing together at the table.
00:28:57
Speaker
And it's memories like those that her family wants to hold on to. A few short days later, on Thursday, August 28th, it was actually the evening of Brittany's father's birthday.
00:29:13
Speaker
David and Mary were sitting on the back deck ready to enjoy a nice birthday dinner. And several of their children were actually on their way to the farm to join them. Brittany was with Little Red. Right, because there's five of them, right? Yes. Brittany was with Little Red. She had actually been over at her mother-in-law's house to use her computer. Her parents' computer wasn't working at the time. And Brittany wanted to apply for an IRS job online that she wanted to get done that day.
00:29:43
Speaker
So after doing so, she strapped Aubrey into her car seat and headed down State Route 68 to her parents' house. Meanwhile, from the back porch, David and Mary heard the sirens. Oh no. They sounded like they were coming from everywhere.
00:30:03
Speaker
Then they heard the air care unit coming in. Oh, no. Around that time, they received a phone call from Brittany's older brother Dusty. He was on his way to the birthday celebration himself and had begun to get worried about the sirens, realizing there was likely an accident ahead. And Dusty's first thoughts went to his younger brother Tanner, who had just gotten his driver's license.
00:30:29
Speaker
But Mary assured Dusty that Tanner was up the road doing work for a farmer. And when they got off the phone, Tanner almost immediately called his parents to let them know that he was going to be late to dinner because there had been an accident and the main route home was blocked with fire trucks and cruisers. So he was going to have to take the back roads to get home.
00:30:54
Speaker
No, my hands are sweating. I'm nervous. It was at that moment that David and Mary felt that something was wrong with one of their kids. The next call to David and Mary Dodson came from Shane. When Mary answered, Shane said the words that David said he and his wife will never forget. They killed her. They killed her.
00:31:23
Speaker
He was talking about Britney.
00:31:28
Speaker
Immediately, David jumped into his vehicle and drove toward the sirens near Gooselick Road. When he reached the roadblock, which was only about three miles from his home, he parked and ran over on foot until he met an officer who wouldn't let him come any closer. David remembers his own words as well. Can you at least tell me if it was a yellow Jeep and a girl with long brown hair?
00:31:56
Speaker
He told me that he could see in the officer's eyes that it was. And the officer replied, let me get a deputy sheriff over here. Who are you? And he said, I'm her dad. Okay. Like I'm legitimately crying right now. This is so sad. What? So sad. When he spoke with the deputy sheriff, he learned that Brittany had passed.
00:32:25
Speaker
but that they were air-flighting Aubrey to Cincinnati Children's Hospital and that they needed to join her there. And I cannot imagine the grief, the prayers, that commingling of pain at the loss of their child and the desperate prayers of healing for their granddaughter. I know so many emotions.
00:32:49
Speaker
Meanwhile, as a report for Dateline that was covered in the NBC News article nearly 10 years later, The Murder of Pregnant Ohio Mother Brittany Stikes Remains Unsolved by Kiani Reed that was published on August 7, 2022, it details that Shane had told Dateline his account of what happened that evening.
00:33:12
Speaker
He said that he had been at work in Tri-County, Ohio, which is about a 15-minute drive from the home that he and Brittany shared. He told them in that interview, quote, it was a normal day for me. I went to work. After work, I went to the gym to work out, end quote. And once he got home, he reported grabbing some leftovers and then falling asleep as he said, quote, I got woken up by someone beating on my door, end quote.
00:33:42
Speaker
Standing there were two officers who, quote, came in and started grilling me with all these questions. They told me my wife was gone and I asked where my daughter was. She was getting flown to Children's Hospital. She was in intensive care, end quote. So essentially, we have, okay, he gets home from work and then eats and then takes a nap. And sometime in that timeframe,
00:34:11
Speaker
Brittany is killed. Correct. OK. Because he was not going to the birthday party to Brittany's dad's birthday party with Brittany and Aubrey. So WCPO 9 out of Cincinnati reported that deputies knocked on Shane's door at 11 30 p.m. However, other reports, including my interview with David Dodson,
00:34:41
Speaker
had Shane calling them to let them know that Brittany was gone after eight o'clock.
00:34:48
Speaker
And that can be traced, like we could verify that he called her at eight. Right. Phone records. Right. And so there's this is an example of why I was hoping I could speak with Shane, because there's a discrepancy that I wish he had been able to clarify, because both of those are newspaper accounts. And one newspaper account said the officers knocked on his door at eleven thirty. Other newspaper accounts said that Shane called the Dodson's and, you know, David Dodson told me that Shane had called them.
00:35:18
Speaker
to let them know the news not long after 8, but obviously he couldn't have known not long after 8 if the police didn't come to knock on his door until 1130. And I'm wondering are the times that, I wonder how much documentation I guess goes into it on the police side. Do they have to say in note somewhere that the spouse was informed at such and such time? I would imagine so, yeah.
