The Murder of Mickey Bryan Part 2: The Famous Clifton Rumor Mill

A few months before Clifton Elementary fourth grade teacher Mickey Bryan was slain, another unimaginable and heinous crime took place less than a mile away. There were rampant whispers going around what the small city’s newspaper referred to as “The Famous Clifton Rumor Mill,” and when Joe Bryan was arrested and charged with his wife’s murder, the chatter grew louder and more intricately weaved. In the months leading up to the trial, Joe felt abandoned by just about everyone but his closest friends and family. When it came time to enter the courtroom, he told others he was ready to get it behind him so he could find Mickey’s killer. But nothing is ever that easy.

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Sources: innocencetexas.org, The Clifton Record, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The McAllen Monitor, The Austin American-Statesman, The New York Times, The Waco Tribune-Herald, The Corpus Christi Times, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10172881/, court appeal documents, and 20/20 ABC. 

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Episode Transcript

(00:01):
The Gone Cold. Podcasts may containviolent or graphic subject matter. Listener discretion
is advised. After October fifteenth,nineteen eighty five, the residents of Clifton,
Texas had become overwhelmed by fear,stricken by a paranoia that inevitably came
with the murder of one of theirown and the realization that senseless homicide isn't

(00:25):
limited to the big city. Itwas the same reaction that can be heard
in virtually any small town true crimestory. Folks who'd once left their doors
unlocked were checking them twice at nightto make sure they were and for extra
peace of mind. Pistols and shotgunshad made their way closer to where they
slept, now in the bedside table'sdrawer or leaning up against the headboard.

(00:51):
At the sound of anything suspicious outsidein the dark of night, citizens cracked
their curtains ever so slightly, usingthe barrel of their firearm to get a
peak where there was once virtually nopolice presence. As far as routine patrols,
the city of Clifton assigned officers topatrol twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week, in theearly morning hours from around midnight to five,

(01:17):
the department dedicated two officers and cruisersto patrol the streets. Before the
arrest of Mickey's husband, Joe forher murder, the pressure was on the
Clifton Police and Texas Ranger Joe Wileyto make an arrest. They'd questioned a
crew of concrete workers who had beenworking at a house near the Brian home.

(01:38):
Nothing. Just days before the murder, a peeping tom was seen by
a teenaged girl at her bedroom window. No solid leads came of it.
They searched exhaustively for a transient who'dbeen reported in the area, and even
deployed a helicopter to find him ora sign of him. Again, thing

(02:00):
leeds and evidence, at least beforeMickey's brother, Charlie Blue and his ex
FBI friend Bud Saunders came to town, were not forthcoming. The public wasn't
happy, and the pressure grew moreintense by the hour. Even if the
nineteen eighty four Boski County murders ofthirteen year old Helen Kilgore and another nineteen

(02:23):
year old female had slipped the mindsof area folks, most who struggled to
recall the last time such a thinghappened in the actual city of Clifton.
Another killing that occurred in nineteen eightyfive, just a few months before the
murder of forty four year old elementaryschool teacher Mickey Bryan, was still fresh

(02:45):
on their minds. Judy Lou Whitleywas born on June twenty eighth, nineteen
sixty seven, in Pine Bluff,Arkansas, to parents Don and Barbara.
She grew up with her two sistersand a brother. Judy was a normal

(03:07):
girl, shy, friendly, andperhaps about as well behaved as most.
She liked to read, goof off, and spend time around animals, namely
her cat. At Clifton High School, Judy played in the band and mostly
stayed out of trouble and at home. In the summer of nineteen eighty five,
it wasn't much different, But onWednesday, June nineteenth, nineteen eighty

(03:31):
five, everything changed. That day, which began as routine as any other.
Patricia Whitley lovingly teased her sister Judyon her way out to work,
There's always that thing one sibling discoversthat annoys the other, and upon that
discovery, they use it frequently.For Judy. It was when Patricia got

