Crime Junkie - MURDERED: Breanna Moore

Episode Date: February 11, 2020

Breanna Moore was a young woman on the very cusp of the rest of her life when dating violence turned to murder and stole her entire future away from her. For current Fan Club membership options and... policies, please visit https://crimejunkieapp.com/library/. Sources for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit https://crimejunkiepodcast.com/murdered-breanna-moore/ 

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hi, crime junkies. I'm Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And you guys, it's been a minute, but today I'm going to pass over the mic to Britt to tell you an episode and to tell you an episode on kind of a surprise day. This isn't a regular scheduled episode. We wanted to drop it in your feed as a surprise because this month is actually Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month. And we couldn't find, you know, a story that really represented this in like a normal crime junkie format that's like 30, 40 minutes long. But we are so passionate about this cause. And we think it's so important for young people to hear that we wanted to do this extra mini episode for you. Yeah. So the story we have for you today goes back to an all too common problem,
Starting point is 00:00:42 intimate partner violence. And we've talked about it before, like when we talked about Michelle Schroeder and Annemarie Vintala, we've seen how domestic violence isn't limited by the age or race or gender of the people in the relationships. It can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time. And if you didn't know before, crime junkies, you deserve safe, loving relationships. As a lot of you know, I fell into an incredibly loving, caring relationship when I was a teen, but not everyone is so lucky to discover that, especially at such a young age. And we want to tell you a story that highlights just how important this issue is. We're going up north to Alaska to meet a young woman who was on the very cusp of the rest of her life when dating violence turned to murder
Starting point is 00:01:28 and stole her entire future away from her. This is Brianna Moore's story. Brianna Moore just sparkles. She's a bright, happy young woman living in her hometown of Anchorage, Alaska. And gotta love her. Most people call her Bri because it just fits her personality better. And as a Brit, I get that. And her personality just draws people to her, but her kindness really keeps them close. And she's not afraid to be a goofball. And one of her favorite things to do was to cook at her family's home and do this amazing Julia Child's impression, which I think is just adorable. She's the youngest of three girls and is incredibly close to her sisters, Brandy and Brooke, as well as to her parents, Butch and Cindy. And girl after her own heart,
Starting point is 00:02:47 she loves animals, has a pet chameleon, volunteers at animal rescues, and one day just comes home with a bulldog puppy that she names Edmond. And it's the only way to do it. Like you can't ask your parents. Right. You just, I mean, once it's there, they can't say no. And she is born for Alaska. She loves being outside. She's a huge adventurer. And she's not afraid of getting dirty and loves to go dirt biking and fishing. Just being out on the water brings her so much joy. And she actually wanted to become a doctor. She decides that she wants to work with people in addition to helping animals. Like she considered a vet, but she thought, you know, I can volunteer at rescues and I can be a doctor. So she gets her start right after high school working full time
Starting point is 00:03:35 at a local dentist office as an aid. And they didn't really want to hire her at first because she didn't have like any experience. But her boss, David told the Alaska dispatch that she kept coming back and asking for a job until finally they were like, you know what, fine. And that didn't surprise her parents at all. Because once Bree put her mind to something she would never give up. And the job turned out to be a perfect fit. Bree takes to it really well. And it gives her a really good introduction to, you know, a working career in a medical practice. So while Bree is working at the dentist office, her boyfriend, Josh Almeida is working as a mechanic. And Butch and Cindy have met Josh. They think he's a really nice guy. Plus they know his family. So they're really comfortable
Starting point is 00:04:22 with this relationship developing. Josh is a little bit older than Bree. They started dating when she was 19 and he was 21. According to the KTVA news that aired back in 2018, it is a whirlwind relationship from the start. But her parents really see no reason to worry about him. He seems perfectly charming. He's mature. He's a hard worker. He has a job. Plus he and Bree seem to work really well together as a couple. You know, she adores him. And he seems to adore her right back. I was just going to say it'd be kind of hard to like have a problem with like if you see your daughter being so happy. Exactly. And Bree's parents really don't see any red flags or anything that would make them worry about this relationship. So on the outside, everything is fine as Josh and