00:35:43
Speaker
And again, I'm not privy to that information. So I wish I had been able to speak with him to say, you know, how did this happen? Why are there discrepancies? First to come up on the Jeep was Craig Labelle. He had been driving and he had actually gotten to a Y in the road where route 62 and route 68 separate.
Discovery and Investigation
00:36:05
Speaker
And he had meant to take 62 North to get to his destination, but he had accidentally taken 68.
00:36:14
Speaker
As he was driving, he noticed this bright yellow Jeep about six or seven hundred feet off of the road in the weeds and the headlights were on. So after realizing that he was actually on the wrong road, he turned around and when he was headed back so he could get on the 62 North,
00:36:33
Speaker
he passed the Jeep again, noticing that it was still in the same position. So was the Jeep, like it ran off the road or? It appeared that she had just driven off the road. I feel like there would be a difference. Well, so it was kind of in, from my understanding, like up in the woods, like a tree line. But I mean, that's pretty far off the road.
00:37:02
Speaker
I think it was noticeable because the headlights were still on and obviously this was a position that a car wouldn't normally be. Be in. Yeah. So after he passes by it the second time and it's in the same position, he told his wife, we have to go back. So they turn around again to head back to this yellow Jeep to make sure everything was okay. What he saw would haunt him.
00:37:31
Speaker
When he got to the Jeep, the first thing that greeted him was the sound of a sweet child's voice, strapped in her car seat, covered in blood, crying and repeating, mommy, mommy. Brittany had been slumped over the steering wheel, just like she had laid her head down for a nap.
00:37:57
Speaker
seeing that Aubrey was bleeding from her head where she had been shot. He became hyper focused on the baby while yelling to his wife to call 911. Okay, okay, okay. So he comes up onto the Jeep in the woods. So praise God this man turned around. Yes.
00:38:22
Speaker
So when you said that Aubrey was airlifted, I thought it was because like Brittany wrecked her car, you know, the baby, something happened, the car seat flew out of the car or something like that. So you're telling me, not only did somebody kill Brittany, who is pregnant, they also attempted to kill a toddler. Like the baby was shot, the toddler was shot.
00:38:52
Speaker
Yes, Aubrey was shot. In the head. Yes. The Brown County Sheriff's website, its account notes that Brittany had been shot multiple times and that Aubrey also had been shot in the head while in the passenger seat. Of Brittany's yellow Jeep, the website states that it was quote, found deep in the woods end quote.
00:39:20
Speaker
Further investigation of the scene would reveal that there were five shots. Brittany had been hit in her chest, her neck, and in her right arm.
00:39:36
Speaker
David said that law enforcement had always tried to say that that was the first shot that took out Britney's lungs and heart. But he doesn't believe that with how far the Jeep went off the road, including crossing a small ravine and then partially going up the slope on the other side. He doesn't believe the Jeep could have crossed that ravine and gone up that slope without
00:40:02
Speaker
intentional acceleration so without her still being alive to do that. So are they believing then that. I'm sure you'll get more into this part but she was shot and then she purposely went off the road or that that was accidental her going off the road. One theory has her pulling off the side of the road willingly others have her going off the road.
00:40:29
Speaker
intentionally or unintentionally so we'll look at all kinds of different I mean which could make a big difference oh yeah what he's saying yeah okay yeah so so her dad is he thinks that
00:40:42
Speaker
She had to have been alive even after the first shot because he thinks she accelerated to get the Jeep where it was. Sergeant Carlson told me, I mean, he said it could be the case that she was still alive and that she had accelerated. But he said that there were other possibilities that could account for crossing the ravine as well, like if the vehicle had been knocked into neutral. But I feel like they would have been able to tell that because I feel like the vehicle would have still been in neutral.
00:41:10
Speaker
I don't know though. The vehicle itself had also sustained bullet hole damage, but law enforcement could find no shell casings.
00:41:23
Speaker
Interesting. Yeah, Brittany additionally had abrasions on her face, her right arm, her finger, her left ear, and her right leg. These injuries, some people argue, might have occurred when the Jeep went off-road, but the actual report doesn't speculate about what caused them. And Brittany had no drugs or alcohol in her system. Okay. So here at this intersection of State Route 68 and Gooselick Road,
00:41:53
Speaker
were the victims of this unthinkable act. But where had the shooter been? And who would have wanted to hurt the young 22-year-old Britney who, even after police conducted multiple interviews with people, seemed to have no enemies and
00:42:11
Speaker
who could either callously try to intentionally harm Little Aubrey as well, or who, in the least, was willing to accept her as an unintended casualty.
