Murder With My Husband - 129. Susan, Adrian and Kyle Brouk - The Rural Slayings

Episode Date: September 12, 2022

*this case involves children* On this episode of MWMH, Payton and Garrett discuss the brutal family slaying of Susan, Adrian and Kylee Brouk. LIVE ONLINE SHOW TICKETS HERE! https://www.moment.co/murderwithmyhusband https://linktr.ee/murderwithmyhusband  Case Sources: Caselaw.findlaw.com, State v. Christeson, Supreme Court of Missouri, En Banc opinion, decided June 26, 2001 Various opinions and appellate briefs filed in this case were excellent sources for the facts and the legal proceedings, including courts.mo.gov, Mark Christeson’s Appeal Brief to the Missouri Supreme Court. . Cbsnews.com, “Missouri man executed for 1998 murder of mother, 2 children,” no author listed, January 31, 2017 Localtoday.news, “The horrifying murder of the Brouk family in Missouri,” by Tim Svendsen, August 13, 2022 Reuters.com, “Missouri executes man for 1998 triple murder,” by Timothy Mclaughlin, January 31, 2017 Themarshallproject.org, “The Next to Die, Watching Death Row” Nevadadailymail.com, “Missouri executes murderer convicted here,” by Johannes Brann, February 3, 2017 Mercurynews.com, “Missouri executes man who as a teen killed neighbor family,” by Associated Press, February 1, 2017 Arkansasonline.com, “Missouri executes killer of mom, 2 kids,” by The Associated Press, February 1, 2017 Buzzfeednews.com, “Missouri Executes Man For the 1998 Murders Of A Family,” by Tasneem Nashrulla, January 31, 2017 Missourinet.com, “Convicted Triple Killer Mark Christeson Executed; Maries County Sheriff Says Justice Has Been Served,” by Brian Hauswirth, February 1, 2017 Kcur.org, “Missouri executes Mark Christeson for 1998 triple slayings,” by St. Louis Public Radio and Marshall Griffin, February 1, 2017 Findagrave.com, Susan Jo Southard Brouk obituary Mcdc.missouri.edu, Missouri Population 1900-1990 (All Incorporated Places) Thecinemaholic.com, “Susan Brouk Murder: Is Mark Christeson Dead or Alive?” by Viswa Vanapalli, July 20, 2021 Independent.ie, “Bodies found in pond,” no author listed, February 7, 1998 Murderpedia.org, Mark A. Christeson 44bars.com, “Who Was Susan Brouk? Details To Know About Her Murder Case,” no author or date provided Wikipedia, “Vichy, Missouri” Wikipedia, “Arrow Killings” Assisted research and copywriting: Diane Birnholz Links: https://mwmh.contactin.bio/ https://linktr.ee/murderwithmyhusband Ads: Betterhelp: www.betterhelp.com/husband Factor: www.go.factor75.com/husband120 and use code husband 120 Prose: www.prose.com/mwmh  Ethos: www.ethoslife.com/husband  GetUpside: download the free GetUpside App and use promo code husband Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Yes, you energy. Energy for everything. Casp the banner now to learn more. Hey everybody, welcome back to our podcast. This is Murder with My Husband. I'm Peyton Morland. And I'm Garrett Morland. And he's the husband.

And I'm the husband. Real quick, before we jump into everything, we know that some of you have been having some issues with the Apple podcast subscriptions. One of them they've been playing ads into some of the bonus episodes haven't been playing. We've reached out to Apple, they're fixing it. So hopefully this is the last time

that I have to bring this up. Also, if it's like there's ads, maybe just wait a little bit and see if it just needs some time to catch up after we've uploaded. But everything should be good now. And then as far as bonus content, we have a new Patreon episode dropping in two weeks. Next week should be. Okay, great.

Cool, all right. Are you ready for your 10 seconds? I think I am. So Payton, well, we've been in California all week. We've been kind of hanging out here as you can tell by the different studio setup. Everything's been going good. Just hanging out with family. I did have my pick-a-ball tournament.

It was fun, huh? No, it was so fun. It went really good. Well, I thought I went good. I thought I'd play good. You did. You played so good. Either way, it was super fun. We had a good time. So it's been so hot. I mean, I think it's been hot everywhere in the West, though. But other than that, just pickleball, California, family, and anything else. We went to the Kendrick Lamar concert last night. That's right. So we did go to the Kendrick Lamar concert last night.