Starting point is 00:05:09 Bree keep dating. And the longer they date, the more time they spend together, which, you know, is kind of natural. And Bree starts spending most of her time with Josh, she picks him up and drops him off at different places. And as a result, you know, she sees less and less of her friends and family. Yeah. And you know, I think there's something about that young love that like first love specifically where you do, you like just fall into it fast. Like it's your first experience and and you think this is it. And I mean, I even remember like you kind of do just like your friends disappear, your whole world disappears and that person becomes your whole world. Yeah. And Ashley, you probably even have some vocal feelings about this because again, like I married my high
Starting point is 00:05:46 school boyfriend and you were there for all of it. Yeah, you disappeared for five minutes. Right. So I can totally identify with like that falling in love can be a lot and you can get really in over your head super quickly. So Bree turns 20 on March 17, 2014. And again, things are going really well at her job. She's a super hard worker. She's popular with her coworkers. And everything seems to be moving in the right direction. And from what her parents can tell, she's incredibly happy. And then three months later, early on the morning of June 26, Butch and Cindy get a knock on their front door. Two police officers are standing somberly outside their home and they've come to deliver the worst news any parent can hear. Brianna has
Starting point is 00:06:27 been killed. And at first, Cindy thinks that it's been a car accident. It's the only thing that makes sense. But the truth as they're about to find out is much, much darker. The Anchorage police tell Cindy and Butch that their daughter Brianna has been murdered, shot once in the head and killed instantly by her boyfriend, Josh. This news sends Butch and Cindy into shock. They can't believe it. Murdered. They can't even begin to wrap their heads around anything they've been told. You know, Bri can't be dead. She just can't be gone. And they've never seen anything to indicate that Josh would even be capable of hurting her, let alone killing her. But as the reality sets in and the nightmare begins to unfold, they start to learn the truth. The man they thought loved their daughter
Starting point is 00:07:15 was not at all what he had seemed. Bri's boyfriend, Josh, was a convicted felon who had a long and troubling criminal history by the time Bri was murdered in 2014, dating back years before they ever met. There's a rundown of Josh's criminal record for the Anchorage Daily News after he was arrested. And it is incredibly troubling. Almost from the time he turned 18, all the way up to that June of 2014, Josh had constantly been on the police radar, starting in February of 2011, when he was arrested for trying to run someone over with a truck and driving under the influence with a blood alcohol level of 0.171%. And Ashley, do you know what the legal limit is? So it's 0.08, right? Right. So his blood alcohol level was over twice the legal limit.
Starting point is 00:08:08 And on top of that, they found a handgun on him when he was arrested. And there's more. In November of 2011, Josh was convicted of disorderly conduct for assaulting his own mother. And less than a year later, he went to a party, got drunk before throwing a woman on the ground. The hosts of the party were obviously shaken and asked him to leave. And he did, but he stole one of their trucks on the way out. And a lot of Josh's arrests involved drugs, alcohol, guns, or even a combination of all three. So major warning signs that he was not a healthy young man fit to be in any sort of romantic relationship. But the most troubling part was yet to come because Butch and Cindy Moore later learned in court, Josh had more history with the
Starting point is 00:08:54 law. Because in 2013, he was put on trial for four charges relating to an assault of his former girlfriend. So do we learn anything else about this other girlfriend? Like what happened to her? Okay, so according to court records, Josh was actually violent towards multiple romantic partners before he ever met Brianna. But he only went on trial for domestic assault against this one girl after he allegedly beat the daylights out of her. And this was the person he dated right before he met Bri. Her name is blurred out in the records that I saw. And I don't know how she'd feel about her name being public. So I'm going to preserve her privacy by calling her K. And according to court records, after a night of drinking, Josh picked K up off the bed, threw her to the ground.