00:42:26
Speaker
Because even if that shot that hit Aubrey was one that, say, exited through Brittany and hit Aubrey, whoever did this to Brittany, if they knew that she had a child in the car, was willing to, you know, let Aubrey be. Sacrificer, essentially, yeah.
00:42:49
Speaker
And since we don't have those answers, let's talk about some theories. First, I want to point out that there are several ways that the crime could have happened. In one scenario, somebody could have pulled alongside Brittany while she was driving and fired shots into her vehicle.
Theories and Suspects
00:43:08
Speaker
depending on the angle. Which is where I went first. Yeah. Yeah. But depending on the angle, they may or may not have known that Aubrey was in the passenger seat. So if they're sitting lower, say, than the Jeep, then maybe they couldn't see. This scenario, though, here's the problem with it, would assume that either
00:43:32
Speaker
something prohibited Brittany from being able to slow down or to accelerate because otherwise you would think after the first shot you would think she would have sped up to get away or slammed on her brakes to try to turn around and escape. I mean unless she was
00:43:53
Speaker
severely injured and veered off the road. Right then. And then maybe they caught up to her. Yeah. Yeah. This theory or scenario also would assume that the person who's doing the shooting is such a good shot that he or she could hit the Jeep accurately going at accelerated speeds multiple times. And that
00:44:20
Speaker
The plausibility, I don't know. I've never shot, you know, a speeding car. Another scenario is that the first shot was the one that killed Brittany, like you said, and caused her to go off the road, and then that the other shots could have been fired later. Yeah, or she may not even have been dead, but it was enough to severely wound her, you know? Mm-hmm. Yet another scenario is that Brittany had pulled over
00:44:49
Speaker
and that all of the shots were fired then. But in that hypothetical, Brittany would have to have either known the person that she was pulling over to help or
00:45:00
Speaker
it would have had to have looked like an officer was pulling her over because Brittany is a lot like I am. When I see somebody alongside the road who needs help, I will call 911 for you to request help. But I would not, especially if I'm by myself or it's just me and my little sleuth hound, stop to help. And her dad David told me that that was how Brittany was as well. She would have never stopped to help a stranger on the side of the road.
00:45:26
Speaker
Yeah. And then I'll pray, please forgive me, God, if that was an angel that I just passed. But I'm not trying to die today. Right. So that's the scenario. So say it is that one. Yeah. How will we talk about how her car gets into the wooded area in the scenario where she pulls over? Actually, the only theory that
00:45:54
Speaker
posits that as a possibility that she got pulled over it doesn't specify how her car would have gotten over there because that's a great point because if she pulls over and that's when the shooting happens then somebody else would have had to have gotten into the vehicle to drive it there and so far as I've read there wasn't any evidence yeah that somebody else was in the car
00:46:18
Speaker
OK, so regardless of the way in which the shots were fired, several sources indicated that at least early on in the investigation, law enforcement believed that Brittany was was shot at close range. And obviously, that's complicated a little bit because there's a lack of shell casings. But then there's the question of motive. Brittany had on her
00:46:45
Speaker
$125 in cash that was not taken and jewelry that wasn't taken. So I'm not robbery. Exactly. No one who law enforcement interviewed had anything bad to say about Brittany. So it didn't seem as though she was the target, you know, because of something that she had done. So why was she now dead and by whose hand? Exactly.
00:47:11
Speaker
According to Shane's account to other news outlets over the years, early on in the investigation, he was considered a suspect by police. After all, the first person... Makes sense. Yeah, law enforcement examine are those closest to the victim. Add to that the fact that their relationship, according to her parents anyway, was rocky. They had an unexpected second pregnancy that had been kept a secret and was just revealed.
00:47:40
Speaker
And so to an outsider, there's motive. Shane stated again to Dateline that people were following him and he felt like he was being hassled by law enforcement. He stated in that interview, quote, the person that was in control of the investigation at the time definitely thought I had something to do with it. They hassled me for years, end quote.
00:48:07
Speaker
but Shane was brought to the station nearly immediately for questioning and to be tested for gunshot residue.
00:48:15
Speaker
None of that was located from what I read. Now, Sergeant Carlson stated that Shane Stikes is not considered a person of interest and stated that Shane has cooperated in the investigation at every turn. In fact, according to WCPO Channel 9, only two weeks after the murder, Shane was cleared of involvement with law enforcement, citing both his alibi and quote scientific testing.
00:48:43
Speaker
end quote that checked out. So I'm guessing that's a reference to the lack of powder residue, maybe
00:48:50
Speaker
The problem was, if not the seemingly obvious person, then who? Well, there were several leads that came in concerning the crime, and each one was followed up on and investigated thoroughly. One thing the majority of the research made abundantly clear was that authorities in article after article stated that they did not believe that the attack on Brittany had been random.
