Crime Junkie - SURVIVED: Cyntoia Brown from Nashville

Episode Date: September 26, 2024

This case was originally told in an episode released in January 2022, but we pulled Cyntoia's story to be one of sixteen episodes from the archives we'll be bringing you every Thursday now through end of year... for good reason! We highly recommend you listen to each episode between now and end of 2024, and follow us on Instagram @crimejunkiepodcast so you're the first to know what's coming next!

Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. I'm not going to spend too much time on the overview of why I'm in your feed on a Thursday, even though, don't worry, still going to have your weekly Monday episodes. If you want to know, I highly recommend you go back and take a listen yourself.

I've left you something in each episode. But this one is another stop in my own Crime Junkie Eras Tour. And this next stop is one that I don't get too often, even though it's not too far from my home state. It's home to some of the greatest musicians of all time, specifically country musicians and iconic places like the Grand Ole Opry, which I visited as a child once, but I would love to come back to as an adult. But we know no matter the extent of the glitz and the glamour of a city or state or country,

it doesn't make the possibility of experiencing absolute life-changing and devastating circumstances, just like the one I want to retell you about from this past episode. Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And I actually want to try something a little different with this episode. So, Britt, I'm going to pass it over to you to tell the story. One that began nearly two decades ago in Tennessee. This is the story of have for you today starts on August 7th, 2004 in Nashville, Tennessee.

It's a little after 7pm that day when a call comes in to 911 dispatch. Dispatcher asks the usual, what's the address of your emergency? And the caller, a woman, gives them a street address on Mossdale Drive. The next question, of course, is what's the emergency? What's going on over there? And the caller responds with just one word, homicide. And according to court documents, the operator tries to get more information, but the caller hangs up before answering any more questions. This has got to be one of those like, is this a prank? Is it not? moments, but the operator dispatches first responders right away. When police arrive, they get no answer at the front door, but are thankfully able to get in through the garage.

And it doesn't take them long to find what they're looking for. They're in the bedroom, lying naked, face down on the bed, in a pool of blood, is a man. It looks as though he's been shot, and his hands are kind of laced together under his face almost like he'd been sleeping. And when the paramedics arrive, they confirm what officers already knew. The man is dead. Police identify him as 43 year old Johnny Allen and right away they get to work searching the home for evidence. They find one shell casing under the bed, which is really all they expected to find

since there seemed to be only one bullet at play here that went straight through Johnny's head and into the wall. ERIKA Was there like any kind of gun too? STACEY No, they don't find a gun, which along with the position of the body, is what makes them pretty confident that they're dealing with a homicide and not a suicide. Now, I wasn't able to find a ton of detail about the investigation, except to say that something leads them first to Johnny's truck, which they find abandoned in a Walmart parking lot, and then to a motel

just down the street. Now, by now, it's the wee hours of August 8th, like full on middle of the night, and they're standing outside room 302 knocking on the door. A man swings the door open and police immediately pull him outside. And within seconds, a young woman, a naked young woman named Sentoya Brown, comes flying out the door saying,

Cut didn't do it. I'll tell you everything. Cut is Sentoya's boyfriend. And I know you can't see me right now, but heavy air quotes on the word boyfriend. In her book Free Sentoya, she writes about Cut at that time in her life when she was essentially homeless, aimless, using drugs and hustling to get by. He was every single kind of abusive.

I mean, physical, emotional, sexual, but also she was pretty much dependent on him too. Anyway, please bring them both in for questioning, but the person they really want to talk to is the woman. She tells them that her name is Syntoya Denise Mitchell and that she's 19 years old. She tells them that she'd met the man for the first time two nights before on August 6th at about 11 p.m. when he pulled up next to her in his truck at a Sonic and asked if she was hungry. She tells police that she was hungry and this guy looked safe, like a businessman, someone

who had an actual job, a career. So she climbed into his truck and they headed to the Sonic drive-in. She says Johnny bought her a burger and offered to let her stay at his place and she agreed. And during the drive to his place, Sentoya says he told her he was a real estate agent and he volunteered in the community and was kind of this man about town. He seemed like a nice enough guy and everything seemed fine.