Starting point is 00:09:40 She hit the door frame when she landed. And when that happened, he then grabbed her by the hair, ripping out a huge chunk of it in the process, and dragging her to the living room. Once he got there, Josh held K down and kept punching her in the head before grabbing a mirror off the wall and hitting her in the rib cage with it. He then put his knees on her shoulders to keep her in place so he could keep punching her. And at some point during all this, Josh even fired a gun and shot both K's house and car. And she finally managed to escape and ran to Josh's parents for help. Well, and I assume they called the police, right? I wouldn't say that they really helped her. Like they gave her a pair of pants so she had something to wear. And then they went to clean
Starting point is 00:10:28 up the crime scene. What? I know. Trust me, I know. And not only did they clean up the house and all the blood and the gun and the shell casings, but they also hid Josh's gun and then took Josh home. K eventually got to her parents and her dad was the one who ended up calling the police and Josh's dad Philip was eventually questioned by the police hours later, but he lied about cleaning up the gun and the shell casings. And I'm honestly shocked that Phil and Shannon Elmita, Josh's parents, were never charged with evidence tampering, especially considering this was far from Josh's first violent offense. Instead, the Elmita's got total immunity from the state and didn't testify at Josh's trial due to their fifth amendment rights against self-incrimination.
Starting point is 00:11:12 But yeah, they both admitted they cleaned up the blood, the gun and the shell casings at the crime scene. And Josh wound up getting acquitted in November of 2013. You're kidding. I know. And get this, no one told Butch or Cindy or Brie any of this history. Not a word. The charges don't come to Butch and Cindy's attention until they see Josh in court for his bail hearing on June 28th, right after Brie's murder. Well, I kind of understand. Like, I mean, I guess I don't understand. I've never been to Alaska. How small the town is, is would there be somebody who would even tell them? Or, I mean, to me, they're just meeting this guy for the first time. Like, how would they know? I agree. But again, like, Brie's parents had met Josh's parents. They'd
Starting point is 00:11:55 met the family. You would think that if you love someone and you want your child to be happy, you would want to give them a heads up or something. I don't know. It's I mean, not from parents who covered up for their son. I mean, it's unfortunate, but unfortunately, not surprising. Right. And the Moors are just totally stunned because this goes against everything that they thought they knew about the man their daughter was so devoted to. And there was a report in USA Today in 2019 that Josh was actually on probation at the time of Brie's murder. And he'd been ordered to stay away from guns and alcohol and drugs as part of the probation. And again, Brie's parents were completely in the dark about this. They had no idea that Josh had any kind of
Starting point is 00:12:39 record. No idea that Josh's parents were taking him to anger management classes and AA meetings multiple times a day to comply with probation. And in fact, the night Brie was murdered, Josh had just graduated from a court ordered anger management class. Oh my goodness. So the Moors learned the truth about Josh. They learned about his parents in action. And they learned too that the night that Brie was shot in Josh's house, Josh's mom waited two hours to call the police. What? Yeah. Why? So on the night Brie was murdered, Josh's mom was awoken by her son screaming. And when she went downstairs to check to make sure everything was all right, she found Brie dead of a single gunshot wound to the head. And instead of calling the police right
Starting point is 00:13:23 away, she hid the gun in the dishwasher. Again, tampering with a crime scene after her son committed a violent act. So she didn't even hear the gunshot. It was it was her son that woke her up. Yeah. And once Shannon Almeida finally called 911 and the police arrived at their home, Josh first told the officers at the scene that he had nothing to do with Brie's death. According to Josh, he and Brie had been drinking down in the basement of his parents' house. And Josh said he left her to go to the bathroom and brush his teeth, get ready for bed. And he just heard this loud bang and ran back out into the bedroom to find Brie dead. So he's saying he's trying to tell everyone that she killed herself. Exactly. And there's even a probable cause to
