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Victim Burnt Alive Survives Long Enough to Solve Her Own Murder: The Case of Audreanna Zimmerman
Victim BURNT ALIVE survives long enough to SOLVE her own MURDER...
The following podcast episode is not legal advice. Do not rely on the information in this presentation without speaking to a licensed attorney.
No one discussed in these videos has been formally diagnosed by EWU and our psychological analysis is based on the general behaviors and traits of the people discussed.
Victim BURNT ALIVE survives long enough to SOLVE her own MURDER...
The following podcast episode is not legal advice. Do not rely on the information in this presentation without speaking to a licensed attorney.
No one discussed in these videos has been formally diagnosed by EWU and our psychological analysis is based on the general behaviors and traits of the people discussed.
She was burnt. She was, so that's something I'd have thought of set the car on fire or something I don't know. If she had come out of the woods, that's my house.
Speaker 2:That's the worst one I've seen. I couldn't believe she was still conscious and alert with the amount of burns she had.
Speaker 3:What did she do that was so awful that she would die of torturous death like this? That's what we want to know.
Speaker 4:I have nothing to do with this None of my friends.
Speaker 5:I'm deaf and this is my friend, I would never hurt her.
Speaker 6:On March 24th 2010, a man named Terrence sat outside his home in Pensacola, Florida, enjoying the fresh night air. By all accounts, it was a perfect spring night, that is until a faint voice rang out from the forest surrounding his home. At first, terrence couldn't make out what the voice was saying, and then it came again a panicked and pained moan. It was a woman calling out for help. Terrence couldn't have had the slightest idea of the gruesome crime that had just been committed against this woman, a crime so brutal that you may have trouble believing it.
Speaker 7:In reference to the call we're on scene and fire is saying that the patient she's got technically burns over 100% of her body, but she's saying that there was no vehicle involved, that people dragged her out of her house and set her on fire.
Speaker 6:At first, through the forest shrouded in shadows. Terrence couldn't make out the woman calling for help. Moments later, when he finally could, he was horrified. A 19-year-old woman, Adriana Zimmerman, slowly stumbled toward him out of the darkness. Burns coated every inch of her skin, so severe that he couldn't make out the color of her skin or whether she was wearing any clothes at all. Terrence called 911 while Adriana sought refuge on his porch 911, what's going on out there?
Speaker 1:I saw her say something outside, but I heard it was late on the car right now. She what? She burnt all up. You got a, she burnt. She burnt something out of the fire, set the car on fire, something I don't know. She just come out of the woods. It's in my house.
Speaker 6:As they waited for EMS to arrive, terrence noted that Adriana smelled heavily of gasoline and there was a severe injury on her head. In addition to the burns, whatever she had endured had left her barely clinging to life. By 9.24 PM, an EMT arrived at the scene to find Adriana sitting on the porch with her arms outstretched, rocking back and forth to soothe her pain. The extent of her burns meant that the EMT on the scene couldn't offer her much medical assistance. Even for a seasoned EMT, the site was deeply disturbing.
Speaker 2:She was kind of moaning. She was just in a sitting position and the way she was looking was it hurt to move anywhere. So she was kind of in whatever position she was the most comfortable. It was in a sitting where her arms stuck straight out. She was moaning and it was hard to understand her due to her jaw. Her jaw was very deformed, stuck out, so she kept mumbling help me, help me. And I told her I'll try to help you. You just got to stay there and try not to move. For me. Really, with a burn victim like that, there's nothing much we can do until the EMS gets there.
Speaker 8:And you're training that experience. When you saw her, what was your first thought?
Speaker 2:That's the worst one I've seen. I couldn't believe she was still conscious and alert with the amount of burns she had.
Speaker 8:Did you feel her condition was grave?
Speaker 2:Yes, sir.
Speaker 8:Just from your experience, the scene that you've seen.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, just from seeing that, plus the head trauma, the amount of head trauma she had to her face, I would not have expected her to make it through the night she kept telling me I'm about to pass out, I'm about to pass out. So I told her try to stay awake for me and I wanted to get the info of the suspects before she passed out.
Speaker 6:Fearing that she would never wake up if she passed out. The EMT dug for all the information that he could about what happened to her. She managed to tell him that she'd been taken from her house, tased, beaten with a crowbar and then set on fire. En route to the hospital, the paramedic supervisor tended to Adriana's wounds as much as they were able to. In their interview with the police, they disclosed heart-wrenching details of the ride to the hospital.
Speaker 9:I told her keep fighting. And she kept saying over and over again am I going to make it, am I going to make it? And I told her I was going to try and she said just tell me I'm going to wake up and see my babies. I got to talking to her and I told her that I was probably going to be the last person she talked to for a while and that, in order to catch the people that did this to her, I needed her to tell me if she knew who it was. And I asked her why they did it to her and she said I thought we'd made up.
Speaker 6:Without being able to give more details about the horror she had endured, adriana was given morphine for her pain and fell into a coma. Investigators were desperate to find the perpetrators behind such a heinous crime. It wasn't long before they inferred that waiting through all the convolution and getting to the heart of the horrific incident was going to be anything but clear cut. This is Cypress Trail Mobile Home Park, where 19-year-old Adriana had only lived for a few months before the horrific incident took place. Adriana moved to Florida with her children from her hometown of Lubbock, texas. Her family, who lovingly nicknamed her Augie, missed her from the moment she left for the Sunshine State. She was a loving, dedicated mother to her two children, and her final words before she fell into a coma confirmed this. En route to the hospital, barely clinging to life, she repeatedly asked the medical professionals to take care of her children and check on them, since they were home alone.
Speaker 6:Mere hours after Adriana was taken to the hospital, law enforcement arrived at the trailer park. They knocked on Tina Brown's door at lot number three of the trailer park where she lived with her 16-year-old daughter, brittany Miller. Then they knocked repeatedly at lot number one, where Heather Lee resided with her husband Darren Lee. For nearly an hour no one responded until finally, after incessant knocking, heather answered she, darren and Tina, had been holed up inside her home the entire time. By then the police had plenty of questions for them. Throughout the interrogations you're about to see, law enforcement is forced to wade through a sea of contradictions and lies created by suspects who were seemingly racing each other to dry land. That race to escape began the moment Heather Lee was put in a cop car to be brought back to the station for questioning. The following footage has been analyzed by a qualified team including a licensed professional counselor and a licensed attorney.
Speaker 4:It's cold in here. All right, let's have a look.
Speaker 1:She said she's cold back here. Can you tell me what's?
Speaker 4:going on. Can you tell me what's going on?
Speaker 1:Just hang tight, OK, dear OK.
Speaker 6:After setting Heather in the car, the police leave her alone for another 20 minutes. She fidgets anxiously in the back seat.
Speaker 10:What's your full name? Heather H-E-A-C.
Speaker 4:H-E-R. You work anywhere. No, third night.
Speaker 6:Several witnesses and neighbors interviewed alleged that many people in the trailer park sold illegal substances or allegedly worked as escorts, including Tina Heather, adriana and their partners. In the four months leading up to the battery of Adriana, cops had visited the trailer park 25 times, but this time would prove to be the most ghastly heartbreaking visit of all.
Speaker 4:What is going on?
Speaker 10:OK, well, first of all, we're investigating a battery here with your neighbor there behind you.
Speaker 4:Are you around him?
Speaker 10:I guess the lady lives behind you. Yep, listen to me now. Ok, I'm going to ask you some questions, ok.
Speaker 4:OK, I just see Adriana early today.
Speaker 10:All right, my name is Vestgator Watts. I'm with the Sheriff's Office. We were called out here on an aggravated some type of disturbance tonight. Ok, where your neighbor was critically injured and you have been implicated, maybe having some knowledge or information or even being involved. Ok, I have to ask you some questions. But before I ask any questions, I'm going to have to advise you here, right, ok, ok, the detective reads Heather Hermaranda writes.
Speaker 6:She accepts them rather calmly, but her calmness and patience will start to wane as the police begin to really question her.
Speaker 10:First of all tell me, did you know the situation we're talking about here?
Speaker 1:Yes, sir.
Speaker 4:That's why I keep asking you what's going on.
Speaker 10:OK, where have you been all afternoon? What have you been doing?
Speaker 4:I've been here at the house I was cooking. I was at the Adriana earlier today.
Speaker 1:Who.
Speaker 4:Adriana, my neighbor. She was down just a ways by my aunt's house talking with us earlier, and then I had one back in the house, I cooked and I laid down after that.
Speaker 10:OK, is anybody in the house with you? Nobody with my husband. He was in that suite.
Speaker 1:That's your husband yeah, Y'all is this too. You all live there. Yeah, my kids were from off.
Speaker 10:Ok, this girl was taken from her house and beaten up. Ok.
Speaker 4:I was telling her earlier today. She told me that she had a date. That's all she told me. And I asked her who it was. She was riding the bike up and down Detroit and I asked her when she went that way, I said where do you keep going? When you go that way, she kept saying follow, but she wouldn't ever tell me where I'm from. And then she said girl, I got a hot date tonight.