That is, she tells police, until they got to his place. That's when things started to get a little strange. And I get the sense that what she means is that his demeanor changed. She says he started showing her all the rifles he has in his place and tells her how he used to be a sharpshooter in the military, that kind of stuff. Is this like happening in like an intimidating way? Yeah, totally.

And she says they finished their food and then watched TV for a bit. And then she told him she was really tired and asked if he would mind if she slept for a little bit. And he was like sure that's fine She tells police that what she was really hoping for is that he would fall asleep So she could sneak out without making any sort of scene but according to Santoya while they were laying in bed the man started touching her and Whispering to her and at first she was just like kind of shifting around in the bed Pretending to be asleep and kind of uncomfortable and annoyed

But then she says he grabbed her hard between the legs and when she turned around to face him She saw this terrifying look in his eyes an aggressive look She says her first thought was oh my god He is going to hit me but instead of hitting her he rolled away in the opposite direction Which is when it dawned on her that no, he rolled away in the opposite direction. Which is when it dawned on her that no, he's not going to hit me. He's going to kill me. She says she was sure he was reaching for a gun.

And in a split second, Sentoya says she reached into her purse on the nightstand, grabbed the gun she'd started carrying just a couple weeks before, pointed it at Johnny, and pulled the trigger. There are parts of Sentoya's story that aren't really adding up to police. It's not that they think that everything she's saying is a lie, they can see these nuggets of truth in it, but what she's telling them is basically that she shot Johnny in self-defense.

But that's not what it looked like to police at the scene. To them, remember, it looked like he'd been asleep when he was shot. LESLIE So if they're not seeing it as self-defense, what's their theory at this point? Or do they still not even have one? TAMMY No, they do. Police think that Santoya is skipping over an important detail, that she's a sex worker, and that she killed Johnny Allen while he slept so she could rob him. Well, I mean, is there anything missing from the house besides his truck?

So when they arrest Sentoya at the motel, they find his wallet and some guns, both of which have been stolen from the house. And eventually she says that she ended up taking $173 for him. So with this, police feel they have enough to charge Sentoya with first degree murder, which they do. And according to court documents, it's only after the arraignment that police learn that this 19-year-old Sintoja Denise Mitchell is in fact 16-year-old Sintoja Denise Brown. Okay, so I mean now we're talking about a minor, which I would imagine changes the charges or even a theory of what happened? Like, does it for them? No, not at all.

In fact, the prosecution is planning to ask the judge to transfer Centoya to adult court, which would mean the minimum sentence if she's convicted on the charges is 60 years with no possibility of parole for 51 years. And I assume that life is probably an option too then if she's being looked at as an adult. Oh yeah, absolutely. In the Netflix documentary Murder to Mercy, the Centoya Brown story, they actually say that Tennessee has the harshest mandatory minimums in the country when it comes to juveniles being tried in adult court, which actually happens way more frequently than I think we even acknowledge or know about,

even for those of us in the truth crime community. And Syntoya is one of them. Her case is transferred to adult court and when the time finally comes to put it before a jury, she's 18 years old. And while that's still so, so young, the Syntoya the jury sees is not the 16 year old in actual legit pigtail braids who was arrested back in 2004. It's a slightly older, slightly more mature looking centoya. And the story she tells about the night of August 6th is actually not markedly different from the one she told police during that first interrogation. What is different though, is what she shares about everything that led up to the night of August 6th. Which is? though, is what she shares about everything that led up to the night of August 6th.

Which is? Like, for example, how Sintoia was born when her biological mother was just 16 years old. And even at 16, she was drinking heavily every day, all throughout her pregnancy. Her bio-mom kept drinking after Sintoia was born, but then she discovered crack cocaine and soon found herself with a full-blown substance use disorder on top of the alcohol use. This whole time is like, Centoya living with her? Like, did she actually keep custody of Centoya this whole time? Yeah, she did. Off and on until Centoya was adopted at age two. But her adoptive mother, Elanette, said on the Murderer to Mercy documentary

that she and her husband had been caring for Centoya since she was only six months old. And even though her mom and dad provided a loving home for Sentoya, by the time she was a teenager, her life was already off the rails. It seemed like she was always getting in trouble for something. By the time she pulled that trigger in Johnny Allen's bedroom, she'd already been kicked out of school, arrested, and served time in juvenile detention. And so when she met that guy Cut, the one she was living in the motel with, and he convinced her to start exchanging sex for money, she was like, honestly, sure, whatever.