Do you want to talk about that? Yeah, it was so good. And I mean, I know a lot of his songs. I'm not like a die hard Kendrick fan though. And it was one of the best concerts we've ever been to. It was super fun. It, we weren't, we knew we wanted to go, but I don't think we expected it to be that good. We both got kind of tired last night. We're like, should

we go somewhere like we have to go? Yeah. And it was really good. All right, let's go ahead and get into it. Our case sources are case law. Find law.com, CBS news.com local today. News, the Marshall project.org Nevada Daily Mail.com, Mercury news.com, Arkansas online.com, Buzzfeed, Missouri net, find a grave, the Sinema Hallick, and murder pdf. All right, Gare, so do you remember a couple episodes ago when we discussed how it almost seems that the scariest murders happen out in the middle of no less? How theoretically, the less amount of people around you should help eliminate the fear of being attacked,

but for some reason, it doesn't. The fact that sleeping out in the middle of nowhere, away from humans, should seem safe, but is actually really scary, because we've seen so many gruesome, frightening murders happen in places like that. Almost like being so cut off from society creates some reclusive scary humans who then go on to hurt people in wicked ways. So today we are covering a

case that entails just that. What happens when you live so deep in the woods that bad people have the privacy and time to do whatever they want to you because no one can hear your screams. Okay. Great. Great. So our episode this week begins on February 1, 1998 in rural Missouri. It's a small area called Vichy, Missouri, which is an unincorporated area in central Missouri.

Today, the current population of Vichy is 946 people. So you can imagine how rural and small we were talking about back in 1998. Vichy rests about 40 miles southeast of Jefferson City, Missouri, and the homes in the area lay at least a half mile to miles away from each other and are very secluded with large trees surrounding them. And on this evening, in February of 1998, 36-year-old Susan Bruick and her two children, 12-year-old daughter, Adrian, and nine-year-old son Kyle, were planning on going to Susan's sister's house for Sunday dinner. They never showed up. Dinner time came and went without word from the Brux on why they didn't show and Susan's sister Kay Hayes found it odd. It wasn't

like Susan to miss Sunday dinner, let alone just not show up without calling and explaining why. So Susan, Bruick was born on October 23rd, 1961, to Winifred and Joseph in their very small city of Roya, Missouri. Susan grew up in a large family with three sisters and two brothers. Her siblings were Michael, Marvin, Kay, her sister, who hosted Sunday dinner that Susan had missed, and Joy and Barb. Susan lived in the rural area of Vichy, Missouri for her entire life. She attended Bell High School where she excelled as an honor student and was involved with the school choir and band. She served as vice president of her high school class and was a candidate for the honor of Mayday Queen. After high school,

Susan eventually married a man named Christopher. On March 12, 1985, Susan had her first child and daughter, Adrian Brueck. Adrian was born in Roya, Missouri because, again, this is where everyone in Vichy had to go to find civilization. Yeah. A hospital. At the time of our case, Adrian was a student in the seventh grade at St. James Junior High School. Adrian had hopes of becoming a teacher or a veterinarian someday.

She was active with volleyball and like her mom was in a band and choir. So I'm trying to think of the high school. Was there like a hundred kids at the high school? Yeah, so you actually had to drive to the nearest city, which was Royal to go to a high school, to go to a hospital, to go basically anywhere. Okay. So after Adrian, on September 17, 1988,

Kyle Christopher Brook was born in Roya. He was a third grade student at Lucy Wortham James Elementary School in St. James during our story. Kyle had hopes of becoming an army officer some day. He enjoyed playing soccer and was a good student. After having both kids, Susan and Christopher divorced, which resulted in Susan raising both Adri Adrian and Kyle on her own as a single mom. This ended up being great, though, because Susan's life reportedly

revolved around her children. There was actually no information as to whether Christopher was involved in helping to raise the children after the divorce or whether he shared custody of the children with Susan. I haven't seen any reference to him doing that, but I can't say for sure that he didn't have a part in their life either. But at the time of our story, Susan and her two children were living in home in rural Vichy, and she was employed and working at an electronics plant where she worked in the production department. Two days after Susan and her children missed that family dinner in February of 1998. Kays concerned her sister grew when she still hadn't heard anything from Susan. She called the home number but got no answer.