Speaker 6:It's interesting that Heather immediately provides information to deflect the interest away from herself and toward the supposed hot date.
Speaker 10:Do you know the lady who lives in Lot 3 back there?
Speaker 4:Tina. Yes, I know Tina. I always know each other out here. I met her when she first moved out. How long has she been here? I'm not quite sure it's been a couple months, though she ain't been living out here no longer than a year.
Speaker 1:OK, where did?
Speaker 10:you go tonight before we got here Tonight. Tonight, yeah, I didn't go anywhere, so you've been in your house, I've been here and down by Tina's house and by my aunt's house and back here.
Speaker 4:I was here cooking. My other aunt, my mom and sister, came around here, her and the kids and I was in a cooking fish and fry and it's still on the stove.
Speaker 6:Heather. Telling the officer that the fish is still on the stove is an attempt to prove that she's being truthful. In reality, her desperation to provide evidence of her activities only makes her look more suspicious. People who are innocent often don't feel such a stark need to back their story up. In just a moment, you'll see her try to validate or wear abouts even more by listing people who can provide her with an alibi. Take note of just how many times she does this.
Speaker 10:I want to sit here and believe what you're saying, but we're getting information. You know what's going on here, you and Tina.
Speaker 4:I don't know anything about what's going on here. Like I said, I was here at the house. My mom called me on my cell phone. I talked to my mom. My aunt came here, heard of kids, my two cousins. Who's in the car with her? My aunt down in the fourth trailer. She seen me today, my uncle John.
Speaker 10:So you're sitting here and telling me that you and Tina, y'all didn't have a problem with this girl back there. I didn't have no problem with Adriana.
Speaker 4:I've been hanging out with Adriana. Every day, all of us been hanging out together.
Speaker 10:You and Tina didn't jump on her.
Speaker 4:No, I didn't do anything to Adriana. I would not harm a hair on her head.
Speaker 6:Others, protesting that she couldn't have been involved because she would never heard any part of Adriana, is known as a convincing statement. This type of statement is often a sign of deception, as a truthful person's first instinct would likely be to outright deny an allegation, rather than try to convince the person posing the question of something.
Speaker 4:I had to protect her once before. I'm hurt. Because her and some girls was getting into it and I stopped them from jumping on them. Other than that, I haven't had any problems with her, her kids, I always have her kids with me, me. And Adriana is just like that Ever since she moved out here. We became friends.
Speaker 6:Here, heather's palm seems to be facing up as she's speaking. The palm up position is not very affirmative and it suggests that the speaker is asking or pleading to be believed. This may indicate that she's feeling uncertain about the statement she just made.
Speaker 4:And the kids. I love the kids. They want me to get my hair done and everything. I seen her this morning and then I seen her about two and about three.
Speaker 10:Where'd you see her at?
Speaker 4:I seen her down this way by my house. You were down there. Yeah, she was right down there.
Speaker 10:You were down there when you saw her. Yeah, she came over to the car. So you're saying you saw her three times today? Yes, I seen her today and she was down there. She was talking to me. Oh, you know about this. Yes, sir, and I put that on everything I know, and you swear that this statement you gave me is the truth, the best you're not.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir.
Speaker 8:Adrienne is my friend.
Speaker 1:You're the one who gave that no, sir.
Speaker 6:All right, the police conclude their interview, but what Heather requests next is very telling and makes her look even more suspicious.
Speaker 8:I want to see her. See her, adrienne.
Speaker 10:Well, that's not going to be possible right now. You got to get where you found her. All right, would you tell me if you knew what? Yes, sir, I would. That's my friend. Okay, all right, we'll get back to you in a minute. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 6:Okay, okay. The next actions may seem to be those of a desperate friend. To others, they likely appear to be those of a suspect trying to feign concern.
Speaker 1:Well, baby.
Speaker 4:I wanted to know what's going on. Talk, I wanted to know what's going on. Did the investigators tell ya already? Yeah, they told me that.
Speaker 3:Okay, well, I can't tell you any more than what they told us, we heard All right.
Speaker 8:They didn't tell me I was under arrest.
Speaker 4:No, you're not under arrest. How can I find out? Where can I go see her? You just got the weight, okay, and then, when they all get done, I could find out. Yes, ma'am, okay, all right.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 9:Here has the cool. Come in here. He will talk to you, okay.
Speaker 6:Meet Darren Lee, heather's husband. He's no stranger to run-ins with law enforcement, having been convicted of two prior felonies in 2001, including battery and sale of a controlled substance. As soon as he's put in the car, it seems that the couple begins retracing their steps in a discrete way to ensure her and Darren's stories are aligned once they're separated. For questioning this early in the investigation, we can only speculate as to the reason behind Heather and Darren having been placed in the vehicle together. It's possible that law enforcement just needs to secure them for the time being. However, it's also a possibility that officers are intent on capturing what the two might inadvertently disclose, as the camera is running.
Speaker 1:What's he saying? That you told them when you sleep.
Speaker 4:I told them that I was just in their sleep.
Speaker 1:Four or four straight copy-dime.
Speaker 5:I told them that we were talking to you too. It's like a booth.
Speaker 1:Go ahead, we're putting it.
Speaker 4:Better team. Take two, you know, for right to go on the couch. Yeah, oh my God, man, the fucking ground came back.
Speaker 1:Yeah man, oh my God.
Speaker 11:Why I'm not doing it. You're not doing it. If you don't call a team, I'm not going to answer questions.
Speaker 1:Did all of you in the Department of Defense know?
Speaker 4:that's all you're asking I ain't got no problem with them. Like I told them, I've seen all the drama earlier today they told my dad can't let me go.
Speaker 1:What dad can't? Dad can't let me go.
Speaker 4:I don't know who the poor, the gas Now I'm gas can't bend on the porch, I don't even know who gas can't bend it.
Speaker 1:I feel a little serious. I feel serious.
Speaker 4:I don't know who gas can't throw this.
Speaker 6:Heather's reaction to Darren mentioning the police taking gas cans off their porch is rather frantic and over the top.
Speaker 4:Now I'm gas can't bend on the porch. I don't even know who gas can't throw this.
Speaker 6:Especially considering the fact that, at this time, officers had not even disclosed that Adriana was burned.
Speaker 4:I ain't know what the hell was going on. They told me I just seen her today. They're not even saying she intents to kill. I seen her before I got dark. I think she asked me for a bandaid today.
Speaker 3:I'll give you about a minute more to say your things and we fix and go. I need to talk to you real quick. All right, I'll give you about a minute more. Say goodbye.
Speaker 1:Hey, I'm on a risk.
Speaker 3:You are not free to go at this time, so you can consider whatever you want to consider. You're not free to go right now.
Speaker 1:Okay All right, okay, I think I'm gonna hold you 48 hours, it's no problem you are All right.
Speaker 3:Ow, I think you were detained at this time. How about that?
Speaker 1:Can we get a chance to talk to you? Okay, I think they're going to talk to you, hello.
Speaker 6:The two are being detained as the officer has reasonable suspicion that there is criminal activity afoot or evidence of criminal activity to be found through the temporary detention and questioning of the individuals. A detention is different than an arrest, which requires that the officer has probable cause to believe a crime has in fact been committed, was in the process of commission or was about to be committed. The standard for probable cause is higher than that of reasonable suspicion. Reasonable suspicion must be based on specific and articulable facts, combined with rational inferences from those facts, and the suspicion must be associated with the specific individual or individuals being detained.
Speaker 1:She was there. I'm kind of trying to get to the end of the line and we'll have to be done. Told them at all. Nobody's seen that dog. That damn thing. Welcome.
Speaker 8:You get my phone and call the gene.
Speaker 6:But gene that Heather is referring to is an attorney who she will be asking for rather frantically. Soon After this, heather, tina and Darren were brought to the station for further questioning. However, there was still one person missing whom cops desperately wanted to speak with, 16 year old Brittany Miller, tina's daughter. Tina told police that earlier Brittany had left for the hospital with her friends Jessica and Mallory in Tina's maroon SUV. Brittany had hurt her hand, though Tina told investigators that she didn't know how Investigators searched the area for Brittany and the SUV, but their initial searches proved fruitless. Brittany's name, car make and model and her physical description were broadcast to all patrol units in a desperate attempt to find her Without Brittany and custody. Back at the station, the thorough questioning of Tina, heather and Darren began On top of their stories contrasting with one another. Even their demeanors in the interrogation rooms were wildly different. You have Heather, who is clearly distressed.
Speaker 4:Officer. Yes, ma'am, please give me a nurse or something. What? I don't feel good. I wouldn't be feeling good either right now. I'm having anxiety attack. I have anxiety attacks, mallory called.
Speaker 5:They're supposed to be coming back to you. Okay, okay, it's all I can do, right this moment. Okay, sit up there in the chair, turn your face. That's what you're doing on the desk. You're breathing, right, okay, okay.
Speaker 1:I'm feeling a little bit of pain.
Speaker 4:I'm feeling a little. I'm feeling a little bit of. I'm feeling a little bit of pain. I'm feeling a little bit of pain.
Speaker 1:I'm feeling a little bit of pain. I'm feeling a little bit of pain. I'm feeling a little bit of pain. I'm feeling a little bit of pain.
Speaker 6:Heather's anxiety is tangible in the 30 minutes she's left alone in the interrogation room and, as you'll see shortly when her interrogation continues, she is every reason to be anxious. Her husband, on the other hand, didn't seem entirely concerned when he was interrogated, even casually chatting with someone on the phone beforehand. It was all that.
Speaker 1:It was all that. It was all right. It was all that. It was all that. It was all that he used. Oh, he had one of that. I don't know what he thought he was doing, but I was kind of like you know.
Speaker 3:You ready man? I told him I'm a seven-month-old.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm for real. I'm calling you right back, man, I'm just not disturbing him from all the time.
Speaker 3:What is it?
Speaker 1:I got some hair on him, man, he's gonna take me from all this.
Speaker 3:You done.
Speaker 6:Yeah, all right.
Speaker 3:Did you grab the phone? No, how you doing? I'm Investigator Leigh Tyreen. This is Investigator Tom Watts. I've been talking to you for a few minutes. I was trying to find out why you weren't answering the door. When we came to your house this evening, you explained that you saw the cops and that you were nervous about that. Is that true?
Speaker 4:No no no we just watched some movies.
Speaker 3:Okay, so you, darren and Tina, were sitting in the living room, heather sitting there in the living room watching movies, and when the cops knocked on the door, what'd you all do?
Speaker 4:We were sitting there.
Speaker 3:Okay, why didn't you answer the door?
Speaker 4:It ain't my door.
Speaker 3:Did they do anything special when the cops knocked on the door? Turn out the lights, Sean.
Speaker 4:I was already out because we were being nosy looking out the window seeing what was going on next door.
Speaker 3:Okay, so you saw the cops next door. First Were the lights on before the cops came over next door, yeah, and then you all turned them off when they came over next door.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you could see better what the lights are. We were looking back at you, tina. Haven't been at my house all night.
Speaker 3:Okay, so you'd sit there in the living room watching movies.
Speaker 4:Tina hasn't been at your house. She haven't been at my house all night.
Speaker 3:Where was she?
Speaker 4:at she came in. She came and knocked on the door and I got up. She said the police was out there, okay, and I just laid there. Did she come in? I was on the couch, I just laid there because I was asleep.
Speaker 10:Did she ever come in the house after she told you the police was there?
Speaker 4:She came in the house and she sat there In your house. Yeah, she sat on my couch.
Speaker 10:And what did she do?
Speaker 4:She told me she didn't know.
Speaker 3:I'm confused here, because Darren told me that you and Tina were there and cooking all night.
Speaker 4:Tina was there when I was cooking earlier. Okay, but she wasn't out there all night. Where'd she go? She had left. She told me she was going home. Okay, and about what time was that. It was what time I was cooking. It was getting dark when I was cooking and I stopped cooking about six or seven.
Speaker 3:So Tina left around six or seven? Yeah, she left. Okay, and when did she come back over to your house?
Speaker 4:She came back probably like 30 minutes to an hour later.
Speaker 3:So she was gone for 30 minutes to an hour. Yeah, and she comes back in. The cops show up right at the same time she came in and she said the cops outside.
Speaker 4:Did you see the cops outside? That time I got up and I looked and I seen the lights. You can see the spotlight lights. I see the spotlight. And where are they at? They was outside.
Speaker 3:Are they outside? At the end of the day, they was outside of Tina's house.
Speaker 4:They were outside of Tina's house.
Speaker 3:Were they outside of Andrea on this house at all or no?
Speaker 4:When I came out, they were outside of Adriana's house. Okay, when they knocked on the door and I came, that's when you answered the door. Yeah, when I answered the door, you didn't answer the door for like an hour. They didn't knock on my door.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, they beat on that door.
Speaker 4:I don't like one thing, because I was laying right there on the couch and I didn't hear no locks.
Speaker 3:Even your husband said they beat on the door and you weren't going to answer the door.
Speaker 6:And then Tina said they beat on the door and y'all didn't answer the door.
Speaker 3:I got up.
Speaker 6:And then Tina's te공 wooden Guatemalan. That is my�리 Catherine, and I coil her husband's horn with his alanga in her mouth, and her body rests on its feet. One of the stories I am going to tell you is this on the story that he and Tina were born alive before the killing of three people, before the killing of six그�s quicker.
Speaker 3:Comes. We're getting a big diversity in this story.
Speaker 4:I'm gonna tell you like it is. Adriana is my friend. I would never hurt her. Tina came to my house and she told me not to ask my door. I asked her why. She said cut the cars without her.
Speaker 6:Heather's emphasis points are extremely off here. When she states she's my friend, then hits the table, followed by I would never hurt her, and strikes the table again. You can actually see and hear how her nonverbal emphasis does not naturally line up with her words as it should. This is widely recognized as an indicator of deception.
Speaker 4:And then she asked me. She said where are the cops at? I said they downed by your house. Why you keep asking me where the cops at? And she went and everything. She started back. She started back puffing on the cigarette.
Speaker 3:Did she look like she was been running or she looked like she been in a fight?
Speaker 4:She was acting normal.
Speaker 6:Notice that Heather's palm is up here, which may be an indication once again that she's unsure of the story she's telling and asking to be believed.
Speaker 10:Let me ask you a question. She was acting normal. You said you when we asked you.
Speaker 4:When I asked, I said I said Tina. I said you seen Adriana tonight? She said you know, I haven't seen it tonight.
Speaker 10:And she didn't. She didn't tell you why she didn't want you to answer the door. She didn't say anything about why I didn't answer the door, but she didn't tell you not to answer the door.
Speaker 4:And I told her. I said I don't have anything to hide up and open my door. And then I got up and I said who is it? And they said the Sheriff's Department, not opening the door. What was Darren doing? He was nail at the bottom of the couch. Watch the TV.
Speaker 3:And you're absolutely sure of this. Yes, sir, I am sure Because this story is a lot different than Tina's story, I am sure.
Speaker 6:As the investigator has pointed out, Heather's story is wildly different from her husband's.
Speaker 3:Okay, so you were sleeping till about 7, so you don't know anything prior to that. No, okay, and your wife tells me this story about Tina coming in, sandy cops are outside and that y'all look out and you see the cops surrounding Ms Zimmer, ms Trailer, and she says for y'all not to answer the door. Now I don't recall any of that conversation going on in yours. Now I do remember you saying y'all didn't answer the door because it was police. Tell me about that.
Speaker 1:I don't want to say the police was out there.
Speaker 3:Okay, so you don't recall Tina coming in and Sandy, the police were outside. Tina was already in the house Because your wife tells us that you and her at home alone. Tina comes barreling in and saying, hey, the cops are outside, y'all see the cops outside. And Tina saying Don't answer the door. No, that's a lie. That's a lie. Yeah, okay, because that's what Heather told us. Your wife, I don't tell you that's a lie. Okay, why would she lie to us, do you know? I don't know. I mean, she was distraught, she was crying, she was telling us this story. She seemed, she seemed like Emotional, but she also seemed some sincere.
Speaker 6:It's possible that Heather is lying in order to make Tina look bad and compromise her alibi, though clearly she and Darren aren't on the same page about that plan.
Speaker 3:Obviously no something's up. So tell me what happened tonight.
Speaker 4:Nothing happened that I know of.
Speaker 6:Notice how Tina is rubbing her neck, which is a major red flag. It's obvious that she's feeling very insecure and apprehensive. Like massaging in general is a calming response. In addition, rubbing the vagus nerve near the side of the neck, close to where a pulse is taken, actually results in the release of acetylcholine, which sends signals to the heart to slow down a person's heart rate. However, this isn't to say she's guilty, as she's clearly in a stressful situation, but it's also an important tell to take note of.
Speaker 3:See arms and hands, if I could. Okay, can I see the top, top sides? Okay, do you have the old scars on there? Yeah, I have a puppy. Okay, what's this right here? That little scratch there this? Yeah, I have a puppy. Okay, and your puppy calls that Look, I'm going to move here. Got your chin?
Speaker 4:Okay, nothing new, though All right.
Speaker 3:So where were you tonight?
Speaker 4:At Heather's. At Heather's house, well, I was at home, my daughter's braiding my hair, so I was at home but started hurting and her little friend started coming by us.
Speaker 6:Remember what Tina has said here about her daughter braiding her hair. It will prove to be quite important as the investigation continues.
Speaker 4:So Heather said she was going to cook. So I went down there and she was cooking fish and french fries and then we just started watching movies.
Speaker 3:Okay, and did you go anywhere from there? You were there all night until the cops came up there, mm-hmm.
Speaker 6:Tina has put her hand or mouth here, Whether conscious or not. Many individuals will attempt to hide their lie by physically covering the source of their deception.
Speaker 3:What time did you go over there?
Speaker 4:Probably just started getting dark.
Speaker 3:Okay, so about sunset you go over to Heather's. Was anybody over at Heather's house when you went over there?
Speaker 4:Just Heather in her house.
Speaker 3:Do you know what happened at Adriana tonight?
Speaker 4:No, I don't. Heather just said she got beat up, but that's all I know.
Speaker 3:A little bit more than that. And what was Darren doing while you all were there cooking Anything.
Speaker 4:Laying on the couch watching movies.
Speaker 3:Okay, all right, but you were home all night. You didn't see any kind of disturbance going on over there before the cops came over there or anything.
Speaker 4:No, we would have heard something.
Speaker 3:You said you saw Adriana earlier today. Mm-hmm, what time was that?
Speaker 4:Adriana was coming and going, coming and going on a bicycle.
Speaker 3:Okay, you remember the last time you saw her Was it while you were still over at Heather and Darren's.
Speaker 4:I didn't come back out. When I went to their house, we were cooking there.
Speaker 3:Okay, so it had been before sunset, so you saw her during the day, mm-hmm, okay, and once you went over to Heather and Darren's, you never left there. No, you didn't go to get anything or go anywhere at all.
Speaker 4:No, I think so.
Speaker 6:Notice that Tina's been asked several times if she went anywhere that night, not even 12 hours prior to this interrogation taking place.
Speaker 3:You seem kind of lack the days to call about this. We're going to go out there. We know what happened out there. It's just going to be a matter of getting fingerprints and evidence back.
Speaker 4:Okay, Out where it happened at her house.
Speaker 3:No, we didn't hear it.
Speaker 10:It didn't, it originated. It started at her house.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 10:And then it went somewhere else.
Speaker 4:What started at her house.
Speaker 3:The reason we're here. Well, we got some issues, okay, and we're going to get to the bottom of it. When we're another, okay, mm-hmm. So we're sitting here talking to you and then I certainly appreciate and I know Tom appreciates that you're talking to us, but we got to get to the bottom of this and we got to know what happened, the truth. And you know there's two choices here Either you're going to tell us or Heather's going to tell us. So who's going to be?
Speaker 6:Tina is continuing to show signs of high anxiety, evidenced by her face, neck and chin rubbing. It's unfortunate that the officer is throwing out questions at such a rapid pace that Tina isn't getting a chance to answer most of them. Okay.
Speaker 4:I didn't do anything to her, okay, and you were home all night.
Speaker 3:What's Heather's house? Okay, you were at Heather's all night, never left there, because, see, the story between Heather and Darren is already shaky and your story is a third version of what they've told us so far. Okay, now there's pieces and parts that are the same, but they aren't exactly the same. Okay, it concerns me. It sounds a little too good. And then the parts that are breaking up. I don't understand why they're not saying the same thing. Okay, and so we need to get to the bottom of this, and somebody's life may end over this. We're getting, we're getting told that she's in pretty critical condition at this point and not likely to make it. That's why we're here.
Speaker 10:Do you understand what he's saying? Not likely to make it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, she's about to die.
Speaker 3:Yeah okay. That changed gears. When she dies, it's gonna change gears, okay.
Speaker 4:I didn't do anything to her.
Speaker 3:Okay, I don't want you to tell me anything other than the truth, Okay.
Speaker 4:I didn't do it.
Speaker 3:Okay, still got a problem.
Speaker 10:If you know anything and you're withholding, you want to be the first one on board. You say I'm talking about once, we, once we get everybody you know, get all the information. There's not gonna be second chances and, like I said, if she doesn't make it.
Speaker 6:While Tina maintains that she had nothing to do with the attack, heather takes a much different approach. Their behaviors are as different as their stories are, and they only grow more dramatic as the interrogations continue.
Speaker 4:So you're alright, tell us what happened.
Speaker 3:Let me tell you a little bit what's going on. Okay, we did get a chance to talk to Adriana before she went to the hospital. She told us a few things. She told us who did this to her. She told us what they took her and what they did to her. Okay, why do you think I'm talking to you?
Speaker 6:Heather's statement here left investigators wondering about what kind of things everyone in the trailer park were getting into with each other and what motive it may have provided for brutally attacking Adriana.
Speaker 3:We need to go over what?
Speaker 6:you did tonight. Tina.
Speaker 3:Brown, is that your friend too? How about her daughter, brittany? Where are we all tonight?
Speaker 4:I was at home when they came to the house. I was right there in the place. I was at home. I was at home. I was in the house cooking.
Speaker 3:It was almost dark. Okay well, we came over to your house and started knocking on your door about 10 o'clock at night. There's about four hours missing in there. Okay, good three.
Speaker 4:The lady in trailer four. She seen me, jerry and Heather. A lot of people see me at home. Listen to me.
Speaker 3:About dark and 10 o'clock. There's a lot of hours in there, Okay anybody else.
Speaker 4:My cousin, my cousin, my cousin, kids, the little baby Jr came by.
Speaker 3:And what time did they get by and what time did they leave?
Speaker 4:It was dark when Jerry came by. He always comes down and asks me for cigarettes. His name is Jerry Johnson, that's my uncle, and my aunt's name is Terry Smill he talked to them at the scene.
Speaker 3:I believe that one.
Speaker 4:They stayed down in the trailer four.
Speaker 3:I think we got a scene from them down there. My recollection was they didn't see her this evening.
Speaker 4:It was about two and three.
Speaker 3:I don't care about two or three in that scene.
Speaker 4:That's the only time I see you Two or three.
Speaker 3:And after that matter, what time did your aunt and Terry Smith come by?
Speaker 4:Terry was at home. Her son came down. I asked him to go over to the store to get me some fish fry.
Speaker 3:Okay that's when he started cooking. That's before dark, after dark, after you cook after dark who comes by.
Speaker 4:Jerry was the only one who came down.
Speaker 3:He came down for a cigarette. Have you ever thought about what time that?
Speaker 4:was. I'm not sure what time it was, but he came for a cigarette.
Speaker 3:It was dark.
Speaker 4:Yes, he asked me for a cigarette. I gave him a cigarette. I've been at the house all the time and I've been trying to find out where she was at. Everybody's telling me they didn't know where she was at.
Speaker 3:Heather, why would you be wondering where she's at?
Speaker 4:Because she always hang out with me every night. We always hang out every night.
Speaker 3:And I feed her kids and everything the last thing she told us was you came in there along with your friends, yeah, dragged her out of the house.
Speaker 4:I put down everything, I put down my dream life, birdhub.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and that's the last thing she told us, birdhub.
Speaker 4:Yes, I said, I ain't no netherdopole, I'm a netherdopole Bird.
Speaker 3:So tell me what went on tonight.
Speaker 1:I didn't see her tonight I think it was early in the year that I've been at my house.
Speaker 6:It seems fair to say that detectives aren't buying her story. This only becomes more clear as additional horrible facts and evidence come to light.
Speaker 4:When she was the only friend I was closest to.
Speaker 3:Heather, you know this is all. When he talked to you earlier and all that, you weren't upset like this. Why are you upset now?
Speaker 4:I was crying because I didn't know that, I didn't know that she was in intensive care Do you watch all that video. The lady told me she was in intensive care and everything.
Speaker 3:This video of you and that car talking to your husband. You ain't talking like this.
Speaker 4:He was asking me did I see her today? I told him I'd seen her earlier today.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, we watched the video too. We saw how you answered this question.
Speaker 4:Oh, Keal, I didn't have anything to say. I was doing this almost like. This is my friend we talked about. This is my friend. You say nothing's gonna die. This is my friend. You say it's gonna die. That's what I'm all about. Say it because you're telling me my friend's gonna die. I'm here pretending. I'm here pretending. I'm here talking about what you're not. She's getting into it with no break Because she's making it. So we see everybody Okay.
Speaker 3:So what's going to be over? Gina said they get along. Fine, I'm going to be just like what's the one hanging out your house tonight?
Speaker 4:Right, all of us is friends. But she wanted me to go out of town with her to be her mom and I promised I was gonna go with her. I promised I was gonna go with her to see her mom. I was trying to help her get somebody to get home to her mom, but she didn't have anybody here to see her mom.
Speaker 6:At the time Adriana was attacked. She was trying to leave Florida and return home to her mother where she could get a fresh start at a healthy life. It's tragic that that opportunity was taken away from her. Whether Heather was actually trying to help her is uncertain, but there's no doubt Heather's hoping presenting herself like a savior to Adriana will make her look less guilty.
Speaker 10:When I asked you about Adriana and her date, you said he was supposed to come pick her up is what she told you. And then you said you were sitting at your house and you saw a set of headlights come down. You can see headlights coming in, but you didn't pay no attention to it.
Speaker 4:No, so I don't know if you hit the up or what.
Speaker 10:Okay, Tina. Let's get back to Tina. Was she at your house at that time?
Speaker 4:When the headlights came in. No, she was not in my house. Did you ever see the headlights?
Speaker 8:No, we're not asking it live.
Speaker 10:Did you see those headlights leave?
Speaker 4:I see them came in, they went down and then the headlights came back up. How long did they stay down there? They went down and was down for like 10 minutes and then they came back up. So you didn't, I could lay right there on my couch by the door and I could see headlights coming in.
Speaker 3:You still got a car, went to.
Speaker 4:No, I didn't never look at them.
Speaker 10:So you didn't get up and see where the car went.
Speaker 4:I didn't never get up to see where it went, but I could see the headlights coming in in through my front window. I could see the headlights coming back out through my window on the side where Adriana Trellis is.
Speaker 3:What kind of car did Brittany have?
Speaker 4:Brittany don't have a car.
Speaker 3:Okay. Was she riding around the car tonight? Did you see her car? Was she riding with her friends?
Speaker 4:I didn't see her tonight.
Speaker 6:Soon after Heather was interrogated, the police returned to question Tina more. With Heather's testimony, they have some new ways to confront Tina.
Speaker 3:Stories are a-changing.
Speaker 6:It's interesting that Tina is sitting with her arms in her shirt, which isn't something we typically see with adults. We do know, however, that a fight-or-flight response can cause extremities to feel extremely cold.
Speaker 3:So you had time to think about it. Where were you tonight?
Speaker 4:At home at Heather's house.
Speaker 3:Okay, when did you get over to Heather's house?
Speaker 4:Right um. I started getting dark.
Speaker 3:You started getting dark. That's my son's set, and you stayed over there the rest of the night Till the cops got there.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Really yes, because I hate the story. I'm getting Okay, you don't care. Huh, I didn't go anywhere. Heather's saying you're gone for half an hour to an hour tonight.
Speaker 4:I was not gone for no half an hour to an hour After dinner.
Speaker 3:You were gone for half an hour to an hour. You come back right before the cops are over there. The cops are over there around 10 o'clock, so from 9 to 10, I got you unaccounted for. So why is it that Heather's saying that your daughter didn't come by her house, that she went by your house?
Speaker 4:Who went by my house? Your daughter. My daughter was at my house, supposedly Okay. She came to Heather's house she made.
Speaker 3:we asked her if Brittany came by her house at all today and she said no At the time. She saw Brittany right after school at your house and that's the only time she saw her today.
Speaker 4:But maybe she didn't see her. I saw Brittany. When they asked who was at the door, brittany said it's me, mama. I opened the door, I went outside.
Speaker 3:Trust me, she's cooperating with this as far as when we asked her stuff and we asked her specifically was Brittany at your house today?
Speaker 4:At my house At her house.
Speaker 3:I'm talking to Heather at this point. Okay, and Heather's saying no, she was never inside her house. I asked Heather if you were at her house and she said yes, she came over around dinner time and then she said you left for half an hour to an hour and that when you come back when you come back, you come in in a hurry, nervous, send the copster outside, don't answer the door. Why is Heather telling me this?
Speaker 4:You tell me, if me and Heather were together doing this, then I was Heather going to be already in the house. And I'm not in the house, Don't I?
Speaker 6:It seems the detectives are trying to turn Tina against Heather by making Tina think they believe Heather may be innocent. This only stokes Tina's frustration more, as you're about to see.
Speaker 3:The problem, my God, is that the story between you and Heather keeps getting further and further apart. My mind.
Speaker 4:I have not changed nothing on my mind. Not nothing, nothing at all. That's the truth. That's the truth, and that's the truth, okay, okay, nothing's changed from what I've told you. Now you have it. Nothing at all.
Speaker 6:The divide between Tina and Heather was growing. Investigators had enough contradictions between the suspect's stories that the alarm bells were now deafening. When they finally got word that Britney's car had been located behind the house early in the morning they brought Britney in for questioning. Tina hadn't seen her daughter since she left for the hospital. Her panic when she thinks she sees Britney in the hallway at the station before Britney's first interview is evident.
Speaker 4:Tell my daughter.
Speaker 1:Come on. I said no, that's the girl who's with you.
Speaker 10:That's my daughter's wife, that is not your daughter.
Speaker 5:You need to step back in here, britney. It's not Britney, jesus, I thought she was I thought she was.
Speaker 4:That's my baby. Y'all they're doing that too. She didn't do nothing. People are telling her all kind of lies.
Speaker 6:Is she afraid her daughter is about to reveal some incriminating information to detectives here in the state of Florida, when a minor is taken into custody, efforts must be made to contact a parent or guardian, but generally speaking, an interrogation can take place and this is likely not going to be favorable for Tina or her daughter. According to 16-year-old Brittany, she hung out with her friends Jessica and Mallory after school until late into the night, at which point they left for the hospital. Her story of why the trip was necessary and why her right hand was now in a cast is interesting, to say the least. When police ask her to sign a paper indicating that she's been read or rights, she struggles to sign because of her broken pinky finger, bringing even more attention to the mysterious injury.
Speaker 4:Okay, I have to sign with my left hand Okay.
Speaker 8:What'd you do to get out of here?
Speaker 4:I broke my pinky. It's really slender.
Speaker 8:Yeah, just do the best you can. Why is it that you think you may be here? I know we talked to your mom last night. Did she tell you? What have you been told?
Speaker 4:That they think that we did something to our next neighbor.
Speaker 8:To who?
Speaker 4:Adriana.
Speaker 8:Adriana, what is it that you think happened have? You been told at all.
Speaker 4:That I don't know. We used to hang out real good, we used to be in real close, and then we just stopped hanging out.
Speaker 8:Just stopped. Did y'all have any beefs or anything like that? When was the last time you talked to her?
Speaker 4:Yesterday I don't read the report Probably she was already on bike and I just asked her where was she going with the bike. She said she was just going right.
Speaker 8:Short conversation.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it was short, that was it.
Speaker 6:Brittany explains that she said hi to Adriana when she met her friend Mallory outside Brittany's home before the girls entered.
Speaker 4:Went in the house and I started bringing my arms here and then that's why the front tail that lives next door to me I started saying I was hurting her head and stuff, so we stopped and then she left to go around the other house and me and my other friends we just stayed there Just listen to music, dance, watch movies.
Speaker 8:Who was at the house? Were you dancing or watching movies?
Speaker 4:Mallory and Jessica.
Speaker 8:Mallory and Jessica, is that it?
Speaker 6:Yep Brittany explains that Jessica lives next door. The activities began around five o'clock that evening, she claims, and they continued into the night.
Speaker 8:What time did everybody leave?
Speaker 4:They stayed the night. Mallory stayed the night, but Jessica she went home. She went home about six o'clock in the morning because we was at the hospital.
Speaker 8:Close your hand.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 8:Tell me how that happened.
Speaker 4:Mallory. I was cleaning up my room and I asked Mallory to toss me my key, and when she was to toss it out, I went like that to try to catch them and that's when I hit the corner of the door right there. That time broke it.
Speaker 8:In your bedroom.
Speaker 4:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 8:About what time did that happen?
Speaker 4:Around one o'clock one one thirty, and that's when we left to go to the MIT CR.
Speaker 8:About one or one thirty.
Speaker 4:Mm-hmm and I went and I went to the house and I told my mom I messed up my arm and she told me to just go ahead and drive myself to the hospital.
Speaker 8:So you took yourself up there, yes.
Speaker 6:Brittany claims that Jessica and Mallory went to the hospital with her.
Speaker 8:And you talked to your mom about hurting your hand before you left.
Speaker 4:Mm-hmm, I told her about I went down when I hurt it. I went down to the house where she was at and I showed it to her and I told her how I hurt it and she said just go ahead and go to the hospital. And that's when we left.
Speaker 8:So from about so the only times I'm really missing is from about six to one. Y'all dance and watch movies from six pm to one until you hurt your hand. Yeah, did y'all ever go outside the house? Mm-hmm, nobody saw y'all outside your house Nope. Did you ever walk down the road into the trailers? Nope. What time did your mom light up coming home?
Speaker 4:I don't know, actually, because I was asleep. Once I came back from the hospital, I went to her room and I went to sleep, and that's when I got woken up by the police.
Speaker 11:And it's important that you really concentrate on what you're telling us, because it gets on tape Mm-hmm, you know, because your times are not ending up. Okay, because you weren't there at your house between six and one. We know that for a fact.
Speaker 8:We were out there all night.
Speaker 11:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 8:So I mean, this ain't something we need to even ask anybody else, mm-hmm, and if you it's important you tell us the truth about that or something that minor. If you want to fib about that, you understand what we're saying.
Speaker 4:Yes, but that's why I've been at the hospital.
Speaker 11:We know you went to West Florida Hospital, mm-hmm, which we didn't stay.
Speaker 4:Yeah, they were taken to a while, so we went to the other one. That's why we're just not getting home and you stayed there.
Speaker 11:You went immediately to the other one. Mm-hmm, we know that's not true.
Speaker 4:Well, that's where I went, so.
Speaker 11:I mean you weren't home.
Speaker 4:Then I was at the hospital.
Speaker 11:No, you were at the hospital at one o'clock, you just said Mm-hmm.
Speaker 4:I was at Florida.
Speaker 11:Where was you before that? Yeah, you know what time we picked your mother up. Yeah, about 10 o'clock, maybe 11 o'clock. So we read your trailer. Your mother went inside. We got the title to the car. You weren't there. The truck wasn't here.
Speaker 4:Then I must have already been gone to the hospital.
Speaker 6:Since Brittany's story is unwavering, the police decide that it's time to take another approach. But will this one be more effective than the last?
Speaker 8:We make mistakes. I make mistakes every day. Okay, there's stuff that I do that I wish that I could take away, but I can't. But the most important thing is that we come in here and we correct our mistakes. You know what. You understand what I'm saying. Mm-hmm, good people, if you've done something wrong or if you know somebody else says, may not be you, but if we've done something wrong, we come in here and we talk about it and if you know anything, then let's get it and make it right. There's consequences now for mistakes that we make. Mm-hmm, if something happened, if you know something happened, if you were there, because the story you're telling us is not even close we want to come in here and resolve this and get taken care of the best way we can. We had somebody hurt badly. You're a grown adult, you seem like a good person. Nobody's in here saying you're a bad person, but what we're saying is something bad happened to somebody that you know and we feel like you know what happened.
Speaker 6:Still Brittany sticks to her story. It was clear to detectives after the initial interviews on March 24th and the morning of the 25th that there were big gaps in everyone's timelines, though those inconsistencies would aid them in their investigation. They needed some hard evidence and statements from others to take that next step toward actually arresting the prime suspects for attempted murder. Thankfully for investigators, there was plenty of evidence at the crime scene. Just off of Ashland Avenue, only two miles from the trailer park, was a gas easement set back in the woods. It was there where the most gruesome part of the crime against Adriana took place. Upon entering the easement, detectives came across tire tracks. When Tina's Maroon SUV was taken in, it was found that the tires were a match for the tracks left at the scene of the crime. And that wasn't the only evidence the car provided. Spots of blood were found on the dashboard of the car, smeared across the passenger seat headrest and speckled throughout the back seat.
Speaker 6:At the easement where the car pulled off, signs of a struggle were evident. A crowbar sat in the grass with what appeared to be blood spatter peppered over the cold iron surface. Blood and ash were found to be pulled in various spots in the grass and dirt. Pieces of clothing burnt to an absolute crisp were found and identified as Adrianas. Her bra was nearly unrecognizable. White napkins marred by blood were also left at the scene, as well as a pair of white shoes. There was something else alongside the weapons and blood that may sound a bit familiar Strands of a hair weave were strewn across the scene and they didn't belong to Adriana.
Speaker 4:You were at Weave, my daughter was doing it today. Is that a Weave? It's Weave, weave.
Speaker 1:Weave.
Speaker 10:Yeah, it looks real, thank you, she did the little bra each other in that place. Yes. Does she do all that?
Speaker 4:Yeah, just my hair right here.
Speaker 10:Oh, that's your hair, okay.
Speaker 4:Yeah, she was just braging these in, but it hurt. We've been doing it for about three or four days now. It hurts. Mm-hmm. Okay, all right. Can somebody grab me some toilet paper so I can blow my nose? Please? Absolutely Thank you.
Speaker 6:The police returned to the interview room about 30 minutes later. By now it's around two in the morning, less than 12 hours after the 911 call was made, and they have a request that Tina may not even realize the importance of.
Speaker 3:Tina, do me a favor, send it to her, will you? Mm-hmm, oh yeah, yeah, okay, look at this right here. Oh, that's Weave in there, that's Weave in there. Yeah, did that at home.
Speaker 4:Well, I told you that my daughter was yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:I didn't realize she was weaving all that in the back.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so this is all my hair right here.
Speaker 6:Okay, okay, that worked. Yeah, that worked. You see, the missing patch of hair on the back of Tina's head was a match for the hair left at the scene of the brutal attack. It's likely that, as Adriana bravely fought for her life, she managed to pull out the chunk of Tina's hair. And if the matching hair wasn't damning enough, at the scene of the crime, investigators found perhaps the most critical piece of evidence in the case, a black taser lying in the grass, which brought up an important question who owned the taser? As you can imagine, no one from the mobile home park could quite agree on an answer. Though they were eager to throw one another under the bus, their discussion of the taser gives a glimpse of the possible motive behind the gruesome crime and provides a look at how dysfunctional their relationships were leading up to the attack on Adriana. In Tina's first interrogation mere hours after the attack, investigators ask if she recalls police visiting to speak to Adriana about problems in the trailer park the previous week.
Speaker 3:You know, the police came out there last week to talk to her about the problem she had in her neighborhood.
Speaker 4:Yeah, they talked to me too.
Speaker 3:Okay, so you were there, mm-hmm, what was the problem?
Speaker 4:Um, her and my whoa Another girl come out there to fight Adriana because Adriana was supposed to have gotten smart with her on the phone, okay, and Adriana's boyfriend was there, andre Smith, mm-hmm. And he said Adriana in the house? No, he came outside the house and he was saying that I was in the middle of that, which I didn't even know the white girl and then he said oh, he cussed all the kids out and leave. That was outside. And he told Adriana to go in the house and get that gang or whatever. She came back outside on the porch. She was on the porch cussing and she came out in the walkway and she tried to tase my daughter.
Speaker 3:Who tried to tase your daughter Adriana? Adriana got tase her. Mm-hmm, what kind of tase her.
Speaker 4:Um, I just think it was a black one. A black one. She said that um, you seen it?
Speaker 3:Yeah everybody out there, saw it.
Speaker 4:I just know it was black, okay, and it made a loud noise, okay, everybody out there saw it.
Speaker 6:Heather has a different story about who owned the taser, however, and Tina isn't going to like it.
Speaker 10:Does Brittany have any problems with the? You, brittany, adriana.
Speaker 4:Uh, Adriana had got into it and Adriana tried to tase her. That's all that. Brittany had told me how long they had got into it and Adriana tried to tase her. How long ago was this? I think that was like two, two, three weeks ago. They had got into it.
Speaker 10:What kind of tase has she got? Who has a tase?
Speaker 4:Brittany had a taser. Brittany had a taser.
Speaker 10:The taser belonged to Brittany, I'm not sure. What did that taser look like?
Speaker 4:I seen it once before. It was big, it was long, it was a long taser. It was made what called black. It was black. It was probably about that long. It had like little things on the side of it. I never seen the taser before. That was the first time I ever seen it when I seen it.
Speaker 3:How you know it was.
Speaker 10:Brittany's. Brittany had it. I don't know. Have you ever seen Brittany with that taser before this? No, today was the first time I've seen it with. You saw, tina today. Today was the first time I've seen it Today, you saw.
Speaker 4:Tina Brittany. I've seen Brittany with it on the counter earlier Today. Earlier today it was a man on the counter at the house, In Tina's house, and I seen that taser and I asked her. I said what is that taser for? And they told me it's the out of the grown boys' business.
Speaker 6:You can hear the uncertainty in her voice when she says no, with an upward inflection. When she repeats her answers, it's clear that she's attempting to make them sound more affirmative and honest and she's trying to solidify her story.
Speaker 4:No, today was the first time I've seen it with Today was the first time I've seen it with Today.
Speaker 10:You saw Tina, tina there. Tina was outside. You can't hear her say that, no, when you asked her about that.
Speaker 4:Tina was outside. Tina always telling me to stay out of the grown boys' business.
Speaker 6:When the investigators returned to question Tina, after speaking with Heather, they had new information to use against her in their quest for answers.
Speaker 3:We talked to you earlier about the taser. I told you about taser. What did you tell me about?
Speaker 4:that taser, that Brittany, and the day that the white girl came over to fight Adriana, that Andre told Adriana to go get that thing and she went in the house and got taser. I had the taser written with it.
Speaker 3:What about the taser that was over at your house today?
Speaker 4:Taser at my house.
Speaker 1:I don't know about it. You don't know about taser at your house.
Speaker 3:I've been told about taser at your house.
Speaker 4:I didn't know it was there.
Speaker 6:You don't know anything about that Tina is extremely uncomfortable with this topic of conversation. She repeats back the question, which has the same sort of effect as a pause. It gives her more time to contemplate her answer. She keeps her hands perfectly placed in her lap, which is extremely atypical in normal conversation and indicates she is in a state of cognitive overload as a result of having to think very hard about what she should say. We don't observe these types of responses in individuals who are volunteering information from actual memory, and her odd behavior Certainly hasn't gone unnoticed by the investigators.
Speaker 3:Heather's telling me that she always has to protect Adriana from you and your daughter. You and your daughter chasing around all over the place. Your daughter has a taser. She saw the taser over at your house today.
Speaker 4:My babies don't have a taser. We never had a taser.
Speaker 3:I don't know that's what she's telling me. Why is she telling me that?
Speaker 4:I don't know. We never had a taser. Sir Adriana had a taser. We never had a taser. My baby was tased. Your stories are getting further and further apart. Like I said, if you want to try to taste Brittany with a taser, I'm the. Brittany has a scratch across her chest right here, mm-hmm that I was grabbing Brittany from off the porch so that they wouldn't fight. I told you we were best friends in that trailer park in the beginning.
Speaker 3:That's funny because Heather says that her and Adriana are best friends and that you and Adriana don't get along and that you and Adriana are Constantly having problems, and that you and your daughter have been chasing Adriana around this trailer park trying to hurt her, and that you have a taser in your house and that that taser was Brittany's taser and the Brittany had chased when the police come out there if you can check back when the police come came out there, adriana called the police that day.
Speaker 4:Okay, I told the police what happened. The same thing I'm telling you is that Adriana tried to taste Brittany with the taser. The same thing I'm telling you Adriana called the police that day. You want to press charges? No, what I say? No, actually. No, they didn't come out there to press charges. They told us to just cool it out. Cool it out for us stay on our side, for her to stay on that side.
Speaker 3:I talked to the officer who came out of that night?
Speaker 4:was supposed to be leaving town. She wasn't not gonna be here for long, Okay right, because I talked to that officer.
Speaker 3:He told me exactly that, but he told me that Adriana did not wish to pursue charges against y'all.
Speaker 4:Well, he never asked us about pressing charges. He just said for us to cool it, he's tired of coming out here.
Speaker 3:He didn't ask you because you weren't the one bringing forth the charges. She was.
Speaker 4:Okay, her, why would I bring charge? I didn't know you weren't.
Speaker 3:Recharges against y'all for attacking her, but we didn't attack her.
Speaker 4:Adriana's boyfriend told her to go get that thing. Adriana was standing on the porch arguing. She wasn't even thinking about going to get a taser. He told her to go get that thing. We didn't know what that thing was until she came outside with it. I didn't know she had a wise.
Speaker 3:Heather saying that she sees the taser in your house and that Brittany has it and that Brittany is right there. I Know where it is right now. It's in my evidence locker.
Speaker 4:Okay, well. Well then, why would? Why do we have it?
Speaker 3:Because Heather says you have it.
Speaker 4:Get a taser from? We don't even know nobody here. We don't have no family here, only people we know is the people in the trailer park. Where will we get a taser from? I don't know.
Speaker 3:You Mom.
Speaker 6:All over the place they tell them at pawn shops and everywhere else as you can see, tina is growing frustrated with Heather throwing her daughter under the bus. Brittany, however, seems a lot less upset about it.
Speaker 11:We have information that that you and Andrea, that you're argued a lot and your fault who your mom had to break you up one time. Is this true? Yeah. What was your fight about?
Speaker 4:I have the slightest idea. We really want to know the truth. Somebody else was there to fight her. We were outside to watch she gets mad and she tries to save me.
Speaker 11:We have Heather saying that that the taser belong to you. Mm-hmm, she's seen it. Your house, okay, this is just a truth or lie.
Speaker 4:It's all right. Only time I've seen the tables when I do you know, try to taste me. That night, mom, or that day mom had to separate. How long ago was that?
Speaker 11:So I'm sorry, but yeah, when you almost had to fight on the porch.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you ever seen a stun gun over in anybody's house? Yeah, where you seen one that? Okay, that's interesting. You say that because your wife says she saw it over at Tina's house. So your wife's telling us all this stuff that makes Tina look bad, mm-hmm, and you're telling us that it was at Zimmerman's house. Right, it was gave to her by who? Andre Smith gave her a taser. Where's Andre Smith?
Speaker 1:He locked is that her boyfriend or her?
Speaker 3:husband my boyfriend and describe it. Why actually already described it dinner.
Speaker 1:I can't really ask you.
Speaker 3:Who put the tape?
Speaker 3:on you mentioned some tape, so the tape on there okay all right, but you saw it with tape on there cuz backs missing. So I mean, you see in a taser and there's tape on it is one thing. You Seeing a taser and knowing the reason for the tape being on it is a totally different thing. So how come you know that the backs miss us? Was this explained to you? Did you see it put on or do you know? I see you okay, but like I said, see and tape. If you saw tape on this recorder On here, you wouldn't necessarily know that the tapes on there to keep the battery in place.
Speaker 1:If you got no back part, I know doesn't have no back part.
Speaker 3:Okay, so it has no back plate and tapes on it. Okay, that does make sense. All right, so Andre Smith gave it to her. Where does she normally keep it? In a cabinet?
Speaker 1:Oh, where In the top cabinet?
Speaker 3:Who else would know this? Why she go? Hey, here's where I keep my taser. Well, she made threats with people, or?
Speaker 1:something I don't like. At one point time everybody was cool with everybody.
Speaker 6:Strangely enough, darren story aligns more closely with Tina's than with his own wife's. It's possible that Heather is trying to frame Tina While Darren is telling the truth, so he doesn't get himself into trouble. The taser incident between Adriana and Brittany is just one Domino falling in the long line of conflict that led to the attack of Adriana, a Compounding of incidents that will unravel, revealing an absurd Motive. Following the first round of interrogations, everyone was released and sent home, unaware of just how much evidence was rapidly stacking up against them. And, though they weren't talking freely to police, they sure were talking to people in their lives, people they probably shouldn't have been trusting. On April 7th 2010, officers received a call from one of Tina's relatives in Illinois. They refused to identify themselves and stated that they had information to disclose about the case. According to the source, tina called her mother two days after the attack and admitted that she, brittany and Heather beat Adriana. She managed to scramble away, which caused a heated argument between Tina and Brittany. Brittany tackled Adriana. She made one last attempt to escape into the woods, and it was then that Tina lit her on fire. Tina, heather and Brittany callously fled, though Brittany realized she left her shoes at the scene of the crime. As they drove away, tina told her it was too late to turn around. Afterward, tina ordered Brittany to leave the area and stay away until the police were gone. Brittany took that time to take care of some evidence, washing the car interior with hand sanitizer, burning the clothes they were wearing and disposing of the lighter fluid.
Speaker 6:While telling her relatives the story, tina didn't appear to have much remorse whatsoever for her actions. When her relatives urged her to turn herself in, so the law would Potentially go easy on Brittany, tina told them that even if Adriana died they'd be fine because the cops had no real evidence against them. But on the late night of April 8th, only one day after that call was made to the police, adriana tragically passed away, her family by her side having never woken from the coma she fell into. She died just five days before her 20th birthday and Never had the opportunity to turn her life around. The attempted murder that police were almost certain Tina, brittany and Heather had committed had turned into a homicide.
Speaker 6:On the same day that Adriana passed, even more evidence against the three women was brought to light. Police received a call from a high school classmate of Brittany's named Rageen, stating that she had been being harassed by Brittany and Tina regarding the case. When police reported to the high school, rageen stated she had received multiple calls from both Brittany and Tina Trying to convince her to pose as Brittany during a polygraph test so that Brittany could pass. The police were almost certain they were the culprits, but the question of why they committed these terrible crimes in the first place remained to be answered. To get to the bottom of it, both Brittany and Tina were interviewed immediately after their arrests.
Speaker 10:Tina, you remember me and this is the first game I've played Tyring. You know what. You know what this is all about.
Speaker 6:However, instead of starting with questions, they begin by giving her some information.
Speaker 3:Now I'm going to tell you what I think happened. Good Tom.
Speaker 10:On that particular night, you, Brittany and Heather were in a physical application with Adriana Zimmerman. Okay. Okay, the fight kind of escalated a little bit, got out of hand. She was attacked with a prior bar what do you want to call it, crowbar? And then she was disabled with a stun gun and then set on fire.
Speaker 4:And all this was supposed to happen in the trailer park and nobody heard, not at the trailer, I didn't say at the trailer park.
Speaker 10:I'm saying during that night. It originated at the trailer park. You, brianna, brittany Heather and maybe one or two other people transported her over to the Ashland Avenue on the gas lines and that's where the the what, what? Ashland Avenue, what is that? It's another road ordered by the house and that's where it went bad. You got information that you're involved in.
Speaker 6:It's true. They do, in fact, have some groundbreaking information. You see, there's a very specific reason that Tina was sought out by investigators, and when they finally divulge it, she's going to be absolutely shocked.
Speaker 3:Like this, Tina. What's this? Not only did our victim name you first name.
Speaker 4:last night we went and talked to those people yesterday.
Speaker 3:Did they name Heather? Not only did they name your daughter, you've also told people you know, that's how we know the story too Me, yeah, why don't you let me finish telling? Okay, okay, go ahead. We hear that you use lighter fluid, poured it on her and lit her up, and you're mad at Brittany because she got up off the girl. And that's how she got up and got the run away.
Speaker 4:I'm mad at my baby. Okay, what else? Yeah, what else. What else is it.
Speaker 3:She told two people who, she told the fire chief and she told the EMS supervisor.
Speaker 4:Okay, Now, when did she do that?
Speaker 3:Right before, right before they put her under.
Speaker 9:I got to talking to her and I told her that I was probably going to be the last person she talked to for a while and that we, in order to catch the people that did this to her, I needed her to tell me if she knew who it was. She told me, yes, and she named three girls, and I told her that she was going to be the last person she talked to. And I told her that she was going to be the last person she talked to.
Speaker 4:And she said I thought we'd meet up. If Adriana's supposed to have told these people this, wouldn't you think that she would have told them everything that can happen if you land on the ground and you burn up and you about to die?
Speaker 3:She told everything she could, the pain she was in at that time and they didn't give her long because they had to put her out. And I told her did she get that? Am I going to make it? Am I going to make it? She said I'm going to do the best we can for you.
Speaker 6:The detectives have become privy to some other damning information that they share with Tina, and it's all about to come crashing down on her.
Speaker 3:He ain't going around here telling people. You killed that girl. He's talking to your relatives and telling them that and they calling us, but you talking to somebody and telling them that, well, if you go ahead and die, you'll be good to go. I ain't the case. Is it because she died? She died last night.
Speaker 4:She comes to her wounds. They told us that she was in a coma yesterday.
Speaker 10:She died last night. She died last night. Why you think we come back out like gangbusters today?
Speaker 3:That's why you're under arrest for murder.
Speaker 4:Jean's dad is the one who told us that.
Speaker 10:Who.
Speaker 4:How lawyers? Jean, his dad, he said he called down there and he said that she was in a deep coma.
Speaker 10:Well, she didn't come out of Guess what. We got information from me that she didn't make it because of the burns. You sit there, you think about it. You think about what we're saying. That one was those kids would never see their mom again. You've got a chance to see your kids. I don't know that You've got a chance to see your kids again somewhere down the road. Now, like I said, I'm not going to sit. We're not going to sit here with you as long as we did last night. Maybe you didn't mean for it to be this way, but that's what I said. We don't know. So you're going to need, you need us to be able to tell your side of the story when it comes time to go before the judge, and by you just sitting over there not, you know, thinking we don't have nothing. We've only gave you a little bit of what we got and, believe me, it's not all, it's not hearsay. We know. We know that that night those clothes were taken and burned, that y'all were wearing.
Speaker 4:We're aware of that. I'm going to have the same clothes on the next morning when they came to get us. We have two small children. You know these children.
Speaker 3:Yes, I know this is our mama. They ain't never going to see again.
Speaker 10:And that old as well. I think the oldest one was a boy, correct. He saw this, he saw the stuff going down at the trailer park that night.
Speaker 10:And I know that when those people said that those babies was locked up in the room, I'm saying they saw all the commotion with us at their house house that night they were sitting there. Oh yeah, they knew something was wrong. Have you ever heard of a dying declaration? No, that's powerful. I'm going to tell you now, when we walk out this door this afternoon, there's not going to next time you see me.
Speaker 4:We'll be in a corner. Either way, I ain't going home, so right.
Speaker 10:But I don't want to walk out this door.
Speaker 4:I want to talk. I'm not saying that's what I wanted to.
Speaker 3:I can hear what you said.
Speaker 10:Did you say what you say you?
Speaker 3:Usually when I'm talking to somebody about a murder, it's happened and I'm giving them that advice that I think they should talk to me because I realize it's probably one of the last things you want to talk to a person about and certainly you don't want to tell the cops about it.
Speaker 3:But I think the thing that keep in mind and what I reiterate to these people, is that if there's circumstances, if there's a reasoning behind this that could be mitigating, I mean, if there's a reason why this happened that shows why you did this it had to be agonizing. And then to run a distance that she ran because we know we have the burnt clothes and her shoes and everything is right there in the woods to run that distance to a house and beg for help and to wait there, still cooking, for the ambulance to get there. And then the last thing you're saying is, besides telling who your accusers are, am I going to see my kids? Am I going to live? Those are your last questions before you're knocked out and told hey, you may or may not talk to somebody again.
Speaker 6:In one last ditch effort to get a confession or some semblance of remorse from Tina, a detective presents her with a photo of Adriana's charred body.
Speaker 10:Let me tell you something. That's her body. Let me look at it. Let me just look at it so I know you understand what I'm saying. The medical staff in the medical examiner's office didn't even know if this girl was white or black, or black female or white female, because she was so burnt so bad. They didn't have a copy of our report at the time. You wouldn't want this happening to you would you? You wouldn't want to go out this way, would you? Huh, we're going to transport this off the street.
Speaker 6:Tina doesn't budge. However, the photos have clearly had an effect on her. After she's left in the room waiting to be taken to jail, she mumbles haunting things to herself through her sobs, even seemingly calling out to Adriana. The words she chooses to use are bone-chilling.
Speaker 4:Adriana, lord, have mercy, come back and heart, heart, let's terrorize, please, adriana. I told you. I told you oh, you have a sweet girl. I tried to avoid.
Speaker 6:The question of why they committed these terrible crimes in the first place remained to be answered. As it turns out, there were numerous alleged love triangles within the trailer park. All of the dirty truth, it seems, began making its way to the surface. Not only did Adriana reportedly tell Heather that Tina was sleeping with Darren, but allegedly Adriana herself was sleeping with Darren, and Heather had confronted her about it. It's a messy web of cheating and lies, one that Darren is surprisingly transparent about. However, he leaves out something that came out during the trial. According to Tina, she only slept with Darren in exchange for substances.
Speaker 3:Tell me what was going on. There's been a discussion between us about an accusation flying around between you being accused of sleeping with your neighbor and friend of your wife. Is that correct? Yeah, what's her name? Tina Brown, tina Brown. Okay, so the accusation is that you've been sleeping with Tina Brown. And who has been making these accusations? Everybody, everybody. Has Adriana Zimmerman been making those accusations?
Speaker 3:Yes, my wife told me that. She told me that. Okay, so your wife told you that Adriana had reported to her that you've been sleeping with Tina Brown, is that?
Speaker 8:correct. Yes, okay.
Speaker 6:If you recall, in Darren's video interrogation with police, he dilly-dallyed on the phone while he was unashamedly talking and laughing with someone someone who wasn't his wife.
Speaker 1:I'll call you right back man, you done.
Speaker 5:Yeah, all right, you done a little tender on it Huh.
Speaker 1:I done a little tender on it, man.
Speaker 3:Oh sorry, when you said you were on the phone with your sugar thing or whatever just now, was it Tina you were talking to. No, it's not that Okay, but you told me that night you were seeing Tina. Yeah, okay, so is she not your sugar thing?
Speaker 1:Yeah, don't know.
Speaker 3:Okay, don't know, Okay, all right. Did you and Ms Zimmerman have any kind of relationship? No Well, did y'all have? Well, okay. This ain't like Monica Lewinsky man, we you know. Did you have sex with her? Yeah, Okay. So you had a little intercourse with Ms Zimmerman? Yeah, did your wife know this? No, did your wife know if you haven't sex with Tina? No, I bet you don't know about this other thing you got on the side of this Okay.
Speaker 3:Okay. So have you been accused by Heather of having sex with Zimmerman? No, Okay, All her people. Did Tina make any accusations? I mean, Tina probably knows that you're sleeping with Zimmerman, doesn't she? Okay, so none of your girls know that you're sleeping with another one. You're doing a good game, right? Okay? So Heather is aware of the accusations of you having sex with Tina, but her routine are still tight cooking fish together. See, that's what blows my mind, man. You got a good game going on and them two knowing that accusation there, you still got them over there cooking fish together. Yeah, and either you got a good game routine of those, because you're playing that off. Well, so you know, me and Rusty sat there and laughed about that all night, but we couldn't figure out how you get away with that man, because otherwise you know we'd be done. They'd have our cars and our boats and everything else you know. So you get away with it.
Speaker 6:On May 10th, soon after Tina, heather and Brittany were arrested, the police received a letter from an incarcerated man who said he knew who killed Adriana and what the true motive was for the heinous crime. He stated that several months prior to the murder he bought an illegal substance from Darren at the roadway in. He alleged that Adriana was with Darren in the hotel room while the illegal transaction took place. According to him, heather arrived and threatened Adriana with a box cutter, reportedly yelling that she would get Adriana sooner or later. Fortunately, their day in court came sooner rather than later. During the trial, it was revealed that the murder was even more disturbing than police could have imagined. Adriana had been lured to the trailer by Tina under the guise of rekindling their friendship. When she arrived, tina used the stun gun on her and dragged her to the bedroom. There, heather stuffed a sock in her mouth and Brittany beat her. When they drove her to the woods, brittany and Tina took turns tasing her until Tina poured gasoline on her and lit her on fire. According to Heather, as the fire started, tina jumped up and down exclaiming Burn, bitch, burn.
Speaker 6:Tina Brown received a death sentence for her crimes against her former friend, making her one of only three women on Florida's death row. Though Brittany was 16 at the time of the murder, she was sentenced to life in prison. Heather took a plea bargain, testifying against Tina, in order to receive only 25 years for the second degree murder she was convicted of At the time of this video. Tina has filed a motion to have her death sentence thrown out because of false testimony at her trial. According to Tina and a witness at the trial, the witness was coerced by Heather to testify that Tina had confessed to her in jail that she was the mastermind behind Adriana's murder. Heather reportedly threatened the witness, forcing her to say that Heather was present but had nothing to do with the murder. To this day, the former friends are spinning rumors about each other and trying to climb over one another to reach salvation. Any time will tell what the law will decide, but one thing is for certain this brutal yet petty crime against Adriana should never have happened.