Yeah, but again, 16, no one's a sex worker. Like she herself is a victim of trafficking, whatever role Cut played in that, I mean. Totally, totally. But back in 2006 at Santoya's murder trial, that's not the way the jury sees it because that's not the way the jury sees it, because that's not the way the prosecution presented it. So after only six hours of deliberation,

the jury comes back with a guilty verdict. Guilty of first degree murder, guilty of felony murder, guilty of aggravated robbery, and Sentoya is sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 51 years. And to say that Sentoya ascends to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 51 years. And to say that Sentoya changed in prison would kind of be the understatement of a lifetime, Ashley. While there, Sentoya finishes high school and starts working towards an associate's

degree. She earns another degree, a bachelor's this time, in organizational development, graduating with a 4.0 GPA. She starts writing the book, the one I mentioned earlier called Free Centoya. I mean, she's literally a new and completely different person. But despite all that work,

it was never enough to get Centoya anywhere with appeals. The courts rejected every request her team made. But then in 2017, a reporter happens to mention Santoya's case in a story about a new Tennessee law, one that prohibits minors from being charged and sentenced as sex workers. And it is exactly what Santoya's defense didn't even know that they always needed. So on the heels of that story comes an absolute flood of support. Rihanna posts on social media about Syntoya. Kim Kardashian does too.

LeBron James, TI, Lana Del Rey, and all of a sudden, hashtag freeSyntoyaBrown has a million tweets and is growing by the day. And just to give you a flavor of the tone shift, like culturally in the 13 years since all this started, can you just read Rihanna's post for us? Sure, she writes, quote,

"'Imagine at the age of 16 being sex trafficked by a pimp named Cutthroat. After days of being repeatedly drugged and raped by different men, you were purchased by a 43-year-old child predator who took you to his home to use you for sex. You end up finding enough courage to fight back and shoot and kill him. You're arrested as a result, tried and convicted as an adult, and sentenced to life in prison. This is the story of Syntoya Brown. She will be eligible for parole when she is 69 years old." End quote. Oh, that's heavy.

Yeah. And laying it out that way, that she won't even be eligible for parole until she's almost 70, because of about five seconds of time that happened when she was 16. There's actually a picture of Santoya on Rihanna's Instagram post, and again, she looks so young,

and that's what she would have looked like on that night Johnny Allen picked her up outside at the Sonic for the express purpose of taking her back to his house for sex. Which is, again, the prosecution's theory all along of what happened and eventually what Sentoya admitted to. Again like the actual like black and white events don't change. It's all about this context. She was a child.

She looks like a child. It just seems bananas to me that anyone would look at this girl and think anything other than that. Like how can you look at her and call her an adult? I know. And I think some of that had to do with the life that Sentoya had been leading up to that point, like before she was arrested for the murder. Not to mention the way she acted when she was first locked up, which you can probably

guess was super aggressive, defiant, violent. But I mentioned before the change of law in 2017 relating to human trafficking, the one that kickstarted the whole Free Centoia Brown movement. Well, there's another important way public sentiment is at least starting to shift. First came a Supreme Court decision in 2010 that said, uh, guys, juveniles can't be sentenced to life without parole for non-homicidal violences. And then two years later in 2012, Kaylin Ford reported for ABC News that a second Supreme Court decision said, we take that back. Actually life without parole for any juvenile for any crime, including homicide constitutes

cruel and unusual punishment. Do either of those actually apply to Satoya? I mean, I know that technically she isn't serving life without parole. She can get paroled at 69, but isn't that effectively life in prison? Like what's she supposed to do with her life if the first time she steps into the world, she's 69 years old? Right. So first thing, small correction to the Rihanna tweet you read before, she would actually be 67 because she did get some credit for time served. But honestly, that's neither here nor there.

