True Crime with Kendall Rae - Ex-NFL Super Bowl Player Sergio Brown Denies Killing His Mom… but Evidence Suggests Otherwise

Episode Date: February 15, 2024

Myrtle Simmons-Brown was not just a loving mother, but a leader in her community. Myrtle had just turned 73 and was living in Maywood, Illinois, with her oldest son, Sergio Brown. Sergio is known for his 7 successful seasons playing in the NFL, and for reasons we don’t know, he had moved in with his mom and didn’t have much to his name. And on September 14th and 15th 2023, when neither responded to loved ones, people grew concerned. So, on September 16th, a loved one went to their house to check up on them but found nothing - no sign of forced entry nor of Myrtle and Sergio. It wasn’t until family members reported them missing to police that neighbors got involved in the search. And it was only then, late on the 16th, that Myrtle’s naked body was found wrapped in plastic in a creek bed 150 feet from her own back door. After days of looking for Sergio, he was located in Mexico where he had made several concerning posts on Instagram. He was eventually extradited back to Maywood, where he is now facing a 1st-degree murder charge and a concealment of a dead body charge. Patrick Risha CTE Awareness Foundation: https://stopcte.org/ Donate to NCMEC through my campaign! https://give.missingkids.org/campaign...  Shop my Merch! https://kendallrae.shop This episode is sponsored by: Quince Huggies Rocket Money Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT: For Business Inquiries - [e-mail]

Changing a light bulb should be simple. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Uh-oh, that's not supposed to happen. Quickly submitting and tracking a claim on the Bel Air Direct app actually is simple. Bel Air Direct, insurance simplified. Music Hello everyone and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall Rae. I'm so happy to have you here with me as we discuss yet another case and if you are new

then welcome. I'm so happy to have you. Today we're going to be talking about a case that I have been following for quite some time and I'm sure some of you have as well because it does involve a somewhat well-known person. We're going to be talking about Sergio Brown. as well because it does involve a somewhat well-known person. We're gonna be talking about Sergio Brown. And I believe the reason this case has gotten,

you know, the coverage that it has is because it involves Sergio Brown. And most of the focus has been about him. And there isn't that much available about the victim in this case, his mother. So I wanted to put some more focus today on Myrtle because she really sounded like an incredible person and a lot of the reporting kind of leaves her out of it, which is really unfortunate.

That being said, having such little reporting on her did leave me with limited information about her life, but I've tried to gather as much as I could about who she was as a person. And this case is ongoing. However, I felt like this was a good time to finally talk about it because there is a suspect in custody and the wheels of justice are beginning to turn now. And some of you may be familiar, like I said,

with the suspect that is in custody, and that is Sergio Brown Brown who was an NFL player and some of you may know him if you're just a fan of the NFL or specifically the New England Patriots. So I will jump into all that here in a bit and explain everything that we know so far. And also before we get started with this case today I have the pleasure of having Jennifer Kauffendaffer back on the show who I've had on the show before. And she's done an episode of Mile Hire with me in person, which if you didn't know, Mile

Hire podcast is another podcast of mine. It is available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, everywhere like that. And Jennifer is a really, really interesting person. I love hearing her insight, given her background. She is a former FBI agent. And I asked her if she wanted to give some commentary on this case because it is one that she has been following as well. Hi, my name is Jen Coffendaffer. I was a special agent with the FBI for over 25 years and have

28 years total federal investigative experience. My areas of expertise are organized crime, gang investigations, public corruption, counterterrorism, as well as violent crime. Currently, I am just starting my first podcast. This is a podcast called Break the Case with Jen Coffendaffer, and I hope you'll be able to tune in. I also work as an expert witness in the area of historical cases. Individuals who were perhaps wrongly accused or individuals who were correctly accused, I take a look at those cases and then testify in court regarding them.