(03:53):
mushy with her. It drove hercrazy. By Judy, I love you,
Patricia said as she passed her sisteron the porch. Kisses, Kisses,
she continued. Judy was visibly annoyed. Patricia continued on her way.
Not long after, at about eleventhirty am, Judy Whitley left her home

(04:15):
to get a coke at a conveniencestore Hilltop Grocery on Highway to nineteen,
about five blocks away. The factthat Judy stayed gone for a few hours
was unusual, but it was summertimeand she was seventeen years old, so
at first not a whole lot wasthought about it. By the time four
thirty pm rolled around, however,it became evident something was off. The

(04:41):
Whitleys called the Clifton Police, whobegan preparing for a search right away.
First, a beyond the lookout wasissued, which appears to have done little
good. Early the following morning,Thursday, June twentieth, patrol officers began
contacting Judy's friends, none of whomhad anything to report. By nine am,

(05:03):
police were going door to door inthe neighborhood and beyond, carrying a
photograph of Judy to show residents.As the morning went on, a search
party was formed, and throughout theday it grew to include police cadets and
reserves, folks from the Clifton VolunteerFire Department, and even National Guard reservists.

(05:25):
The effort lasted for several hours untilat approximately six fifteen pm, seventeen
year old Judy Whitley's body was foundin a heavily wooded cedar thicket on Clifton's
west side, about fifty yards southof Highway two nineteen and Hilltop Grocery and
just to the southwest of Goodall WitcherHospital. The teenager had been bound at

(05:48):
the wrists. Gray duct tape coveredher mouth, Her body was left mostly
unclothed. After an autopsy, itwas determined that Dy died by suffocation and
was sexually assaulted. The residents ofClifton were shocked and horrified, and the

(06:08):
Whitley family began to fall apart.Clifton Police Chief Rob Brennand wasted no time
making a public plea asking for anyonewho'd seen Judy the day she disappeared,
or any suspicious vehicles in that areato come forward with what they knew.
Numerous rumors the newest in what thelocal newspaper referred to as the famous Clifton

(06:32):
rumor Mill were being taken into considerationand being followed up on brennand said,
but a suspect had not been identified. Both the police chief and the mayor
would later outright and vehemently deny therewas any truth whatsoever to the town talk.
But regardless of those denials, therumors are vital to the story of

(06:56):
Judy Whitley's case. A police carhad been impounded and searched, the rumors
alleged, and upon the execution ofthose actions objects used in the commission of
the murder were found. Evidence.The rumors went on to claim that a
Clifton policeman had been arrested and jailed. The idle and unfounded rumor Mayor camp

(07:20):
Westley authoritatively insisted, is completely andtotally false. It has hindered the investigation,
he continued, but often there's asliver of truth to a rumor either
way. At this particular time,the investigation into Judy's murder was going nowhere.

(07:42):
Another rumor would set off a chainof events that only strengthened at least
aspects of the first A diary thevictim's friends told police, in which Judy
kept a detailed account of her dayto day life, might be found in
her grandmother, Bessie Hardy's house justfor good measure, perhaps, Clifton detectives

(08:03):
first searched the home where Judy livedwith her parents on South Avenue H.
They found no diary. Police regroupedand planned to search Judy's grandmother's house a
few streets over early on the morningthe search was to take place. At
around one a m. On Thursday, July eleventh, nineteen eighty five,

(08:24):
a loud explosion shook the houses surroundingthree O two South Avenue P and rattled
the windows of homes throughout Clifton.Virtually no one in the city slept through
the reverberating boom. The home thatexploded belonged to Bessie Hardy, the grandmother
of seventeen year old murder victim JudyWhitley. Twenty one firefighters, many of

(08:50):
whom had helped search for Judy,battled the unruly blaze for forty five minutes
before they finally subdued the flames.Ash, soot, and twisted metal were
all that remained the home was decimated. Volunteer firefighter Joe White total Clifton Record

(09:11):
reporter the explosion was apparently caused byan accumulation of gas, though they'd called
in state arson investigators to make anofficial determination since the house was connected to
a local murder investigation. If JudyWhitley's diary was in her grandmother's home,
it wasn't any more. Her sister, Patricia insisted Judy never kept a diary,

(09:35):
that the book was nothing but arumor. She was always reading,
Patricia recalled, but never did muchmore than doudal hearts around the name of
a current crush in margins or onscrap paper. Fortunately, Bessie Hardy was
away from her home when it exploded. The Judy Whitley murder investigation went cold

(10:11):
when Clifton Elementary School teacher Mickey Brianwas murdered in the bedroom of her home,
and while still holding the memory ofJudy Whitley's murder fresh in their minds,
area residents were in disbelief. Addto that, the arrest of Mickey's
husband, Joe Brian, eight daysafter she was killed, a beloved community
member and principal at Clifton High andthe whole thing seemed like a bad dream

(10:35):
they couldn't wake up from. Joepleaded not guilty at an arraignment later on
the night of his arrest, andwas released after posting a fifty thousand dollars
bond. Clifton Police Chief Rob Brennanddescribed Joe's arrest as a bad shock to
the community, but assured readers ofthe local newspaper that the evidence they had

(10:58):
is strong at that shock will eventuallywear off. The lawman was also confident
in the Judy Whitley case, tellinga reporter that they had a good suspect
for that murder for the first time. The individual, Brennand said, was
currently in jail and the lead wouldn'tbe investigated for another two weeks due to

(11:20):
what he vaguely called circumstances beyond thedepartment's control. He wouldn't specify in which
jail the suspect was being held.There were a lot of first times going
around. After his arrest. JoeBryan was put on paid leave for the
first time ever in his career,which, between that, the scrutiny of

(11:41):
his life in general, and thegrief he felt had the man keeping his
head down back at his mother's housein Elmmott, about forty two miles away
from the home in Clifton he onceshared with Mickey. Joe was aimless,
lost without the regimen of the skischool day and extracurricular activities of his students.

(12:03):
In the beginning, Joe felt thesupport of his community. Many folks
were calling the Clifton Police chief withtheir objections to his arrest. There was
no way on earth, they toldBrennand that it could have been Joe.
But as time crept forward, thefamous Clifton rumor mill did its thing.

(12:26):
Now people were talking about Joe frequentingNew Orleans gay bars and having romantic relationships
with male students. No such malestudent ever materialized. The other big rumor
completely contradicted those Joe, some whisperswent had raped and killed seventeen year old

(12:46):
Judy Whitley, a student at theschool he headed, and when Mickey found
out, she too had to besilenced. The fact that Judy's body was
found less than a mile away fromthe Brian home only added to the baseless
conjecture. The rumors were classic,brazenly sensational in their claims, but brittle

(13:09):
when met with facts and evidence,it was confirmed. Joe and Mickey Bryan
both were away in Arkansas. Theweak Judy was brutally murdered, but it
didn't matter to folks who'd already madeup their minds. The town talk had
as much to do with fear asanything else, as was obvious by the
steep rise in gun sales in thesmall Texas city, but improved neighborhood watches

(13:35):
and the installation of street lights onseveral dark roads helped some. Every week,
Joe traveled to Clifton to check upon the house and mow the grass,
and his next door neighbors were theonly people who greeted him warmly and
with the same kindness they always had. Most others kept their distance. As

(13:56):
far as his neighbors were concerned.Joe Bryant was innocent until proven otherwise,
and proving it to them would notbe easy. But he'd lost so much
more. Losing touch with and theconfidence of Mickey's parents, Vera and Otis,
Joe later said, was the mostpainful thing, and the hits just