But neither of the rulings apply to Sentoya because technically, like you said, her sentence isn't life without parole. But that almost doesn't matter because by this time, she's got all this momentum building behind her. Sentoya has changed. The world has changed. So Sentoya and her team decide to ride this wave of support and make their one final Hail Mary Pass, which is to ask the governor for clemency. And when I say Hail Mary Pass, this is truly a Hail Mary Pass. The very, very last possible opportunity

for someone to look at Sintoja's 2004 crime and 2006 conviction and consider how appropriate the punishment really is given all that has changed in the meantime. In May 2018, Sintoya goes before the Board of Pardons and Paroles in Tennessee to essentially plead her case. And just for clarity, her going before the parole board isn't really necessarily about proving guilt or innocence, right? Like my understanding is parole board is you have to like show that you've changed and you should be considered for release even though her sentence wouldn't necessarily allow for it. Right, exactly. So what her team is asking the board to recommend to the governor is that

Santoya's sentence be commuted from first degree murder to second degree murder, which means that even if they're successful, she may still have to serve time, whether behind bars or on parole. She'll still have a record, all that stuff. But even within those confines, a commutation to second-degree murder would give Sentoya a second chance. One of the people who testifies on her behalf at that hearing is actually a Tennessee State Prosecutor. The one who argued against Sentoya's appeal and was ultimately successful because the verdict was upheld. But he tells the board he had no idea that the person he'd just argued should stay

in prison for 51 years was the same person sitting in his classroom making straight A's. And once he knew that, he realized he needed to do something about it. Ultimately, the board is essentially split. Two of them vote for clemency, two vote against it, and two say that she should be eligible for parole after 25 years. So what does that even mean? Well, it means the governor has a lot to consider making his decision. I mean, these recommendations go to him. And in theory, the board weighs one way or the other and he can say oh like everyone's in agreement on this one let's do this he's got a completely split vote but it's actually not until

january 2019 eight months after that hearing that sentoya finds out that the decision has been made the governor has decided to commute sentoya's sentence to 15 years which doesn't mean she's free to go right then and there she still has has seven months to go. Yeah, but there's a big difference between seven months and 51 years. I mean, not to mention a big difference between being released from prison at 67 or 31, which is how old Sentoya is when she walks out of that Tennessee women's prison for the first time since she was 16 years old. And to say the time in prison changed Sentoya is, again, almost not the right word. She is transformed during those years.

She had always been smart. A psychologist who evaluated Sentoya way back in 2004 and testified that her IQ was in the 90th percentile of the entire population. But prison had given her the time and space to focus that intelligence. Hang on, are you actually saying like for once that I've never heard this but prison actually worked? Okay, do not put words in my mouth. I would say that time worked. I mean, who's to say what kind of impact the right kind of trauma-informed counseling and treatment would have had on Santoya's life if she had been given those opportunities right from the start. If she'd been recognized as a victim of human trafficking, facing an impossible situation every day of her life rather than as an adult who knowingly

and intentionally committed murder. You know, I think it's easy for us to like look at Santoya's story, hear her story and think like, wow, things have really changed. We're acknowledging that things were more complex than the system allowed for at the time, whatever. But it's important to remember, commutation is not exoneration. Sentoya is still technically a convicted killer. And there's a lot that comes along with that job she can get, whether or not she's able to vote. Like, again, she's out of jail and that is a huge step, but it is not, you know, giving her 100% of her life back that she lost. Again, certainly something, but I wouldn't call it a clear win for advocates of human

trafficking survivors. I do think it illustrates really well how much things can change in a pretty short amount of time, though. Public sentiment towards victims, but also laws and the way that they're implemented. It also, again, you guys, shows you the power that you have. Those million tweets, like, that's what got people paying attention to those cases. And I think that's where all of our crime junkies come in.

You can find all the source material for this episode on our website, crimejunkiepodcast.com. And be sure to check out our Instagram at crimejunkie is an AudioChuck production. So what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve?