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August 6, 2025 12 mins

Nancy Grace speaks with Danikka Harrell, close friend of Cristen and Clinton Brinks. The couple was stabbed to death while hiking with their children in Devil's Den State Park.

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. The Devil's Den killer suspect
was bounced from school to school to school because of
inappropriate behavior with little girls, but no one ever fired him.
That's how he ended up at the murder scene. Joining

(00:24):
us now is a very special guest. It's Danica Harold.
She has a longtime friend of the murdered mom and dad,
stabbed dead on a public hiking trail for families trying
to protect their daughters. Miss Harold, thank you for being
with us. When did you learn that your friends Kristen

(00:47):
and Clinton had passed away?

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Were killed about midnight between Saturday and Sunday.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
How did you find out the news?

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Someone sent me a news article and I actually thought
it was a hoax researching.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
It now, you've known them for a long time. What
was your reaction when you discovered they hadn't just passed on,
that they had actually been stabbed dead.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
I was pretty mortified. It was very it was very
hard to learn that information.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
Could you tell us, Miss Harrold, about the two of them.
We keep hearing that they were murdered trying to protect
their daughters, that the mom helped her two little girls
get away from the killer, and then after they were
safe in her mind, she went back to help fight

(01:38):
the killer off her husband, and in so doing, she
herself was murdered trying to defend him. Does that sound
like her?

Speaker 2 (01:47):
They were all about their family.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
Tell us what you can about them, because they have
turned into props for the killer. We just hear they
were stabbed. What can you tell us about them? How
did you meet? Describe them for us?

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Actually met them. They joined my co ed volleyball league,
and she would bring her daughters with volleyball, and it
turns out we had, you know, two daughters that were
the same age. So then that in turn led to
us hanging out outside of volleyball, and she was just
as sweet as could be. I ran into some issues
with childcare, and she offered to take my daughter overnight

(02:29):
while I worked out of town. Didn't even bat an eyelash,
And you know, she had to keep her over Christmas
one year, and she went as far as to make
sure that my daughter had the same matching pajamas as
her kids.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
I can't believe that. I'm just trying to take that in.
I've had a lot of spin the nights from my
children's friends, but I never thought to go to that
length to make the guests happy.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
She kept her three to four nights every week while
I worked out of town three to four days.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
So you and Kristen became very close.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
We did. She lived, She's probably about half miles from
my house, and I'd go on walks and we'd stop
at her house and we'd just sit down and visit
and she'd make some coffee or tea, and our daughters
would play outside.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
We're showing photos of Kristin right now, and I'm wondering
if you could tell us about the dynamic between her
and her husband. They seemed very happily married.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
They were they were supportive of each other. Christina was
a stay at home mom and Clinton worked. When she
decided to attempt to go through the nursing program, and
at the two year programs was very difficult, like you're
away for two years just because of how much time
you have to put into it, and Clinton told her

(03:51):
to jump in with both feet. It's like, there's no
reason we can't get through this. And that's exactly what
Kristen did. With Clinton support, she was able to become
a nurse. And then that just allowed them to do
so much more with their kids. They started traveling more
and it was just it was they built this beautiful

(04:13):
life together.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
Tell me about their traveling. I mean, we've got photos
of them hiking, of them on a cruise. I assume
they took their little girls with them.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yep, everywhere they went, and it was usually they tried
to do things that were outdoors. They loved being outside,
they loved we didn't have much for hiking here around
Little Miles City, so they were always traveling to go
and find new experiences to take the girls on.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
What were some of their vacations. What were some of
their trips they went on.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
Mainly it was just you know, like down in Red Lodge,
it's a beautiful area, so they'd take the girls camping
down there, and then they'd go find hiking trails and
they'd just let the girls do what they you know,
explore mother nature. And I guess that was mainly what
they did.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
You know, that sounds exactly like me. When we grew up.
We had a vacation and the vacation started on Friday
and it ended on Sunday. But to us, it was
like this incredible vacation where we would go into the
smoky mountains and all be together. I'm looking at cruise
ship photos of them. I see beach photos of them,

(05:20):
hiking photos of them. Seems like they took the girls
on a lot of outdoor trips. Now there were three girls, Arianna, Christina,
and Brianna. Tell me about the girls.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
Christina and Ariana were pretty little when I started going
and hanging out with them, and they were just the
sweetest little things that just melted your heart when you
go over there. Their big old brown and blue eyes. Brianna,
she was a little older, and she was just as sweet.
She had this light blonde hair and she had big

(05:52):
blue eyes, just like Kristen Danda. We used to go
riding around on my flour wheeler when Christina would have
my daughter and her little girls, and I just remember
how big her lasts were and how excited she was
to get to do little things like that. She was
just the sweetest girl too.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
Miss Harrold. You were mentioning earlier that the husband helped her.
Clinton Brink helped Kristin get through nursing school. How did
he help her?

Speaker 2 (06:26):
He gave her the time that she needed to do it.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
So he took care of the girls while she went
to school.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
Yep, or he'd help her find somebody who was there
that could take the girls if he happened to be working.

Speaker 1 (06:38):
Wow. Now, from what we're learning, the two Kristin and
Clinton were attacked on the trail. I believe after one
of their daughters had been grabbed or approached by the suspect.
She Kristin. He got the girls to run and escorted

(07:02):
them to a certain point and then turned told them
to keep going, and then turned back to save Clinton.
Why do you believe, with your knowledge of them, that
that's an accurate report.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
I don't think Kristin wanted the girls to have a
broken family and have to learn how to navigate life
without their dad.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
How close were Kristin and Clinton?

Speaker 2 (07:27):
From what I saw, they were very close.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
What was his personality? Danica?

Speaker 2 (07:32):
Clinton was very hard working. He did whatever he needed
to do for his family. If a job didn't happen
to work out, he'd have a new job within a week.
He also, when they moved to Rapid City, he found
it best that he become a CNA and he actually
worked in the same hospital as Christina did as a nurse.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
You know, I'm just looking as you're talking or showing
photos of them at all these different places that they
went with their children. Do you ever wonder, Danica like
I do, why is it that the innocent people that
work hard, that love their family, why they are the

(08:15):
ones targeted by criminals?

Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah? I've been wondering that almost every day since I
found out it happened. I guess they try and view
us family oriented people as weak. And I guess once
they decide, you know, to attack somebody, or they figure
out how much love and compassion we actually have for
our kids and for our significant others, and I guess

(08:40):
that they're rude awakening for them.

Speaker 1 (08:42):
Why did they move Danica.

Speaker 2 (08:45):
To be closer to family?

Speaker 1 (08:47):
What family were they trying to get closer to his
or hers or both?

Speaker 2 (08:51):
Well? Before she moved to Rapid City, they were discussing
whether they should go and go to Christen's side of
the family in California or move down south towards Clinton
side of the family. So they moved a Rapid City
to get experienced in the hospital setting until they were
ready to jump and make that decision.

Speaker 1 (09:12):
You know, a lot of people are looking for a
connection between the suspect as he is called the Devil's
Den killer and them. I don't think they knew each other.
I think that this was just a chance meeting on
that trail. Do you have any reason to believe they
knew this guy?

Speaker 2 (09:31):
I don't. I agree with you. It was completely random.
I mean they were in Arkansas for what a month?

Speaker 1 (09:38):
And it's like you said, he would take any job
just to keep working. I know he was supposed to
start a male milk delivery route just a day or
two after he was murdered. Have you seen the alleged
perp the suspect began.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
I did. I saw the photos after he was mid haircut.
He looks very un I felt like it was very
bold of him to go and get a haircut just
days after he committed such a heinous act.

Speaker 1 (10:09):
I agree. Why do you say that, I mean.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
That town was so close to where the incident occurred.
He just didn't He thought he was invincible. Nobody would
notice his car description.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
As a matter of a very unique car, Danica. We
are showing video right now of him parking right in
the front parking spot and sauntering in. He kept looking
down and he refused to sign. You know how when
you go to a salon, you're supposed to sign in.
He refused to sign it. He'd been trying to get
his haircut for about two days. And guys, you're seeing

(10:46):
this video that is we are allowed to play it
by Lupita's beauty salon where this happened. These ladies had
no idea that they were inches away from an alleged
double killer. When his photo on the trail came out
as a photo from behind, his hair was coming out

(11:09):
from under his hat, and I wondered if he had
gone into the salon to shave off the back of
his hair or get a complete buzz. And as a
matter of fact, that's what he did. He had his
hair buzzed up the back, so it was completely different hair, hairstyle.
Check it out and in the back buzz straight up

(11:30):
the back, Danica, I think he was doing that on
purpose to conceal his identity. Miss Harold, when you think
back on what's happening, or when you drift off to
sleep at night, what are your thoughts about Kristin and Clinton.

Speaker 2 (11:46):
It just hurts my heart. I still don't want to
believe it. No one should have to go.

Speaker 1 (11:50):
Through this, Miss Harold, Thank you so much for being
with us and telling us more about Kristin and Clinton,
their stories yet to be told. Miss Harol, thank you
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Host

Nancy Grace

Nancy Grace

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