Starting point is 00:14:03 statement from one of the officers on the scene who right away saw that the evidence was completely inconsistent with death by suicide. Like Brie had been shot through her forearms as if she'd lifted her arms to protect herself. And Josh is arrested on the spot and charged with second degree murder. The toxicology reports confirmed that Brie had absolutely no drugs or alcohol in her system at the time of her death. Okay, but what I don't understand is you talked about how violent Josh could be in his past. It is so hard for me to believe that absolutely no one had a clue that Brie was being hurt. Like, I get her parents kind of being in the dark. And even if they didn't know, like, did anyone in her life see anything like friends, coworkers, like a random
Starting point is 00:14:47 person at the dentist's office? Like, I mean, I've known you and Justin through the years. And if I saw something between you two, like you and I are close enough, I would notice and like, I would absolutely say something to someone, even if it was to Brie or her parents or other friends to just be like, is anyone else seeing what I'm seeing? Yeah, and actually, it didn't go unnoticed. Butch talked to some of Brie's coworkers after she was killed. And what he learned shocked him. More than once, Brie came into work with a black eye. And one time she came in looking battered and acting like super, super out of it, really disoriented and actually went and threw up in the bathroom sink. And it sounds a lot like a concussion symptom, right? Yeah. And like,
Starting point is 00:15:29 obviously, I'm not a doctor, but vomiting and confusion are right there in the list of symptoms of traumatic brain injuries. So Brie's coworkers saw major, major red flags and signs of abuse. But instead of saying anything to Brie or talking to her parents, they just decided not to get involved. And as Butch and Cindy learn in the weeks and months after Brie is murdered, Brie's colleagues aren't the only ones who saw troubling signs. In fact, Butch talked to one of Brie's sisters and asked her, you know, why did Brie deactivate her Facebook page? And Brie had told them that Josh said that she didn't need a Facebook anymore, because she was with him now. So Josh was trying to control who she communicated with, which is a really, really common tactic
Starting point is 00:16:13 with abusers, you know, to isolate victims, create dependence. But since Brandy and Brooke didn't know that at the time, they didn't think anything of it, not until it was too late. Yeah. I mean, that on its own, I don't even know that I would, I would say so. I mean, it would be super weird to me again, just because of all the things we know, all the episodes we've done, but without having the information like from the coworkers or knowing that she's, you know, coming in with black eyes, that you almost don't have all the puzzle pieces to put together the puzzle. It can seem innocent enough, but it kind of goes to show you that like, these warning signs are there and they shouldn't be ignored. Right. And again, like,
Starting point is 00:16:51 Brie's sisters are seeing a couple of things, her coworkers are seeing a couple of things, but they didn't know everything and they weren't seeing everything. Josh's parents, Philip and Shannon Almeida did, and they did nothing to act on it. After Josh's sentence, Butch files a wrongful death lawsuit against his parents, actually, to find out what happened to Brie and to develop evidence that Philip and Shannon Almeida committed felonies in connection with Brie's murder. He actually put together this video all about it. It's about 25 minutes long, and it is very intense. And we'll link to it on our website, but I want to go through a couple of things here that I thought were really interesting. So legal minded crime junkies, you guys know,
Starting point is 00:17:35 depositions are kind of like testifying in trial, but it's not during a trial. And you're held to the same responsibility of telling the truth, taking an oath, etc, etc. But what do Philip and Shannon do? They lie under oath. So I'm going to play you some audio from Philip's deposition in 2017 and just take a listen to what he says here. So at any time prior to that murder, did you ever learn from anyone that Joshua was in possession of a guy? Specifically from anybody? No. Okay. You know, I mean, I don't even think Shannon even mentioned it. In terms of whether Josh had ever been in possession of any firearm, you hadn't. I'm understanding you had absolutely no idea that Joshua had any firearm up until the
Starting point is 00:18:27 time that he killed Brie. Correct. And again, since you had, sounds like up until the time of Brie's murder, you didn't have any indication that Joshua had ever owned a gun. So that wasn't on your radar, so to speak. True. Okay. Now a little bit later in the same deposition, this happens. Earlier, I asked you whether or not you were aware that Joshua had any guns. And it was, I'm 100% sure that your testimony was the first time you were aware Josh had ever owned a gun was the time that he murdered Brie. Do you recall that testimony? I think so. Okay. So now it sounds like you're telling me, you do remember an incident where, where you called the police and turned in a gun. So after reading this, this reminded me of the fact your son had a gun? Okay. All right.