Finally, I am the News Nation Law and Justice contributor. Hope you can tune in to News Nation sometime to catch your news. So during this episode, you will see a few little clips from her as well. But with all that being said, let's go ahead and jump in. And I want to start out by talking about Myrtle Brown, her full name being Myrtle Jane Simmons Brown. She was 73 years old and like I said, there isn't a ton of information available out there about her, which is just really unfortunate. A lot of the focus when it comes to reporting on this case hasn't been about her. And that is unfortunate because there's a lot of information about her that I wasn't

able to confirm. There were things from different sources that were conflicting, and I definitely don't want to spread any misinformation. But one thing I was able to gather is that Myrtle was an amazing person, and she was loved by everyone in her life and loved by her community. She was born on September 8th, 1950, and grew up in Chicago, Illinois,

with her parents and sisters and her brother as well. She attended Robert A. Waller High School, where she graduated in 1968, and afterwards went on to attend Wilson Jr. Chicago City College. Myrtle was known for her kindness, her countless efforts to be involved in her community, her love of music, and for all the ways that she loved and supported her children. And that fact right there is something that makes this case incredibly confusing and heartbreaking. So Myrtle and her husband, Mario Brown, had two sons, Sergio and Nick, with Sergio being the older of the two,

and he was born on May 22nd, 1988, in Maywood, Illinois. And that's where this entire case takes place. From what I could tell, Myrtle lived in Maywood for most of her life, and it's where her and Sergio were living when her life was stolen from her. Growing up, Sergio lived with his parents and also his brother in Maywood. And based on what I was able to find, there was nothing that made me believe that his childhood was anything but at least decent. I obviously don't want to say anything that isn't true or isn't backed up with a source,

but from what is available, it seems like his childhood was pretty good. I'm not sure if it was like, you know, the most idyllic childhood ever, but there was nothing that stood out to me to suggest that his life was terrible. In fact, one of his childhood friends, Bridget Howell, said that she remembered their parents always being there to support them through whatever that was. They showed up at school and sporting events and overall raised them in a loving home, which made what Sergio allegedly did to his mother that much more shocking in her eyes.

And on top of being such supportive parents to their sons, they also were great role models to them and specifically his father Mario when it came to sports. Mario had not only been awarded MVP of his high school's basketball team, but he'd also been personally recruited to play in college for Texas A&M, making him the university's first black basketball player. Now, of course, we know that Sergio wasn't a professional basketball player. He was a professional football player, but he was very well-rounded athletically, and he tried his hand at a few different things, including track and field.

That was something he was really good at and really passionate about as well. He was a state qualifier in the long jump. And I'd like to think that he got a lot of his passion for athletics from his father. Sadly though, and I'm sure this was extremely hard on Sergio and his brother and Myrtle as well. He did pass away in October of 2002 from lung cancer and Sergio was only 14 years old at the time. But we do know that this didn't stop him from pursuing his dreams. And after high school, Sergio was given a scholarship

to play football for Notre Dame, pretty big deal, where he ended up playing while simultaneously getting his degree in business management. And once he graduated college, the next step for him was the NFL, but it didn't necessarily happen right away. During the 2010 NFL Draft, he was actually not selected by any team. He was however signed later that year as an undrafted free agent for the New England Patriots. Sergio was signed with four-year $1. million dollar contract as a safety and made his first playoff debut

in January of 2011. The following season with the Patriots he appeared in all three playoff games including the 2012 Super Bowl against the New York Giants. Which is really crazy because I remember that game so well and it feels like yesterday and I can't believe that was... god 12 years ago? Right am I doing the math right on that? I think so. But anyways, despite being signed to a four year contract, Sergio was released from the team. When it comes to my wardrobe in the new year,

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and oftentimes players are quickly picked up by other teams. And this is what happened to Sergio actually several times. So after he was released by the Patriots, he was picked up by the Colts. So you may have also heard his name if you're a big Colts fan. And during his time with the Colts, Sergio had won a specially notable game

against the Patriots, his former team, where he broke the arm of his former teammate, Rob Gronkowski. And I only mention this because I think it's a good example of the type of force that Sergio was capable of exerting, which sadly becomes relevant here as we continue into this case. But just to quickly wrap up his NFL case before we get into that, in March of 2015, Sergio was signed with three-year, $7 million contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars, but a year later he was released from that team as well. Then he was very temporarily signed with

the Falcons, literally a total of seven days before he was released again. And lastly, he was signed to play for the Buffalo Bills in November of 2016, where he played a season before officially retiring from the NFL. Now that was probably a lot of information that many of you don't care about if you are not interested in football at all, but I promise it is relevant. I do think it's important to understand