She then called one of their sisters Joy to see if she'd heard from Susan, but Joy hadn't heard from her either. On the evening of Wednesday, February 4, 1998, K, Joy and other family members, along with a friend, went to Susan's home to go check on her and the children. They quickly discovered that Susan and her two kids weren't home and that their bronco, their family car, wasn't there. The family members went inside the house and their fear grew stronger when they discovered Susan, Adrian, and Kyle's winter coats inside the house, which didn't make any sense because it was

February in Missouri, so it's bitterly cold outside, like they wouldn't go anywhere without their coats. Just as concerning, it was plain that a robbery had taken place in the home. The family members could see that the TV and the VCR were missing. There were a bunch of valuables missing from the home. So the family members, of course, called the police. The police came out to Susan's home that night, where they secured and searched the scene. An officer from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, who would be heavily involved in investigating the case named Ralph, found Susan's prescription glasses in Adrian's room. Now the family members told police that Susan would never leave the house without her glasses. She couldn't see without them.

So this was even more alarming. Based on the circumstances, it appeared to everyone that the three were possibly kidnapped and then forced to go somewhere in their own car because it looks like they left unwillingly. The police started asking questions about who would want to do such a thing and they also asked for information about Susan's ex-husband, Christopher. Apparently, the student have a very harmonious relationship, and as we know, the husband or the ex-husband is always the first suspect. Surprisingly, I couldn't find much information about the investigation into Christopher, other

than the fact that he was cleared of any involvement in the disappearance, which leads me to believe that he must have had a pretty strong alibi for this time. While tracking down the ex-husband, police were also making their way to neighbors homes to see if they might have seen or heard anything. It was a fat chance since the closest neighbor was almost still a half mile away, and the area was dense, but maybe they noticed a strange car or something happening. Police made their way to the door and ended up speaking to a man named David Bowlin. Now David told police he hadn't heard or seen anything strange and he really didn't know Susan or her children. Police asked him if anyone else lived with him in the house who they could talk to, maybe

someone else had seen something. It seemed strange that he didn't know them. No because the, I mean the houses are at least a half mile apart. I mean still I guess if you're neighbors right at some point it's right, but this is also a rural area I mean when when I was researching the area and everything it doesn't seem like a very oh Everyone has a farm and everyone super friendly. It seemed like oh everyone is out here So they don't have to be in civilization. So I'm not that surprised. It's like, I don't even really know them.

I mean, I guess there's still neighbors we don't even know that live next to us. True. Better a couple feet. Right. So David Bowling told police, yeah, actually my two nephews live with me, 18 year old Mark Christensen and 17 year old Jesse Carter.

But the teenage cousins would not be able to talk to police. And police were like, okay, why can't we talk to the boys? They couldn't talk to police because David Bowlin hadn't seen them in three days, and the uncle didn't know where they were. In fact, the last time he had seen his teenage nephews was Sunday morning, the same day that Susan and her children missed dinner with family.

So when police realized that not only was Susan and her children missing, but also the neighbor boys as well, they were almost positive the two were connected. In this extremely small and rural area, it just so happens that two neighboring homes had residents who were missing. So police began conducting interviews to try and figure out how Susan, Adrian and Kyle's lives tied into Mark and Jesse's beyond just being neighbors. And I will now be referring to Mark and Jesse as their last names, which is Christensen and Carter.

So the real history and story between the neighbors started back in January that year. This is what police would learn. It was one month prior to Susan and her children going missing. Okay. Apparently trouble developed between Mark Christensen and Susan Brueck sometime in January 1998. It all started when Susan reached out to Christensen to make a request. She asked him to please not hunt on her property anymore. Her reasoning, young Kyle, her son, enjoyed the outdoors and did a lot of outside roaming and play. I mean very typical. Susan knew it wasn't safe for Kyle to play outside on their property.

If Christensen and Carter were shooting guns and hunting nearby, there could easily be an accident. So this is a completely sane and normal request of her. Stay on your property so my kids can freely and safely roam on our property. But Christensen took offense to the fact that Susan asked them not to hunt on her property, given that young Kyle played outside. Susan was now considered an enemy to a very unstable and reckless teenage Mark Christensen. Weird. Christensen thought Susan Broick, quote, was a beward because she made him get off her

property a couple of times. So this is what he was telling people. He definitely had beef with her just because of this. And even though trouble was brewing between the neighbors, tension was also rising at home between Uncle Bolin and the two boys. On February 13th, 2004, Christians and Carter were unhappy living at Berlin's home because he listened in on their phone calls and also expected them to work on the

property. Like keep up their end of the bargain. And I'm just sitting here going, oh poor boys, how frustrating to be expected to pull your own weight. Exactly. But it seems to me, I mean the sources didn't really cover this, but after researching the case for as long as I did, it seems like the boys were very entitled. They had a lot of a loan time. It seems like the boys were very entitled. They had a lot of alone time. It was two boys who were living with their uncles. Their home lives had been bad, so now they ended up at their uncle's house.