Starting point is 00:19:17 Up until, just so I got it crystal clear, up until now, you didn't, up until now, up until now, just now, when I showed you the statement by Joshua, you did not remember that your son had a gun that was taken away and which you voluntarily gave over to the police, correct? Okay. Earlier, we've established, you told me under oath, Joshua never had a gun to my knowledge until I learned that he killed Brie if that was the first time I knew that he had any access to a gun. Recall that? Okay. Is that true? Do you remember testifying about that? I think so. Okay. Okay, great. So then I showed you this statement where Joshua is saying, I handed over, my mom found a Glock and she turned it over to the police. After reading this statement,
Starting point is 00:20:15 you are now testifying under oath that, oh yeah, I just previously forgot that Joshua had a gun before he killed Brie. Did I understand that correctly? Yes. Okay. All right. Just flip your mind. Yes. And Ashley, I don't know if you're mad yet, but my blood is boiling. And here's Shannon again under the same oath in the same deposition. Well, at the time of the murder, how many guns were you aware that Joshua had owned over his lifetime? You had the one and you took that away? That was the only one I was, I didn't even know the one he used was his. That's the Linian. So that was the only one I was aware of. So let me get this straight. His mother knew that he had a gun before Brie was ever murdered,
Starting point is 00:21:17 and she knows that he's used that gun when he assaulted another woman. And we all just think it's like fine that he still has this. Right. And she's lying because again, she says the only gun that she knows about is this gun that was used to kill Brie when there was another gun in Kay's assault a year earlier. So she's absolutely lying. And honestly, both of them are, and it's right there on the tape. And I watched this video and it made me sick to my stomach because there's Shannon Almeida sitting at this deposition from 2017 calm as can be admitting that she never told Brie or her parents about any of Josh's issues with mental health or guns or prior domestic violence because, and I quote, she didn't believe that Josh assaulted Kay.
Starting point is 00:22:09 What? She cleaned it up. Right. How does she not believe that happened? I have no idea how she could sit there and say that knowing that Kay had been assaulted, she went to Shannon and Phillip. They gave her a pair of pants. Shannon and Phillip cleaned up the crime scene. There's literally nothing to deny happening. I mean, do you think she's just straight up lying in her deposition because she doesn't want to get in trouble? Or do you think she really has this twisted belief that she wants to believe her son's a good person and she's kind of just in straight up denial? I think there's a really good chance of that. Like even when my kids do something silly and break something in my house, I,
Starting point is 00:22:50 I want to believe that's not in their nature. It's small, but you'd want your kids to be good. You want to be proud of them. I get that. And I get that Josh is not that for her, but lying under oath at a deposition about things that are such blatant lies, I cannot wrap my head around it. And to make matters worse, after securing evidence in this civil case to prove that Phillip and Shannon both committed felonies in connection to Breeze murder, Butch drops the civil suit in order to move forward with having the Almeida's prosecuted for the perjury that we just heard them commit, except the state won't prosecute. You're kidding me.
Starting point is 00:23:30 Yeah. Butch has presented multiple prosecutors in the state of Alaska with the video and they've all said, yeah, felonies have definitely been committed. And in many cases, they've wanted to move forward to hold Shannon and Phillip Almeida accountable with the causation of homicide, yet no charges have been filed to date. That's got to be so frustrating for Breeze parents. Yeah. And Butch is determined though, and he has given the video to lawmakers all over the state, but despite letters from multiple Alaskan officials, nothing, there's just nothing on the books yet to prosecute the Almeida's. And I think that's a question that we're going to be asking for a really long time. And I hope the Alaskan public asks their elected officials too.
Starting point is 00:24:14 The culture of silence and inaction around domestic violence is deadly everywhere. But in Alaska, as the more family learns, the problems run much, much deeper than they could even begin to imagine. So according to USA Today, 59% of adult women in Alaska have experienced intimate partner violence, sexual violence, or both. And among indigenous Alaskan women, that number balloons to a staggering 84% who experience violence during their lives as adults or children or both. 84% is not an okay number. Any number is bad. 84% is unacceptable. And Alaska was actually named the deadliest state in the country for women with a rate of 3.4 homicides per 100,000 people, which is over three times the national average. And the reported rapes in Alaska
Starting point is 00:25:09 are two and a half times the national average. And we know rape is chronically underreported. I'm sure the real number is even higher. And when Bree's parents find these statistics out, they are horrified. Cindy said in 2018 about how she and Butch saw a thing on TV just a few months after Bree was murdered, talking about the rates of violence against women in Alaska, and how they were just totally shocked because they had no idea any of this was happening in their state, let alone in their own backyard. And they're obviously still grieving. Honestly, as a parent, I don't see that grieving process of losing a child could ever stop. But in the midst of all of their pain and all of their grief, Butch and Cindy get curious. Because if a girl
Starting point is 00:25:59 like Brianna, who no one would ever think could get entangled in an abusive relationship, let alone could wind up dead at the hands of an intimate partner, then other women could too. And the numbers say these young women are already dying at alarming rates. And the Moors want to know what's being done to prevent this. So the first thing they do is educate themselves about the reality of dating violence among young people. And I learned that almost 7% of adolescents killed between 2003 and 2016 were killed by dating partners. And 90% of those victims were female like Bri. Once Cindy and Butch start getting deeper into the numbers, the harder it becomes for them to just stand by and do nothing. And the what if game is always dangerous,
Starting point is 00:26:43 but they can't help but ask themselves, what if Bri had known about the signs of an abusive relationship? What if she had been educated about warning signs and red flags? What if they had been better educated? Would she still be alive today? And with these questions in their minds, the Moors decide to learn everything they can. Since there's so much they didn't know about teen dating violence until it was too late. It stands to reason that other people don't know about it either, right? Right. So Butch and Cindy make it their mission to educate others as they educate themselves. And they decide the best way to spread this information is through schools. So they start at a local level and work with their representatives to draft some laws that would make teen dating
Starting point is 00:27:25 violence education mandatory in Alaskan schools. That way, kids would learn to recognize the warning signs in their own relationships, as well as learn what to do if they see their friends in violent situations and get an idea of the resources available to them if they themselves are being hurt. The Alaskan state legislator was already considering making it mandatory for schools to teach kids about sexual assault under a piece of legislation called Aaron's law. And thanks to Butch and Cindy's activism, HB44, better known as the Alaska Safe Children's Act, passed in 2015. And it includes a provision informally known as Bree's law and Aaron's law. And that provision ensures students in grades seven through 12 learn teen dating violence
Starting point is 00:28:09 prevention education on how to recognize domestic violence and also where to turn if they're experiencing it. Bree's law fits right in with the Moors mission of prevention through education and above all, they want to teach kids how to break the stigma, break the silence and save lives in the process. And Butch made a great analogy about how if you are out with friends and okay, Ashley, let's say you and I are out to dinner and I start choking on my food. What would you do? The Heimlich call 911. I don't know. You would try to save me at least, right? Well, yeah, yeah, of course. Exactly. Like you wouldn't think twice about trying to help me or act like it was none of your business because you'd know how to help me. And the people who knew Bree was
Starting point is 00:28:48 being hurt, like the co workers who saw her bruises, they kept silent partly because they didn't know what to do in the situation. Bree's parents want to stop that from happening ever again. As Butch puts it, don't be afraid to save someone's life. While Butch and Cindy are educating themselves and figuring out how to best educate others, Josh's trial looms large. As a parent, I can't think of many things worse than having to face that. But the Moors are spared that heartache when Josh accepts a plea zeal and pleads guilty to second degree murder on July 30, 2015, about six weeks after the Alaska Safe Children's Act passes. The plea agreement carries the stipulation of open sentencing. So it's up to the judge to determine how long Josh will spend in prison,