that this was someone who was pretty on track and fairly successful in life. A quick Google search will show you that during his NFL career, Sergio earned over $6 million. And I mean, at one point, his annual salary was 2.3 million. But as we know, money certainly doesn't buy happiness and money certainly doesn't stop people from doing terrible things. But I think that's been sort of what's shocking to so many people about this case is, you know, here is this guy who was once a Super Bowl level athlete who, you know, seemingly on the outside had it all and now could be behind bars on suspicion of killing his own mother. I think it just goes to show that we never know what's going on in someone's life and

even the most successful people fall into trouble and end up doing really, really terrible things. And of course, like any case, people want to know why and unfortunately we don't have the why yet in this case. But I want to talk about what we do know at this point and about how all of this unfolded. So in September of 2023, Myrtle had just turned 73 years old and was kind of on a high after coming home from a fabulous trip to Aruba that she took for her birthday, which I have to say, God, she looks amazing at 73. And she was just starting to settle back into her life

at home in Maywood. And like I mentioned before, Sergio was living with his mother, and this is something that people are really curious about. And it's been said that in the weeks and months leading up to Myrtle's death, Sergio had not been doing well. Now exactly what that means hasn't really been specified. Did he run out of money? Was he struggling with his mental health?

Both? Something else? We honestly just don't know right now, but it does appear that whatever it was, Myrtle was trying her best as she always had to support him through that time. In fact, after his NFL career ended, he went on to receive his MBA from the University

of Miami. And when he walked through the auditorium on graduation day, he said, quote, Mama, we made it Mama, which I'd like to think really shows how supportive she was of him and that he really felt that she helped him along the way to pursue his dreams. He even went on to hold a few jobs in the years following, including a job at Google, but like I said, something was definitely going on with him. And it was enough that he needed to move back in with his mom.

And it seems that the rest of his family knew that he wasn't doing well. And specifically on September 14th, 2023, something was really wrong. Because that evening, after what seemed to be a completely normal day, Myrtle just stopped responding to calls and texts and this was very very out of character for her. Especially when those calls and texts were from family members and they were. Sergio's brother Nick and Myrtle's sister Sheila both say that they became concerned on the 14th,

and that concern only grew on the 15th when the silence continued. And it wasn't just Myrtle that stopped responding, it was Sergio too. So on the morning of the 16th, Nick went over to the house to see what was going on. And at first, nothing seemed really out of the ordinary. I mean, of course, there was no sign of myrtle or Sergio, but everything seemed to be in place. There was no sign of forced entry, nothing that stood out as out of the usual when he first went there. Now, it's also been reported that Sheila went to the house as well. And to her, things did look a little out of place and something just felt off. And so at that point they made the decision to go ahead and contact the Maywood Police Department and report the two of them missing. Officers met them at the residence and almost right away

one of them noticed what appeared to be drops of blood on the back patio. And sadly, shortly after that, all of their worst fears came true. Their friends and neighbors had quickly been made aware of what was going on, and so they joined in on the search efforts, and it ended up being a neighbor who found Myrtle's naked body wrapped in black plastic, only 150 feet away from her own back patio near the edge of a creek. As you can imagine, this was a shocking and beyond heartbreaking discovery. And at this point, they still had no idea where Sergio was. And so of course the search efforts continued.

We begin with breaking news at 10 o'clock out of Maywood. A search for two missing people has now turned into a homicide investigation for one of them. Family members called police for help when they couldn't get in contact with 73 year old Myrtle Brown or her son, former NFL player, 35 year old Sergio Brown earlier today. Investigating officers discovered Myrtle Brown's body near a creek behind her home in the western suburb. Her son Sergio is still missing. Detectives are asking anyone with

information on this case to call Maywood police. The Cook County Medical Examiner's office performed Myrtle's autopsy and I'm sure it won't shock any of you to hear that they did rule her death a homicide. Their report cited multiple assault relatedrelated injuries, and her cause of death was officially ruled blunt force trauma. And this is disturbing, but it's also been noted that her neck had been snapped, which is just so upsetting. I hate even having to say that out loud. Myrtle was a petite woman. And yes, Sergio is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, but just knowing that he was able to break the arm of a grown man, an NFL player

of equal strength, it gives me chills thinking about what he could be capable of doing to someone much smaller and more fragile. So a day after finding his mother's body in such terrible condition, Nick, her youngest son, did make a post on social media thanking people for their love and support during this time. He also reminded people that Sergio was still missing and that they were looking for any information that could lead to finding him. The post reads in part, thank you everyone for your outreach, help, love, and condolences. It's a sad but hopeful time and we will get through this together.