It just feels like I'm not that surprised that they're like, I can't believe I have to pull my weight at home. So as police were digesting, the tumultuous past of the boys and their troubled relationship was Susan. They were also now conducting searches for her and her children, searching on foot, scanning the house and surrounding areas for any clues.

By February 5, 1998, just a day after the family had been reported missing. The Missouri State Highway Patrol used a helicopter to search the area for the missing family and their car. It was during this helicopter ride that officers conducting the aerial search noticed something floating in a pond not far away, only a half mile southeast of Susan's home. The police landed the helicopter in a field

near the pond to investigate. And there, they confirmed everyone's worst fears. According to localtoday.news, as the helicopter landed and the detective made his way to the pond, he spotted a 16-gauge shotgun. The pond had a thin layer of ice over the surface, and as the detective and his partner drew closer, they realized that what was floating in the icy pond was a human body. According to the detective, the body was floating on its back, the head out of the water, and part of the shoulders out of the water as well.

When they found the body, they found it to be a white woman in her 30s or 40s. She had neither shoes nor a coat on. She also had a large cut across her neck. After pulling, what the detective thought was missing Susan out of the water, he also saw what appeared to be two shadow figures out further in the pond. The detective goes to the pond and breaks the ice near the shadows, pulling out two corpses. The other two bodies were determined to be Susan's children, Adrian and Kyle. Okay, you guys, we are getting into an ad. I know you guys have both heard the story the other two bodies were determined to be Susan's children, Adrienne and Kyle.

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found basically a half mile away from their home floating in a pond murdered. The medical examiner performed autopsies on the three bodies, the results were as follows. Susan's death was determined to be from drowning. The cuts on her neck weren't severe enough to cause immediate death. The Emmy, though, found that Susan had suffered bleeding under her scalp, which was the result of a blow to her head. According to the autopsie, the injuries to her neck would have been fatal injuries. She would have died from the blood loss within an hour of the injuries, but she had drowned

before that happened. So essentially, she had been cut, her neck had been cut open, but she had been drowned before she died from blood loss. Adrian's death was from suffocation. The autopsy also revealed that Adrian had suffered a puncture wound on her arm that was consistent with having been hit by a shotgun shell. So almost like someone had tried to shoot her but had missed and had just graced her arm instead. Although the Emmy didn't find any actual bullets in her arm, Kyle's death, like his moms, was from drowning.

He also had been bleeding under his scalp. The ME found two superficial cuts across Kyle's neck. One was a two and a half-inch cut, and the other was a three and a half-inch cut. So both Kyle and his mom had had their necks slashed, and then they were drowned. The full police investigation began after this. The police searched the area around the pond. There they found various key pieces of evidence, including a shotgun shell from a 16-gauge shotgun, some shoe prints, and the presence of blood splattered around on dirt and leaves by the pond.

So they essentially figured out this is the crime scene. The whole family was beaten and attacked here, and then drowned, and then pushed out into the pond. And can they tell if it was done by one or two people yet? They have no idea, but the boys are still missing at this point. The police also found two cinder blocks on the bank of the pond near where the bodies were found. What did the cinder blocks have to do with anything? Well, they were most likely used to weigh down the bodies in the pond,

but it was too hard to get them attached to the bodies, standing up just pushing the bodies out. Significantly, the police found tire tracks, which they were able to track. The tire tracks from the scene where the bodies were found, let all the way back to David Brolin's property. The closest neighbor of Susan, Adrian and Kyle, and the home where disgruntled Christiansin and Carter lived

before disappearing the same day Susan and her children were last seen. So to everyone around, it seemed like Christiansin and Carter most likely had something to do with the deaths of Susan, Adrienne and Kyle. And they were now on the run in none other than Susan's own missing Bronco because of her car's missing and the boys are missing one plus one equals two. Because of this, the two teenagers were charged with the murders despite the fact that they weren't in police custody. Where? So after police find Susan and her children's murdered bodies, they decide to charge the missing neighbor boys with the

murders, even though all they basically have is the fact that they're missing, they were disgruntled with Susan, and now the bodies are found. Seems where they're charging them already considering there's no DNA evidence. Right. It's because I don't think they'll get convicted. I mean, I think the strongest piece of evidence they have is that the tire tracks lead back to their house and essentially are tying both the house to the crime scene. Yeah.