Starting point is 00:29:35 anywhere from 10 to 99 years. And though they're spared the agony of a trial, the Moors are determined to see justice done all the way to the end. Both Butch and Cindy testify at Josh's sentencing. And KTVA News said to hear Cindy talk about the daughter she lost and the life Bree lived the fullest was just heartbreaking. And Butch testified about the danger Josh poses to the next woman he would date, should he ever date again. And perhaps the most moving thing of all is Bree's older siblings, Brandy and Brooke, tell the court that they brought Brianna with them and present a bag holding their sister's ashes. It's all they have left of her. And it's just so heartbreaking and so moving. And the judge agrees. And Josh was sentenced to 75 years in prison. It eases a small
Starting point is 00:30:23 portion of the Moors grief, but they don't yet realize that their work with state and local lawmakers is just beginning. When the Alaska Safe Children's Act becomes law in 2015, Butch and Cindy Moore don't consider their job done. Armed with Brianna's memory, they take their messages to schools all over the state, sharing Bree's story and putting a recognizable face on the epidemic of teen dating violence. They make a website, Bree'slaw.org, and print posters directing teens who need help to call the National Teen Dating Violence Prevention Hotline at loveisrespect.org, distributing thousands of copies all over Alaska with the same message Butch said earlier, don't be afraid to save someone's life. They also don't stop lobbying
Starting point is 00:31:09 state government. Although a section of Alaska Safe Children's Act is already informally known as Bree's law, that title is really just a nickname and has no legal standing. The Moors want to make it official to ensure Bree's legacy is memorialized in legislation designed to save the lives of other young women like her. While some lawmakers in Alaska object to naming the law after a specific person at the risk of kind of narrowing its focus to a single case, instead of the broader Alaskan population, Cindy points out that, you know, we have the Amber Alert system as an example of a recognizable name boosting awareness of an issue. And together, she and Butch keep fighting. Finally, on February 14th, 2018, Valentine's Day, the Alaskan House of Representatives unanimously
Starting point is 00:31:54 votes to rename the House Bill 214 section of the Alaska Safe Children's Act, Bree's law. The U.S. Senate is obviously a little bit busy right now, but Bree's law is actually due to come back before the U.S. government to be discussed as a national law sometime this year in 2020. So you mentioned that they're doing this in schools as well. Do they have like any way to like measure if the program is working within schools? So far, the numbers suggest, yeah, there are some really interesting stats from the Alaska Youth Risk Behavior Survey done in 2017. And get this, according to the survey, in 2015, 9.5% of teens in grades nine through 12 reported experiencing physical dating violence. And a
Starting point is 00:32:39 little over 10% reported that they'd experienced sexual dating violence. And two years later, in 2017, that has gone down to 7.3% reporting physical dating violence and five and a half percent reporting sexual dating violence. So it's gone down by nearly half. So that's fewer kids being hurt and more kids having the tools they need to look out for themselves and their friends. So if they see signs like Bree's peers did, they know what to do. And while Brianna Moore died way too soon, her name lives on. Bree's law works to make sure other bright lights get their chances to shine away from the threat of teen dating violence. And again, every single person listening, that includes you. If you've got questions about your relationship, or you think
Starting point is 00:33:24 someone you know might be in an unsafe dating situation, you can visit loveisrespect.org for more information. They've got a quick exit button if you need to get off the website in a hurry, or you can call them at 1-866-331-9474, or text LOVEIS, that's L-O-V-E-I-S, all one word, two, two, two, five, two, two. And for more information on teen dating violence in Alaska, you can visit loveisrespect.org, Bree's law.org, and the Alaska Native Women's Resource Center at aknwrc.org. As always, you can find all that information as well as our sources on our website, and we will also be linking the video there where you can watch the Almeida's deposition for yourself. That's crimejunkiepodcast.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram at crimejunkiepodcast.
Starting point is 00:34:27 And we'll be back with our regular scheduled programming next Monday. Thanks for watching.

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