Mom always told me tough times don't last and our last conversation was about tough times being temporary is my beacon of hope. Mom, thank you for being strong, caring, diligent, fancy, funny, and for saving my art. I won't let you down. My brother Sergio is still missing. If anyone knows where he is, I want him to know that I love you and please come home. Now it's important to note that in those first few hours or even days after finding Myrtle's body, no one knew whether or not Sergio was also a victim of a violent crime.

Their family was obviously very upset, very scared, very confused, and they just wanted answers. And they did end up getting at least some of those answers within a couple of days. And that's because investigators quickly uncovered evidence that showed that not only was Sergio still alive, but he was also likely responsible for what happened to Myrtle.

And as for that evidence, Ringdorbell footage ended up being the most crucial. And that footage still has not been released to the public. However, I can tell you what was recorded. Sources say that on the night of September 14th, Sergio was seen both taking out the trash and burning items in a fire pit. And to be even more specific,

he was seen burning items of clothing in that fire. And as we know, Myrtle was found without her clothes. And fortunately for investigators, they were able to recover some of that fabric. So no matter whatever it's were taken to destroy evidence, if that's what he was doing, they don't seem to have been entirely effective. And as for the trash, there's still a question mark there as far as the public goes. I hope investigators were able to determine what that was. I feel like chances are they do know, but we don't know at this point in time.

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And that image, God, it is just so scary. It just paints a picture of her trying to defend herself from her son. It's just really difficult to imagine. And of course, we don't know exactly why it was there yet. I mean, chances are she was trying to defend herself, but it is possible that his DNA was there because they did live together. So I just wanted to make that clear.

And that's not all the evidence they found. Investigators said after searching the home, they also discovered that there was Ajax, the cleaning solution in the bathroom and in the drain, indicating that it had been scrubbed clean. And they also discovered that Myrtle's iPad, her phone and her wallet were all missing. And so obviously all of that together paints a picture of a brutal struggle, a murder,

and efforts to cover up this crime. Now, if you know anything about this case, you probably know what I'm gonna talk about next, but if you haven't heard anything about this case, buckle up because this is where it gets really wild. And that's because the search for Sergio Brown didn't end up lasting all that long, because just a few short days after Myrtle's body was found,

Sergio was, believe it or not, active on Instagram. Sergio started making posts to his Instagram story, and tons of people were watching as this unfolded live. It became quite a saga. And what he had to say was both confusing and very concerning. Fake news. Fake news. It has to be the FBI that came into my house on the Bob Marley's death day,

with the 511 Asian gas unwarranted. They kidnapped each wife from home, the Maywell police, the bar guys. Right? Sure, two people I did as wife. And in pepper's we had a second time that it happened. All right, so what I did is what? And in preparation for the second time that it happened, it had to be the FBI or the Mayweather police. I thought, mom, I'm gonna find my way home

on vacation in the center of Lola. That's fucking fake news that the clock I'm out there and playing. It's huge time. You wanna come to me? The Mayweather police gotta give me money. FBI had to do it. They got the power to do some shit like that.

What the fuck is going on? That's fake news. Don't go fucking with me. So as you can see, Sergio's demeanor is very concerning. He says the FBI came to his house on Bob Marley's death day and he also said that he was kidnapped twice. And that just isn't true. And then there's this one. This is traumatic. Lucky I'm not a sad joke. You... what the f... just keep swimming. And I think what's really difficult about these Instagram posts is that two different people could watch them and come away with two very different conclusions. I mean, on

one hand, someone could watch this and think, wow, this is someone who is clearly in distress, someone who is not in their right mind, or someone could watch this and think, wow, this is someone putting on a performance, trying to show that at the very least, they are not guilty by reason of insanity. But I do want to make it very, very clear here that Sergio's mental state or any condition he could have possibly been suffering from has not been confirmed in any official capacity, at least not publicly at this point. There is, of course, speculation online, as there always is, but as of right now, nothing has been confirmed.