00:49:18
Speaker
God, that's so crazy to me, though. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. One theory developed in 2015 when a woman came forward implicating her then boyfriend for the August 28, 2013 shooting. She said that she was riding. Well, she'll get to a motive, what she says.
00:49:40
Speaker
She says that she was riding with her boyfriend at the time, Tommy Lopez, and that the two of them had been at a gas station when Brittany went by in her yellow Jeep and surveillance camera footage from a gas station does show Brittany driving by. She said that her boyfriend started to follow Brittany and that he did so for nearly 30 minutes before pulling out and plugging in a portable police light and sirens.
00:50:07
Speaker
The woman said that Brittany, thinking this was an officer, had pulled over right by Goslick Road. She revealed that she then saw Tommy approach the Jeep and saw him shoot into the Jeep four times and then got back into the car with her and left. All right. So a couple of things. One,
00:50:31
Speaker
Isn't it true? And if we have any law enforcement that, or spouses of law enforcement that listen or kids or whatever, somebody please let us know. But is it true? Let's say I'm getting pulled over. Can I call, is it like 911 or something and say, Hey, there's a police officer behind me. I'm on this road. Can you verify that someone is trying to pull me over?
00:50:55
Speaker
I have always heard that you can, yes. Okay. So I feel like that's a lesson that we've just learned, maybe always call and check. Secondly, I feel like this lady is giving a lot of specific details. Like we know she was shot like, you know, around four times. I feel like that's pretty specific. But again, if she pulled
00:51:17
Speaker
Brittany willingly pulled over, then that does not explain to me how she was. So you said she was like six to 700 feet off the road. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. That's not pulling over. Right. Yeah. So how did her guard get where it was found? So well, police, they were also wondering, okay, if this guy did it, what was his motive? So police acts asked her, you know, why, why would he have done that? And she told them that
00:51:48
Speaker
Tommy was actually a hit man and that he had been hired to take out Brittany for $20,000 and that that was a payback against Shane. Okay, so that, I don't know what Shane might have done, but kind of makes sense to me if everybody that's interviewed
00:52:10
Speaker
you know, talks about how great Brittany was. She had no enemies. That part of it kind of makes sense that it was a payback against somebody. It may not have been Shane, but against somebody in her life. Well, and I think, yeah, with them, with all of the articles saying, okay, this was not random. Well, if it's not random, there has to be a reason. And if Brittany herself isn't the reason, then somebody else is.
00:52:36
Speaker
So when all of these charges were aimed at Lopez, he was actually in jail in Kentucky on drug charges. And that's why the girlfriend said that she had come forward only because he was in jail and couldn't hurt her. On September 22nd, I know. And she didn't even ask for continued police protection when she gave the
00:53:01
Speaker
Oh, I was like, I need a new identity. Thank you. Exactly. On September 22nd, 2015, law enforcement raided a home on Hogridge Road in Falmouth, Kentucky for its potential connection to Brittany's homicide.
00:53:17
Speaker
An interview with BCSO Chief Deputy Carl Smith with the Times Gazette relays this statement that Smith made, quote, anytime you serve a search warrant, you hope to find the stars. But sometimes you have to settle for the moon. What we've collected, I can't go into detail, but I still think it was a successful search warrant. It didn't hurt our case. It just more or less confirmed what we already knew, end quote.
00:53:46
Speaker
Yeah. But according to David in an interview with the Claremont Sun, quote, the person who provided the tip had given false information as a revenge tactic, end quote. What was he talking about the girlfriend there? Right. He said and that raid that was connected with Lopez. So that raid he said located nothing and
00:54:12
Speaker
Yeah, that it was related to that Tommy Lopez theory and that the girlfriend had just wanted revenge on him. And police, while they haven't cleared away all suspicion of Lopez's link to the crime, now believe that
00:54:27
Speaker
like David said, all of the details that were given by her in her testimony were actually ones that could be found in newspaper articles, even down to the idea that Brittany would have only pulled over for a friend or for the blue lights of a police car. So then they're like, OK, well, there's nothing there's not like there's new information that hasn't been publicly shared. Yeah, she's got no credibility. Right.
00:54:54
Speaker
Another theory is that Brittany had been murdered as part of a gang initiation activity from a gang out of Maysville, Kentucky. And I mean, we've talked about on the show before, actually, when we've talked about gangs, how violence is often a required act for initiation. And Maysville, Kentucky is actually only 10 miles away from Ripley, Ohio. However, if her death were part of an initiation, then that would mean her death is random.
00:55:23
Speaker
and law enforcement, like I said, have frequently said that they do not believe that Brittany's death was a random act of violence. I do think it could almost explain though, if we're talking about the gang theory, why they wouldn't have cared if something happened to Aubrey, you know? Because it was, I don't know, because I guess it was random. Right.