Within two days of finding the bodies, there were arrest warrants issued for the murders, and essentially tying both the house to the crime scene. Yeah. Within two days of finding the bodies, there were a rest warrants issued for the murders and it seemed like the murderers were gone in the wind. On February 9, 1998, law enforcement circulated wanted flyers with the boys' photos. A Riverside County Sheriff's Department detective recognized the fugitives all the way in Blythe, California. So they had driven from Missouri to California. The police arrested Christensen and Carter later that day. Upon arrest, Mark Christensen, the older of the two, stayed tight-lipped and claimed innocence.

He wasn't talking. He said, I'm not talking to anyone. Give me a lawyer. I have nothing to do with this. But Jesse Carter, the younger cousin, saying like a bird, after victim Adrian's stolen fishing pole, was found in the back of Susan's stolen bronco that Jesse and Mark were driving. According to Jesse Carter, after becoming upset at their neighbor and their home life and filling in titled and full of themselves, Christensen and Carter devised and filling in titled and full of themselves.

Christensen and Carter devised a plan that would solve all of their problems. They just sound like complete toolbox. Literally, though, I mean, here's the thing. We've seen brothers who kill before and there's always this inflated sense of ego, a lot of alone time, a lot of, like just entitlement. And that's exactly what I'm filling out of these guys. I mean, just from the beginning, oh, I have to work on the farm. Oh my gosh, my life's so hard right.

Everything from the beginning just sounds like, I don't know, welcome the life. Literally. So on Saturday, January 31, 1998, Christensen and Carter came up with a plan to run away from home where they lived with David Brolin, their uncle. The next day they were going to rape Susan to get back at her for kicking them off her property. They were then going to steal her Bronco and drive it to California where they would start over and finally live life, not tied down by their uncle and not living near their awful neighbor.

Which seems so ironic, like, what were they gonna do for work? This is what I'm saying. They didn't like work that far. They couldn't even think that far. Although this is a much shorter prep time than we normally see with teenage familial killers, the next day,

Christians and Carter executed their plan. It was Sunday, February 1st, 1998 and they waited for their uncle to leave for work. Once he was gone, they grabbed two shotguns, knives, rope, extra shoelaces and gloves, and then headed on foot to short distance to Susan's home. I was like, what is killing them have to do with their plan, right? So like why not just take the car and leave? So, you have to keep in mind, this is the confession that Jesse Carter is giving police, right? This is coming from his testimony, basically, because Mark has decided to lawyer up.

And he's like, no, no, the whole plan was just to rape her. But it seems to me that although that's what they claimed their plan was, they sure did create a pretty solid and scary kill kit to bring with them. I mean, they, I just said they brought two shotguns, knives, rope, extra shoelaces, gloves. So I'm like, if you were really going over there just to conduct a sexual assault, why are you bringing all this stuff to kill that? Yeah, no way. Also, I think it's where that one of them lawyer it up and the other one didn't.

Again, pretty common in a killing duo where one is a submissive and one is a dominant. You just think they would have talked about it before. I'm sure they did. If we get caught, it's both lawyer up and then one doesn't, one doesn't. Oh, I don't think they're that smart. Apparently not. I just think the older of the two was kind of the ringleader. So he was like, no, no, no, I just think the older of the two was kind of the ringleader. So he was like, no, no, no, I'm going to lower up. But the younger was probably the more submissive in this situation, which is also interesting because he will probably get a plea deal because he's saying all this information granted. We don't know what the truth is yet. Right, right.

So Christian sent in Carter, according to Carter's testimony, arrive at Susan's house and they hide outside the home for a few minutes before breaking in. Keep in mind, this is like in the middle of the day, like it's daylight outside. And all three members of the Baruch family are inside Susan and her two children. One source said that they went in the front door, so it's not clear whether it was locked or not, but they certainly didn't have permission to enter into the home and they most likely caught Susan and her children off guard. The crime initially did start as more of a home invasion robbery. And trigger warning we are going to go into detail about the time that the boys spent in the house

and so it could be triggering to some listeners so feel free to skip ahead if you don't need to hear this part. Kirstensen and Carter bust in through the door and they found Adrian and Kyle in the living room sitting on the floor. Carter got busy tying up the children's hands with the shoelaces that they brought. Their mom, Susan, had been in the kitchen, but then she came into the living room, likely running in when she heard the commotion. So insane.

Kirstensen pointed his shotgun at Susan and then forced her at gunpoint into her daughter's room. Allegedly following the initial plan, Kriishnson sexually assaulted Susan on Adrian's bed. Kriishnson then brought Susan back into the living room where Carter used some yellow rope they'd brought with them to tie Susan's hands behind her back. And again, none of the sources listed who is the dominant and who is the submissive. But the older of the two, Christensen,

he took the mom, he conducted the sexual assault while Carter stood watch, like he was just being the watchman, he was just tying. So to me, that's kind of why I'm getting this five. Yeah. After Susan and her children are all tied up in the living room, Susan says to the neighbor boys, you had your fun now get out.

During this whole thing, Susan and her children had resisted and fought back. So it did not go without beating an injury. Bull Susan and nine year old Kyle had wounds bleeding from their heads because they had been hit on the head. They're so young. They're just nothing they can do. Nothing they can do. It was so messed up. It was around this point in the attack that 12 year

old Adrian recognized Jesse Carter as one of the attackers. She called him by his name and Christensen and Carter panicked. Now, I found no source that mentioned the boys were masked or disguised. So I'm not sure how they didn't expect to be recognized. So I'm going to assume they were masked up, but also maybe they really didn't know each other well enough, but wouldn't Susan recognize them if she had asked them to get off their property. So I'm assuming we're just missing some evidence here, and they were, they had tried to disguise themselves. And also there's a slight chance that the boys just said they weren't originally planning

on hurting the family and use the lame excuse of being recognized as their way to justify what they did. That's true, yeah. So there's a chance that they were always going in planning to murder, didn't disguise themselves because they knew they were gonna kill them, but then once they got caught, we're like, no, no, we weren't gonna kill them, but then they recognized us. Yes. So I'm still not a hundred percent convinced that they didn't go into the tack knowing full well what they were about to do.

Like, I'm not a hundred percent convinced. tech knowing full well what they were about to do. Like I'm not 100% convinced. Even though that's what they are claiming. With all the supplies they have there's, I mean, in my opinion, there's no questions. I agree. No questions asked. So, Christensen and Carter, according to Carter, then forced the three terrified family members into the back seat of the family's vehicle, the 1984 Ford Bronco. They also loaded the Bronco with various items they stole

from Susan's home, including electronics such as a TV, a VCR, a car stereo, a video game player, along with Susan's checkbook, some music CDs, and Adrian's fishing pole. Christensen drove the five of them in the Bronco a short distance along a rural highway, and then down an unpaid gravel road and across a neighbor's field. He stopped the Bronco at a pond near the edge of some woods. Christensen and Carter forced Susan and Adrian and Kyle out of the car into the edge of the water. There they then committed their brutal murders.

The details are truly horrific and I'm not going to get all the way into them because it's just more heartbreaking than helpful to the story. That's another thing as well. to get all the way into them because it's just more heartbreaking than helpful to the story. That's another thing as well. I think if maybe you don't plan on killing someone, maybe they just shoot them and they leave. Right. But considering, I mean, we haven't gotten to all the details, but considering how gruesome

it sounds like, I mean, this was 100% premeditated. I agree. 110%. I agree. I think that they just used the whole, oh, well, we weren't planning on killing to try to get a lesser, yeah, it's a lesser chart. Awful. So Susan's throat was cut near the water.

And after that, the kids were gruesomely murdered. All three of them were pushed into the pond with weights on them. But again, some of the weights weren't attached to them because they were found not in the water. Did both of the brothers have parked in the murders? Do you know? We don't know. OK. We don't know.

They never clarified who did what. But I mean, you saw a three. Yeah. None of it was quick or painless. And there were multiple attempts at killing all of them because, again, as we've learned, it's not as easy to kill someone as someone would think. And so they had to try multiple methods, which we've learned. It's not as easy to kill someone as someone with think and so they had to try multiple methods which we've seen with young teenage killers. Killers who are obsessed with killing but don't actually realize

how hard it is to murder someone. But then for the victim this is just 10 times more painful because you know you cut someone's throat and then they don't immediately die so then you keep doing more and more and more to try to kill them. So I'm not going to detail, but that is exactly what happened here. And I will dare say that one of the cruelest things you could do is cut a mother's throat

and then make her watch as you brutally murder her children as she's bleeding out. I mean, it's just awful. So, Christensen and Carter then drove the Bronco back to the home they lived in with Brolin. They left the vehicle near a pile of garbage on their property presumably to keep it hidden until they could get away. They ran into the house where they grabbed their clothes, their belongings, they loaded it into a different car in Oldsmobile. They

drove the Oldsmobile to where they left the Bronco near the garbage pile and moved all of their stuff from the oldsmobile to the Bronco. They then used the Bronco to flee the area. A relative actually saw them doing this and ran after them on foot, but Christians sent in Carter drove away. So it was just kind of like, okay, I guess they didn't want to talk.

I can't believe that they found them in California. It's unlike it was 2020. I know. It was 1998, granted. I mean, everything was, you know, we weren't like in the 50s or 40s, but still to be like, for a cop to recognize, oh, wait, that's them. That's the fugitives. On a state that's pretty far away from California. And large. And large. That's impressive. Right. This show is sponsored

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They stopped at pawn shops and even sold the 16 gauge shotgun they'd used during the murders. They were actually pulled over twice in the bronco in California before the bodies were found. So the Bronco hadn't been reported stolen yet. So they were just ticketing and released. Like the two boys were pulled over after they committed these murders. But because police hadn't like discovered everything yet, they were just let go. And that evening Susan and Adrian and Kyle were supposed to go for Sunday dinner

after all of this at K. Hayes home, but they never showed as we know. After being arrested in California, the two fugitives were sent back to Missouri to face murder charges and were held at Cole County jail in the bigger city of Jefferson City, Missouri. The police questioned both boys and, as we know, Jesse Carter confessed to his involvement in the crimes while Mark Christensen loyered up. Seaman that was found inside of Susan's body and on Adriene Sheetz was tested for DNA and the DNA was determined to be a match with Christensen. So they now had forensic DNA. The odds of such a match were 1 in 1.32 billion. Yeah, so that mean it's a match. For sure.

Law enforcement also determined conclusively that the 16-gauge shotgun that Christiansen sold at a pawn shop in Texas was the firearm used to fire the shell that was found next to the pond where the bodies were found. Okay. So again, tying them to the crime scene. This was great because not only did they have a confession, they also had forensic and circumstantial evidence to back everything up. The two defendants were tried in separate jury trials. Christianson went first in 1990. Oh, interesting. Carter's murder trial took

place in 2000. Now, I actually looked this up and one of the main reasons you would separate these trials is because they're going to use Jesse Carter against Mark Christensen. He's going to testify against his cousin even though they're both being charged, which is why the trials are separate. No, yeah, that makes sense. At Christensen's trial, Jesse Carter did indeed testify against his cousin in exchange for the state not to seek the death penalty against him. So Mark Christensenšinson is going to, the state's going to push for the death penalty,

but because Jesse Carter confessed and then testified against Mark at trial, he's not going to be put up for death penalty. Which is super interesting because there is a lot, I guess, Jesse could have done to get out of it. Or he could have lied, he could have said, he didn't do any of the killing, but he didn't say any of that, I assume. No, well the other thing is, is just like the forensic evidence was so strong that he was clearly there.

I guess they just, they already assume he's a submissive. So I mean, there's a, I don't know, there's a lot of routes. I'm glad he didn't, but there's just, there's a lot of routes that he could have gone. Yes, yes. Overall, Carter's testimony portrayed himself as the minor participate in the murders. So he didn't say he didn't have a hand in it, but he said, you know, I didn't do the sexual assault. I didn't, you know, basically confirming that Christensen was the dominant and Carter was more of the

submissive. Christensen testified in his own defense, which seems to be common for narcissistic killers for them to be like, no, no, no, I have to talk. I have to, I have to defend myself. His story was that Susan and him, we're having a consensual sexual relationship. And that's why his semen was found inside of her. And he denied any involvement in the crime said, no Carter did the whole thing, came back to the property, and I just ran away with him. On September 1st, 1999, the jury convicted Mark Christensen of murder in the first degree as to all three victims. The case then went on to the penalty phase, which is done in death penalty cases.

Additional evidence was put on during the penalty phase, including evidence that Christianson had sexually assaulted another man in prison while awaiting trial. No way! So while waiting to go on trial, he sexually assaulted someone in prison. What is wrong with him? And this was brought forward for his penalty phase. Okay. Mark Christianson was then sentenced to death for the murders of Susan and her children.

After Carter's trial, he was sentenced to life in prison for the murders of Susan and her children. After Carter's trial, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Susan and her children. According to testimony at his trial, Christensen endured a difficult abusive childhood sexually and physically. Again, I've already stated this. The boys didn't come. They didn't have very good home lives, which is how they even ended up with their uncle in the first place This is never an excuse for the behavior But this is something that has defense did bring up his defense team also put an evidence that he had a low IQ Arguing that it affected his ability to understand his legal rights

This was an effort to try and avoid the death penalty They also claim that his IQ was only 74 and that he had severe cognitive disabilities. On January 31st, 2017, 19 years after the murders, Christiansons impending execution was set for 7 p.m. that night. January 31st, 2017. His recent attorney argued to the public that day,

the day of his execution, that Mark was 18 at the time of the crime and had an IQ of 74. His execution may be unconstitutional, but the courts keep trying to rush him to the death chamber instead of giving him a fair opportunity in court. This is what his defense is. This is so ironic. Yeah. In response, the state attorney general argued that Christensen wasn't hampered by mental incapacity. As reported on kcur.org, he argued Krišňson was able to carry out normal everyday functions. He was able to respond to prison conduct violation

allegations, identify a witness, request an attorney for a grievance and provide his own version of events. So basically, the state attorney general is like, no, no, no, he was fine. He's completely capable of making decisions. At 3.46 pm, the day of his execution, the United States Supreme Court denied an additional state in the execution.

So they're like, nope, we're not gonna pause it. We're going forward. And newly elected Missouri governor, Declined Christensen's request for clemency. He gave a statement that he thoughtfully considered the facts of the case and decided not to intervene in the execution. Wow. At 5.14 p.m. the execution process begins to be carried out at the state prison in Missouri. There is tight security around the prison at this point, according to the Missouri Department of Public Safety,

14 people were outside of the prison demonstrating against the death penalty. So because he was being executed that day, demonstrators were there saying, you know, we don't agree with the death penalty. At 7.05 pm, eight minutes after the lethal injection was given, 37-year-old Mark Christensen is pronounced dead by the Missouri Department of Corrections. His brother and sister-in-law attended the execution

in support of Christensen. And although it was a hit in 19 years, 37 seemed so young to me. Like shockingly young. Even though I knew he was 18 at the time of the murders. I also find it weird, I mean, to each the wrong, but that like, you have family that comes. I mean, I the wrong but that like you have family that comes I mean I get it I guess you're dying but I don't know you killed you brutally murdered three people

I understand. I probably have a different opinion maybe than some mother listeners, but that's my opinion You wouldn't go. No way. I would probably go like if let's say Peyton kills three people You wouldn't go. No, there's no way, dude. Okay, what would you go to mind? Yeah. You're insane. Yeah, but Garrett and I, we fundamentally disagree on this topic. Yeah.

So we have two opposing opinions. Totally okay, like, you know, but it does give us a different view when we listen to these cases. So a statement was given by Adrian and Kyle's half sister, which this would be their dad's daughter from a different marriage. She says there's not a day that goes by that I do not miss them and I wish they were here. She fought tears as she read a poem that Adrian wrote in the sixth grade not long before she died called our love. The poem is actually provided on the internet, so to close, I'm going to read the poem that Adrienne

our victim wrote. Okay. It goes, our love will always be there, even when fate is not fair. Sometimes our love may be lost, but that's not always the ultimate cost. Love is when you meet the unique. The one your heart is out to seek. Love is soaring to the sky, but not everyone can tell you why. Love is when your heart has a voice, what will happen is not your choice. And I just wanted to kind of end with that a bit because she was going to die not soon after she wrote that poem, but for being so young and to,

you know, already put those thoughts out there, I just thought was really, really beautiful. It's just so sad that, I mean, they didn't do anything wrong. They did nothing wrong whatsoever. They literally just said, please don't hunt on our hands. And so they got killed because of it. Right. And this brings me into the psychology that we were talking about where this is not the

first time we've seen young brother or male relatives who plan to commit violent crimes to get that. This story kind of draws eerie similarity to me. There's a case called the beaver family who were all murdered by their brother. Uh-huh. It was 18 year old Robert, beaver, and 16 year old Michael beaver. So basically, the beaver children lived a very secluded life. They were homeschooled. They had a lot of a loan time. Robert, the older one, ended up on the dark web where he introduced to Michael, his younger brother. Together, they became fascinated with the power and fame that comes from mass killing. They became obsessed with the Columbine shooting and familial side. Remember that the Columbine shooters were also very obsessed with power, fame, darkness.

The beaver brothers prepared and planned the murder of their family going from their dad who was 54 all the way to their two-year-old. That's crazy. On July 22, 2015, police received a 911 call from one of the family members who told police his brothers were attacking the family. Screaming and commotion could be heard in the background of the call before the line went dead. And these two brothers literally just killed their whole family. And it seems to me the connection between murderous siblings or family members kind of comes

from a rougher home life, seclusion, a lot of a loan time together, and at least one or both members having a heightened sense of self entitlement and obsession with power and fame. And it's like it's pretty strange how common this type of murder happens. But that is the murders of Susan, Adrienne and Kyle. All right, you guys, so that is our case for this week. Thank you so much for listening.

Thank you so much for supporting. Again, a reminder, a bonus Patreon episode will be here next week. And I guess we'll see you next week with another episode. I love it. And I hate it. Goodbye.