There is no official diagnosis. And here's Jennifer Koffendaffer's thoughts on these clips. The social media explosion really in the Sergio Brown case was quite interesting, mostly because of the unbelievable and unusual posts that were done by Sergio Brown himself. It just gave fodder for all the individuals on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, everyone was posting these really unbelievable recordings that Sergio was making now. Why were they so interesting?

As a prosecutor and as an investigator, I think they will be used definitely to show his consciousness of guilt, to show he understood right from wrong. Meanwhile, the defense is going to use them to try to say, listen, he was crazy. The problem with that is going to be that they are going to have to prove that he didn't understand what wrong is from right. He didn't understand the criminal nature of his actions if indeed he killed his mother

Myrtle. And I think the evidence in this case is very strongly going to be able to show this. So no doubt the social media and mainstream media fervor over this case was ignited by Sergio Brown himself. I myself have a lot more to say about all this, but before I get into any of that, I want to continue with the timeline and what led to Sergio's arrest. On September 19th, Maywood police made an official statement saying they were aware of the stories being posted to Sergio's Instagram and that they were looking into the authenticity of them.

Now they were, of course, authentic and it allowed investigators to confirm that he was still alive. And that was also confirmed after going through Myrtle's credit card records. I mentioned before that her phone, iPad, and credit cards were missing. Well, it turns out that in the very early morning hours of September 15th, Sergio used Myrtle's credit card to buy a one-way ticket to Cancun.

And over the next two weeks, additional videos surfaced of him dancing, partying, and buying people drinks in Tulum. the next two weeks, additional videos surfaced of him dancing, partying and buying people drinks in Tulum. And I can't play any of these videos for copyright reasons actually, but if you search for them in YouTube, you're going to see that he seems pretty out of it. But his time in Mexico didn't last very long because Mexican authorities did find him and began the extradition process. However, his arrest was anything but smooth.

On October 7th, Mexican authorities detained Sergio, but definitely not without a fight. Video surfaced of this interaction and rather than trying to explain it to you because that's pretty difficult to do, I'm just going to go ahead and play it for you all so you can see for yourselves. But just to give a little bit of context for my listeners out there who are not watching, it is video of Mexican authorities on a plane trying to extradite him back to the US. See now, I'm free. I have my passport. Why are they grabbing me?

They're kidnapping me again. I'm from Chicago. My flight was Columbia. Why am I going to Tijuana this is a kidnapping they're in uniforms thank you for participating I was going to Columbia and from Chicago I should not be going to Tijuana. I thought I'd be done. Let me go. This is kidnapping. Cameras please.

Kidnapping. Kidnapping. I wasn't go to Tijuana. I was going to Medellin in Chicago. They're kidnapping me. This is criminal confinement. They're not authority figures. They should not do this. They're kidnapping me.

They're kidnapping me. They're kidnapping me. They're kidnapping me. They should not do this. They're kidnapping me. They're kidnapping me. They're kidnapping me. They're kidnapping me. I'm not I'm the one calm. They're kidnapping me. OK. I'm not. I'm the one calm. They're holding me like this. Hi.

What's your name? Sergio. Sergio, how are you? I'm in. My name is Dr. Ami. Hey. Hey. Sergio, is that OK?

OK. Hi, Sergio. I'm free. I'm legal. OK. They should not be grabbing me. OK. He's still holding me when you're telling him not to.

No, no, hey. Let me go. Oh. He had a dirty problem. The elbow is ass. OK. Sergio. Sergio. He's holding me. OK, to. Let me go. He got a 30 problem, the elbow is ass. Okay, sir, sir. He's holding me. Okay, okay, okay, okay.

Sir, sir. Let me go, I'ma stand up, bro. Okay, let me go. Let me go, I'ma stand up. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Let me go.

Let me stand here. Damn, they just had me a criminal confinement, PTSD, they kidnapped me again. And here, when they kidnapped me. I need this bad enough, you're going to put me to jail. Okay, sir, sir. Who are you, I was too. Now this flight was from Mexico City to Tijuana and like you heard Sergio says that he was supposed to be going to Colombia. Technically he did plan to go there, it just didn't end up happening. Sergio not only used Myrtle's credit cards to go to Tulum and to stay there,

but he had also made a purchase on the credit card for Airbnb's in Columbia, and one of them was $2,000, but obviously that trip never happened. So on October 10th, Sergio was arrested after making his entry into the US through San Diego where he remained temporarily in custody while awaiting his extradition back to Illinois.

And at this time, officers also recovered Myrtle's cell phone, iPad and missing credit cards that he did admit to stealing. Friends, if I were to ask you how many active subscriptions you have, cards that he did admit to stealing. Friends, if I were to ask you how many active subscriptions you have, would you be able to tell me off the top of your head? Probably not. And before I started using Rocket Money, I thought I knew how many subscriptions I had going,

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In a hearing on the 12th, Sergio did end up waiving extradition, and for those of you who don't know, that just means he consented to being voluntarily transferred back to his home state. And upon news of his arrest, here's what a family spokesman had to say. Our family is thankful that the Cook County

State's Attorney's Office answered our call for urgent and immediate action in the case of our beloved Myrtle Jane Simmons Brown. We are also heartened by the news that Sergio Brown has been apprehended and returned to the United States unharmed. Our family is prayerful that as the investigation progresses, more answers will become available,

shedding light on the circumstances surrounding this heartbreaking incident. Now I have to say I just feel so deeply for this family. I mean, not only are they trying to process this sudden and violent death of Myrtle, but also I can't imagine the confusion and hurt they have to be feeling when it comes to Sergio being, you know, allegedly responsible, likely responsible. It's hard to even imagine what that would be like and how hard it would be to process, but that has not stopped them from honoring myrtle. Back in September before Sergio was even arrested, a wake in funeral service was held where family and friends gathered to celebrate her life, her legacy, and mourn her death.

At her service, Nick described the love he had for his mother and said that she was like a supernova. He said, A supernova is an explosion of a star, and for a split second, it emits 5 billion times the brightness of the sun. It is a very rare occasion that lights up the universe. My mom was that person. I thought that was such a powerful way of describing someone and I'm so thankful that they have made statements like this because it really gives us a glimpse into who Myrtle was

and how loved and special she was, which, you know, there has been sort of a lack of that type of reporting in this case. I mean, even just looking at pictures by her, I can see the warmth that she brought, the energy, the fun. She just seemed like such a cool person and Myrtle deserves justice and it does appear that that will be coming soon. Because on October 24th, 2023, Sergio was back in Illinois where prosecutors

formally charged him with first degree murder and concealing a homicide in the death of his mother. It's been reported that inside the courtroom, he appeared extremely confused and unsure about what was going on. An ex-NFL player in court for the first time He was also accused of being a victim of a murder. He was also accused of being a victim of a murder. He was also accused of being

a victim of a murder. He was also accused of being a victim of a murder. He was also accused of being a victim of a murder. He was also accused of being a victim of a murder. He was also accused of being a victim of a murder. Brown looked very confused when he walked into the courtroom as if he didn't even understand

why he was there. Comments from the assistant state's attorney soon made Brown's presence in that courtroom. Very clear. Prosecutors say the case against former NFL safety Sergio Brown shows he's responsible for the murder of his 73 year old mother, Myrtle Simmons Brown. DNA evidence from two men was found under Simmons Brown's nails. One was a match to DNA found on Brown's toothbrush. It's believed Simmons Brown was murdered on September 14th after 6 p.m. Cameras in the area captured the offender burning items in a fire pit in the on

14th. Police later found fire pit. Prosecutors say was on the internet buyi booked a one way ticket t 15th at around three cloc driver drove the offender to the airport early in September 15th and he flew out of Chicago that same morning. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol out of San Diego

recovered the victim's cell phone, iPad, numerous credit card, and bank cards in the victim's name from the bag the offender was carrying. And to no surprise, Sergio does remain behind bars without bail because he is considered a real and present threat to society. But of course, not everyone is convinced of his guilt. His defense attorney says that all the evidence against him is circumstantial and in a hearing on December 6th, Sergio pled not guilty to both charges.

But by no means is this stopping or even slowing down state prosecutors. I mean, between the video footage of him burning the victim's clothing the night of the murder and the DNA, his DNA, found under her fingernails, they believe a jury will have no problem finding Sergio guilty of murder. I'd love to address the evidence that currently exists against Sergio Brown and the murder of his mother, Myrtle. A couple of big items, first of all, DNA found under her fingernails. Now that matches the same DNA that was taken from Sergio's toothbrush.

We also have evidence of him burning her clothes. This is big, but even bigger is the fact, in my opinion, that he stole her cell phone and her credit cards. Now, there's just no explanation for that, he stole her cell phone and her credit cards. Now, there's just no explanation for that. And it puts him at the scene of the murder because she would have had her cell phone as well as the credit cards, also the DNA under the fingerprints.

And then let's also take into consideration the fact that he went AWOL after this murder. Everyone was trying to solve the crime, everyone was reaching out, and he was acting as if nothing had happened. In other words, she's fine. Meanwhile, he fled the country, and whenever an individual flees the country, after being accused or after a murder is committed of a loved one That is consciousness of guilt now a lot of people will say This is only

Circumstantial evidence, but remember what is direct evidence direct evidence is typically Eyewitness evidence Somebody actually seeing this crime, eyewitness evidence is actually one of the most unreliable forms of evidence. Why? Because at the time the witness sees it, typically they're under a lot of stress. They typically maybe only get a glimpse

from their vantage point and oftentimes there's mistaken identity. Circumstantial evidence, if I can give you an analogy, imagine you go to sleep one night and when you look out the window before you go to bed, you see your green grass. Go to bed, you wake up the next morning and your grass is covered with white snow. Now you didn't watch the snowflakes fall but you know it snowed because there's snow on your lawn. That is how strong circumstantial evidence can be. Most cases, in fact, are made by connecting the dots of the circumstantial evidence.

And in this case, we have DNA, we have burning of clothing, and we have him using her credit cards and having her cell phone and going AWOL. This is a very strong circumstantial case. Most recently, a hearing was held on January 24th, 2024, but there wasn't any new information as far as we know unless that information is being withheld from the public at this time. And that's sort of where we are with the case at this point. Of course, there is quite a bit of evidence that suggests that Sergio is responsible for

the murder of his mother. However, as always, I have to say, he is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. And so now we just kind of have to wait until the judicial system runs its course. But before I wrap up today, I want to talk more about the why and something that I'm sure a lot of you are already thinking about. I mentioned earlier that Sergio has not been diagnosed with anything at least publicly that could explain why he would have done something like this to his own mother and also to explain his behavior in those Instagram stories. I think it's very likely that they're already running tests and evaluations to try to determine what his mental state was like at the time of the murder.

However, again, none of that has been made public. But of course, people are curious and there have been many people and the media as well questioning how this could have happened and have brought up the idea that maybe his years and years of playing football was a contributing factor. And I don't think you have to be, you know, a huge football fan to understand this connection or where this is going. But of course you have to consider that in football these people are running at each other full force on purpose

and it is very, very dangerous. Injuries are extremely common in this sport and they range from everything from a torn ACL, a broken bone to things that are much worse. And one of those potential injuries is TBI or traumatic brain injury. And I'm sure that's something that many of you have been thinking about this entire episode. Many people believe that Sergio is showing symptoms of CTE.

And if you're not familiar with CTE, it stands for chronic traumatic encephalopathy. And it is a progressive degenerative disease that impacts people who have suffered repeated concussions or other traumatic brain injuries. And we do know that after seven years in the NFL, not to mention all four years of college and most of high school, that Sergio definitely suffered injuries to his head repeatedly. And I wanted to bring up Karen Kizzle. She's the president of the Patrick Riesha CTE awareness foundation. And she was quoted in an article saying Sergio is obviously in crisis and exhibiting

symptoms of the disease. She also said, yes, this is a heartbreaking story for the dear mom who was trying to help him in poor Sergio is obviously in crisis and scared. His brain is failing him beyond his own ability to comprehend what is going on around him. Many family members of those who were diagnosed with CTE described schizophrenic delusions and paranoia. Sergio is showing these symptoms. And when I came across Karen's quote, her work and her organization, I knew I wanted to make a donation to them this week.

The Patrick Riesha CTE Awareness Foundation has a mission to raise awareness and help prevent CTE in future athletes and military service members. They seek to provide parents of school-aged children with information about the dangers of certain sports and what that could mean for their children's health later on in life. Karen created it in honor of her son, a dedicated football player who passed away in September of 2014,

and she wants other parents to know what she wishes she knew sooner. And CTE is something that I've always heard about over the years. It's something that I've sort of learned bits and pieces on over time, you know, from reading articles and watching documentaries. But one thing I didn't know about CTE before researching for this episode was that you can't be diagnosed with CTE while you're alive. You can only be diagnosed with probable CTE. As we know, I'm no doctor, but I did find that the only way to be diagnosed with CTE is through a postmortem autopsy.