00:55:52
Speaker
I don't know what to do with the fact that in so many of those early articles, they said it wasn't random. A third theory, and maybe that's because of the five multiple shots. I don't know what specifically led them to say that it wasn't random other than if they thought that it was overkill, which generally is associated with crimes of passion, not with.
00:56:17
Speaker
You know, random. A third theory that I heard tossed around was that her death could have been a case of mistaken identity. And that's all I really heard in terms of that theory. So I don't know if they meant that someone might have been targeting someone who looked like Brittany. But then to me,
00:56:37
Speaker
this yellow Jeep, it's definitely recognizable, not only because of the color of it, but also because there was a sticker on the back of it that marked it as unique. So I'm doubting that they thought Brittany was somebody else, unless they thought Shane was driving and he was the intended target. But even then- Oh, good point.
00:57:00
Speaker
The Jeep was the vehicle that Britney normally drove, and Shane normally drove the minivan. So it's not like they could have confused it. Like if Shane normally drove the Jeep and now today Britney's driving it, okay, I might get that. And Shane, according to David, is bald and Britney has long-run hair. And I feel like they're going to look a lot different. Yeah, yeah. So there's not much mistaking one for the other. So I don't know about that theory.
00:57:28
Speaker
A couple of final theories either came from Shane or are linked to those who know him. On November 11, 2013, the mother of one of Shane's sons actually testified before a Brown County grand jury looking into the case. When speaking with reporters afterwards, she said about Brittany, quote,
00:57:52
Speaker
I think that when you're young, I'm not saying she's young and dumb. You tend to not see the whole story. I think she just got involved with the wrong group of people." But she didn't specify anything beyond that. That's not very specific though. Right. The problem with that statement is that to hear anyone who knew Brittany talk, she really only ever hung out with her family.
00:58:18
Speaker
So it's curious who she might have been referring to. Right. Because you're clearly not going to refer to your family as someone you quote, just got involved with. So I don't know who she was. Yeah. And from everything we've talked about with her, I feel like Brittany is either with Shane.
00:58:39
Speaker
or with her family. Right, exactly. So who is this wrong group of people? It doesn't make sense. Yeah. That same source that cited the quote from Shane's ex, Jim Fisher's true crime blog, noted that three months after Brittany's homicide, three individuals drew law enforcement suspicion and they were called to testify to the grand jury and none of them showed up.
00:59:05
Speaker
one of them, according to Fisher, was an ex of Shane's. And I'm guessing it was a different one from the one who was named in the article, right? Because why else would she not have been named here? And she obviously showed up. Right. But to play devil's advocate, just because somebody doesn't show up doesn't automatically mean guilt in terms of the murder, right? It just sure does look suspicious.
00:59:35
Speaker
Yeah, it looks right because it's kind of like a polygraph test. Like you don't have to take a polygraph test, but when you don't take it, people are kind of like, right. Why didn't you do that? Exactly. The other alternative theory came from Shane himself. While I wasn't able to ask him about this theory personally, Shane has stated in multiple interviews with various sources that he believes he knows who killed Brittany.
01:00:03
Speaker
He told Dateline, quote, I know who I think did it, but I don't want to point fingers. I think what I said from day one is spot on and I think police are starting to understand that, end quote. And he said that the person is someone, quote, known to him, end quote.
01:00:26
Speaker
Okay, so who, what has he been saying since day one? Well, I guess he told police who he thought it was. He's just not publicly naming that person. Oh, and we have never, that person, never been named? Publicly. Correct. I did ask David about this theory, about this person, and he also knows who it is. He said that he had asked Shane why
01:00:54
Speaker
He said, Shane, why are you saying that this person did it? What's the motive? And David told me that Shane had said to him that this guy had a small carryout business and he'd gotten into some trouble with some EBT fraud and dealing drugs.
01:01:15
Speaker
And David said that Shane had actually turned him in for what was going on at the carryout and that the guy might have committed this crime as revenge. Hmm, okay. So kind of like what we said. Right. But then David said to me that he actually ran into the man at a gas station one day and asked to speak with him alone. And he said that the man was super sarcastic in his response.
01:01:44
Speaker
And he replied, if you have something to say to me, then you can say it in front of everyone. So David did. Oh, I bet David was like, okay, bet. Yeah. Good. He demanded of the man. He said, I want to know why Shane is saying that you killed my daughter. Oh yeah. The man then told David, quote, I don't even know who your daughter was other than that she worked at the Walmart. So I don't know where all of this is coming from. End quote.
01:02:12
Speaker
So David said the man didn't become like super defensive or he just basically said, I don't even know who your daughter is or why Shane is saying this. But like, you don't have to know her. I mean, you are killing her just to get revenge. You literally just know she works at the Walmart and you know what she looks like. Yeah. And what car she drives. The problem.
01:02:38
Speaker
is that additionally, David told me that law enforcement had informed him that this man was ruled out and that they didn't believe he was involved. But I do think that a lot has changed in recent months with the case. Because now, instead of ruling out the theories, it felt like in my interview with Sergeant Carlson that even more potential theories are back on the table.
01:03:08
Speaker
So when I asked him to verify whether a random attack was ruled out, as so many of the articles had indicated, Sergeant Carlson said, quote, until it's solved, you have to have every possibility on the table.
Pursuing Leads
01:03:23
Speaker
As soon as you go down one and limit yourself to that avenue, you could miss something. So I try to stay very open. And right now I'm in evidence gathering phase.
01:03:36
Speaker
When I started taking over, I started incorporating some federal agencies that I've been working with that have been incredible. All the time since the homicide happened until now, there's been a lot of development and new technologies and new capabilities that didn't exist previously. And a lot of those capabilities enable us to recover data from a long time ago.
01:04:01
Speaker
I dove headfirst into that whole world. And that's what I'm working on right now, trying to recover as much data as I possibly can that existed back then to really put the picture together." Okay. Yeah, just as the investigation into the case and the exploration of various theories has at times
01:04:24
Speaker
felt like a roller coaster. So has the relationship between Shane and the Dodson family throughout that time. In fact, after Brittany's murder, her parents began a custody battle to have visitation rights with their granddaughter Aubrey.
01:04:42
Speaker
Eventually the case was dropped and they do now have a visitation schedule so they can get some quality time with Little Red. Though the sides are generally civil for Aubrey's sake, it can still be described as rocky. And honestly, I feel they deserve that time with her because clearly, clearly anyone would know that that is what Brittany would have wanted. Absolutely.
01:05:12
Speaker
Then there's the Jeep. After the crime, the yellow Jeep had been taken to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation to do 3D imaging and take photographs. Afterward, the Jeep sat in the impound lot at the Brown County Sheriff's Office since October 2013. Wanting the Jeep back in 2018,
01:05:38
Speaker
Shane filed a lawsuit against the Brown County Sheriff and the Brown County Prosecutor to get that vehicle back. Law enforcement argued that they may continue to need that Jeep for determining projectile path, different things like that. Yeah, exactly. Sheriff Ellis stated, quote,
01:05:57
Speaker
The Jeep itself is important because we still have information that we've not been able to develop in the case. Some of the physical characteristics of the Jeep could still be important once we put more information together in the case." Okay. And like for me, I think if I were in Shane's shoes, I would be like, keep the Jeep as long as you need it. I don't want it back. I just want you to be able to use it for the investigation.
01:06:26
Speaker
Yes. And I think that that is most people's reaction. Ultimately, though, the judge ruled in Shane's favor and gave him the Jeep back, citing in essence that the vehicle had been there for five years untouched. And he said, quote, this is what the judge said, quote, if they can't find it within five years, it's safe to believe that it doesn't exist, end quote.
01:06:57
Speaker
Okay. And I kind of get that too. Like you've had five years to go through this. You've had five years to check for all these ballistic stuff. Like you've had time. So if you're not going to find it, if you didn't find it, you're not watching. Right. I actually asked Sergeant Carlson if it impeded the investigation in any way to no longer have access to the Jeep.
01:07:18
Speaker
and he assured me that it does not. He stated, quote, it would be nice to have it, but Shane has been unbelievably cooperative with us. Everything we've asked him to do, he has done. I don't know his whole reasoning on having it back, but it's his family, end quote.
01:07:40
Speaker
For other members of the family, they were not as understanding of what Shane's reasons might have been, kind of like you mentioned before. Finding it upsetting, especially when they saw a news report with Aubrey sitting in the driver's seat where her mother had been shot. No. So that I think was hard for a lot of British family. Yeah.
01:08:09
Speaker
So again, you can see the rocky relationship.
01:08:15
Speaker
Particularly with so many questions still unanswered in the search for justice, David Dodson used to speak with investigator Buddy Moore nearly every day to get updates on Brittany's case, to toss around theories, to rule out ideas. With Sergeant Carlson, who took over the investigation a couple of years ago, the calls have become less frequent. Carlson said that he doesn't call frequently because
01:08:42
Speaker
He doesn't want the Dodson family to be on a daily roller coaster, a perspective that he said he hopes the Dodson's understand. And a roller coaster, it must have felt like over the years. Sergeant Carlson told Dateline, quote, every lead we thought we were developing ended up being a dead end, end quote. But that doesn't mean he stopped.