And to give you some context for just how common this is, and this truly blew my mind, in a 2023 report from Boston University CTE Center, 345 out of 376 deceased former NFL players were found to have this disease. I mean just let that sink in. 345 out of 376. That is an insane rate. That's 91 percent. But CTE or no CTE. I want to be very clear here that what happened to Myrtle is unjustifiable. Yes, 91 percent of players in that study were found to have it, but none of those players went on to be killers. But even though it unfortunately can't be confirmed until someone has sadly passed away,

people can certainly show signs of it, and many people believe, keyword believe, that Sergio is showing signs of it. Some of the symptoms include memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, aggression, depression, and anxiety. You're going to hear Jennifer here in a second say something very similar, and she takes a strong stance against CTE being the cause of this murder. And I think it highlights how torn some people are. There are those who truly feel Sergio is not in his right mind, like Karen Kinzel and others, and like Jennifer, who believe he is using this to try and get away with a senseless act of violence.

Sergio Brown was in the NFL for seven years, that seven season with multiple teams, so he was a pretty successful NFL player. He is going to try and use the fact that he had multiple concussions likely throughout his career to explain why in a murderous rage it's believed that he killed his mother. Now CTE, which is considered to be responsible for damage to the brain after multiple concussions in various sports, including the NFL, was used by Aaron Hernandez as well to try to explain the murders he committed.

This is the problem with that. There are so many NFL athletes that never murdered anyone despite severe concussions. Let me give you an example. Troy Aikman, who played in the league for years, a very famous Dallas Cowboys quarterback, he had to actually quit playing in the NFL due to the amount of concussions that he suffered. Yet, look at him, not one experience in terms of a violent action. Further, he's currently broadcasting NFL games, seemingly certainly intact in terms of thinking and not committing violent crimes.

Another example is Steve Largent, also in the league, for about a dozen years as a wide receiver. He also had concussions, but yet he served as a congressman. It's not going to play well despite the way he has acted. Now, I'm no doctor, but I am going to say this from the standpoint of violent criminals trying to use any example that they can to explain why they committed a murder rather than taking responsibility for their actions. The Sergio Brown trial is going to be really interesting. I think we are going to see the defense try to use an insanity plea saying that his CTE so

affected his brain that he really wasn't able to distinguish between right and wrong to really understand the criminality of his actions, which is what they would have to prove. This is going to be the problem. All of those recordings, the fact that he fled, which shows consciousness of guilt. The fact that the clothes were burned. The fact that he took the cell phone. The fact that he took those credit cards. These are all signatures of someone that well understood what they were doing was wrong and tried to hide from the crime, tried to cover the crime. I believe that he will be found ultimately

guilty, but expect some interesting antics in the courtroom and expect a rigorous defense. This is, after all, a somewhat famous NFL athlete. There is absolutely no denying that Myrtle was violently attacked and did not deserve that in any way, shape or form. It should not be excused and there needs to be justice for what happened to her. But I imagine their family is probably struggling with more than just the loss of Myrtle. In many ways, they've lost Sergio too. And I'm sure they are having so many mixed feelings. It would be really tough to be in their shoes and to try to make sense of all of this. And I just Law Sergio too, and I'm sure they are having so many mixed feelings. It would be really tough to be in their shoes and to try to make sense of all of this, and

I just hope that they, you know, get the outcome that they want. They feel supported by the judicial system in whatever way that would be for them. I really want to hear all of your opinions on this, so definitely leave me a comment. Let me know your thoughts. I think there are many important discussions and debates to be had here and you know, feel free to express your thoughts. There will be updates coming out on this case soon so I will definitely you know, be tweeting about it or post something in the description box and if enough of you are interested I'd

be happy to do you know, an update video eventually down the road. But God, I mean, this case is tough. It's a horrible situation all around. And I just want to send, you know, my best to this family. And I really can't imagine everything that they're going through. Myrtle seemed like an incredible woman, someone that I would have loved to know. And it is just, there's no words to even put into place about what a shame it is, what a huge loss her death was.

That is gonna be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode. And make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It really does help me out. If you wanna watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray.

I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.