01:09:11
Speaker
As I mentioned before, Carlson told me that he has been adamant about sending any and all evidence to be tested, utilizing every evolving technological advancement possible. And for that reason, he and the Brown County Sheriff's Office refused to refer to Brittany's case as a cold case because it is still actively being worked. He argued, quote, this case is not forgotten.
01:09:38
Speaker
It's important for me that they know how actively this case is being worked. I really want the people to know how important this case is. Their information is not going to go into a hole and disappear," end quote. Now, I did ask for clarification on what specific technological advances that he had been using. And while he wasn't at liberty to divulge that information, he did tell me that it was, quote,
01:10:06
Speaker
taking them down a avenue that they hadn't been down before," end quote, and that he had high hopes. Well, that sounds promising. That sounds like maybe they're getting some answers. I then asked if there were any rumors that had been out there in the media that maybe he could debunk, so false information that was in articles. But even then, Carlson wanted to be prudent in his judgment and he said, quote,
01:10:35
Speaker
Maybe there's something in those that will later come up that will bring us full circle. So I don't want to say anything specifically." Because I specifically asked him, there was one rumor that I read in an article that the killer had taken a trophy photograph of Brittany. But Carlson would neither confirm nor rule out that theory either.
01:11:02
Speaker
How would one know that, though, if the person kept the photo? Well, I guess it's just a rumor. Maybe if somebody said, you know, hey, this person is involved. Like I've seen this picture. Right. Right. All I know is that in my head, if if like the early research indicates and a random act of violence has been ruled out, then
01:11:26
Speaker
the murder had to be personal. And like I said before, if it's not tied to Brittany herself, then it has to be tied to someone close to her. And so that's obviously an avenue to go down in terms of searching. And I do feel like if the person who had committed this crime had been a local person, because we're talking about a small town,
01:11:49
Speaker
if it were a local person who committed the crime and like recognized.
Family's Perspective
01:11:53
Speaker
Yeah, like their vehicle recognized, them recognized, there would have at least been that potential. So I feel like that, again, that would be a pretty bold act. So I don't know, Maggie, what are your thoughts either on how the crime occurred or who you think could have been responsible? Well, I definitely don't think that she pulled over like the police officer
01:12:18
Speaker
fake police officer theory I don't buy that one because that doesn't explain how she got so far off the side of the road because if you're gonna pull over you're stopped right and then for unless they shot once and then she sped up to go away with to get away which I think would be evident from the road at that point either dirt you know tire marks in the dirt or on the blacktop you should be able to see that part of me
01:12:48
Speaker
wonders if maybe it was like gang activity because then maybe they were just driving the opposite way and that was the first vehicle they passed you know and they shot into the car several times and they happened to hit her and Aubrey you know and then part of me wonders if it was like
01:13:10
Speaker
a revenge killing and Brittany just happened to be the person that they killed to get revenge on this person. I mean, I really don't know, but I 100% for sure don't think that she pulled over on the side of the road.
01:13:25
Speaker
Brittany's death has affected all of the family. Per an article in WCP-09, there are days when Brittany's dad wakes up and forgets that Brittany isn't here, and he waits for the phone to ring, and her voice to say, don't leave the house until I get there.
01:13:43
Speaker
Her mom misses seeing her best friend every day. Instead of Brittany, quote, I love my daughter so much. We were together every day. We did everything together. I spend a lot of my time wondering, how am I going to go another 40 years without my daughter? To me, it's unthinkable, end quote.
01:14:05
Speaker
The rest of the family feel the loss also. Brittany would randomly call up a family member and ask if he or she had plans for the day. And upon hearing no, Brittany would say good because we're all going to come over there today and hang out. And then she would invite 15 to 20 family members over to hang out together. Brittany brought the family together so many times. Now that she's gone, those get togethers only happen seldomly and never have the same flair.
01:14:33
Speaker
Add to that grief the fact that this crime, this loss, was actually a double homicide since Brittany lost the baby as well. Her family had to pick out two caskets. Perhaps the one who lost the most though was Opry. She lost her mom, a sibling, and a childhood free from continued trips to the hospital.
01:15:01
Speaker
Because of the shooting, Aubrey lost part of her frontal lobe. She has gone through four brain surgeries. She has known trauma. But despite everything, she is thriving. She is doing phenomenally well in school as one of the highest scoring students in the district.
01:15:23
Speaker
What's more is that even without Brittany physically beside of Aubrey, she is growing up to be so much like her mom. David Dodson told me that there are days when Aubrey, now 10, will walk into the garage after he's been painting something and say, Papi, I just love the smell in here after you've painted something. The smell's just awesome.
01:15:51
Speaker
It's like hearing Brittany all over again. This is her mom talking all over again. To help Aubrey feel close to Brittany, David and Mary sometimes take her to the boat club where David and Brittany ate the last time he saw her when they won the two blue ribbons in the car show. Aubrey has heard the story so many times that she insists on sitting at the same table where her mom last sat.
01:16:19
Speaker
She's desperate to be close to her mom and without even being aware, she carries her mom with her in so many ways. There is currently a $20,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in Brittany's case.
Public Appeal and Conclusion
01:16:34
Speaker
Everyone wants answers and no one is willing to stop fighting for them. Sheriff Gordon Ellis told Fox 19 News of the case, quote, this one touches everyone. The type of victim and the unborn child in this, it is as difficult of a homicide as you can ever encounter in law enforcement, end quote. Sergeant Quinn Carlson, who has said he is continually at work on the investigation into what happened to Brittany, had this to say,
01:17:03
Speaker
One thing that we have found in our investigation that I can say is I know for a fact there are people that we have spoken to that know more than they told us and why certain things are being held back. Hopefully we'll find out. I'm just praying to be able to call one day and give them the news that we've been able to that we solved it. I really hope to make that phone call. Yeah, there's a portal at our the Brown County Sheriff's Office website.
01:17:32
Speaker
And you can just go to the, we actually have a drop down menu of homicides and one, I think one is labeled Brittany, Brittany Stipes. So that one should have a link on the bottom to provide information. And there's also a secondary link if you want to provide it anonymously, you can do that as well. Perfect. And is there a number to call as well?
01:17:58
Speaker
Yes, you can call area code 937-378-4435 and I'm extension 130. I hope this podcast is reaches as many people as possible so that the word gets to that one right person and this case that's all it's going to take is one person that knows how it happened who is involved
01:18:23
Speaker
to come forward and verify some of the information that we already have corroborating that information could literally be the only thing this case needs to be solved to provide that family closure. Um, so I would just ask that person, please call, show up, do anonymously email however you want to do it. But please contact us.
01:18:45
Speaker
To show your support for the family, please consider joining their Facebook group entitled Brittany Stikes Case and Memories to help them know that they are not alone, especially as they just held a memorial service last Sunday to honor Brittany and the nine years it has been since they lost their precious girl.
01:19:07
Speaker
To end, I'd like to play for you David Dodson's plea for you to share his daughter's story and to come forward with any information. You know, I don't believe this was a perfect crime. So I know that there's somebody out there that knows what happened to my daughter because
01:19:33
Speaker
I'm positive that whoever's behind us has opened their mouth at some point in time of what they've done. And for Aubrey's sake, which she asked me all the time, you know, Pappy, what happened to my mommy? Why did this happen? For her sake, for me and the wife's sake, I hope somebody's conscious finally
01:20:01
Speaker
They come forward and tell what they know because I know somebody out there knows.
01:20:07
Speaker
Again, please like and join our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast to continue the conversation and see images related to this episode. As always, follow us on Twitter, at casescoffee, on Instagram, at coffee cases podcast, or you can always email us suggestions to coffeeandcasespodcastatgmail.com. Please tell your friends about our podcast so more people can be reached to possibly help bring some closure to these families. Don't forget to rate our show and leave us a comment as well. We hope to hear from you soon.
01:20:37
Speaker
Stay together. Stay safe. We'll see you next week.
01:21:01
Speaker
All right, Sleuth Hounds, as promised, it is now Love Note Times from Maggie and Allison. Yes, and we have got some love to share, starting with some new reviews. And these are some from our international listeners that finally came through.
01:21:18
Speaker
We got a five-star written review from Laura S. 23 in Great Britain who wrote, quote, I love this podcast. Allison and Maggie really helped me wind down after a long day, end quote. Thank you, Laura.
01:21:34
Speaker
Yes, I am glad you are like us and you relax by listening and or watching shows about really creepy scary things. Right. So thank you. If we can help make someone's day better, I'm all for that. And we also got a five star written review from nickname five nine nine from my favorite country. I've never been to Canada.
01:22:03
Speaker
Who said, quote, I feel like Alison and Maggie are sitting in the room with me while they're presenting the cases. I'm also a teacher from Northern Canada and I feel like I could totally job with these two ladies. I'm hooked, hooked. I binged all the episodes during my summer vacation. Thank you. No, thank you because you're from Canada and that made my day. So thank you.
01:22:27
Speaker
That was an amazing review and was super nice. And we do have some final love notes to send to those who reached out to us on Patreon and on social media this past week or mentioned to us as a recommendation to others. Yes, so so much love going out to Tawny, Brenda, Brooke and Heather.
01:22:50
Speaker
And before we leave you for the week, I have a very special shout out this week to Riley and Eric, who will be celebrating their one year anniversary on Sunday. I am so, so happy for you too. Congratulations. So all of our love is going out to all of you. Until next week, sleuthounds.