(14:18):
kept coming. It was soul crushingwhen he was asked not to come to
church until the whole thing blew overJoe's pastor of ten years, couldn't even
be bothered to do it in person. Then came the news from his friend
and school superintendent Richard Liardin, who, after Texas Ranger Joe Wiley, created

(14:39):
the gay Killer persona for Joe Brianhad been the other half of one of
the rumors about him. Learden wasassigned by the Clifton Independent School District Board
of Trustees to ask Joe for hisresignation. Eventually, citing the best interests
of his students the precise way topull at Joe's heartstrings, he agreed to

(15:01):
resign. In early nineteen eighty six. Joe Bryan had next to nothing left
when he visited Mickey's grave at Lane'sChapel Memorial Cemetery in Valley Mills. He'd
talk to her. Had a strangerever passed by and witnessed Joe kneeling by
Mickey's headstone, they'd have seen aman broken and alone, and a man

(15:24):
who'd blamed himself for not being thereto stop the murder of the one he
loved most. He later said.The only other place Joe frequented during this
period was the office of his attorneysin Waco, Lynn Malone and Charles MacDonald.
A necessity for the situation he foundhimself in. He didn't spend any

(15:46):
time feeling sorry for himself during hispreparations for trial. It is said,
in fact, he was confident,perhaps overly so, that he would win.
As the Brian's close friend Linda Lierredaput it, Joe was ready to
get to court, be acquitted,and then focus on who really killed Mickey.

(16:07):
In November nineteen eighty five, Mickey'sbrother Charlie Blue, hired a special
prosecutor to try the case, Stephenville'sGary Lewellen. Llewellen was a super lawyer
who was said to have a naturalability to cross examine witnesses with surgical precision.
He was more tenacious than a junkyarddog, another description of him Read's,

(16:30):
and was licensed to practice in nineTexas counties, authorized to practice before
Texas's Northern District, the US DistrictCourt, and the United States Supreme Court.
Lewellen was a member of just aboutevery trial lawyer or bar association.
He could have been. A familyhiring a special prosecutor and a murder case

(16:52):
isn't necessarily common. Most folks simplydon't have the exorbitant amount of money or
influence that it costs. Charlie Blue, on the other hand, had both
the cash and the power. Asidefrom the fact that this privilege isn't something
that can be afforded by even aquarter of the state's population, maybe not

(17:15):
even a tenth. Joe Bryan's defenselawyer called Blue's decision to do so purely
vindictive. After insisting it wasn't amoney thing, a judge allowed Llewellen to
work on District Attorney Andy McMullen's prosecutionteam. The next blow came when Charlie
Blue filed a lawsuit against Joe,which in turn tied up any and all

(17:37):
of Mickey's estate, meaning he wouldn'thave those extra funds for the preparation for
and during the trial. On Marchthirty first, nineteen eighty six, the
trial of Joe Dale Bryan for themurder of Mickey Marlene Brian began with jury
selection at the Bosque County Courthouse andMeridian. The defense never filed a motion

(18:02):
for a change of venue, whichwas almost certainly a mistake since he'd be
hard pressed to find a soul inBosqui County, who wasn't keeping up with
the story, if only casually.According to Charles McDonald, Jo's attorney,
his client desired to be judged bya jury made up of the folks who
knew him best, folks who knewhis character. Joe Brian had been a

(18:27):
well known and certainly beloved member ofthe community going back a decade. He
was a man who saw almost nothingother than the good in people, who
trusted his fellow residence of Clifton todo the right thing. That meant setting
aside the rumors and looking at theevidence. That's something McDonald was competent.

(18:49):
The prosecution substantially lacked. There wasnothing that placed Joe Brian in Clifton the
night Mickey was murdered because he attendingthe annual meeting of the Texas Association of
Secondary School Principles in Austin. Thatnight. Prosecutors were tasked with explaining how
he got home and back until herbrother, Charlie Blue and his ex FBI

(19:15):
friend and employee Bud Saunders came totown. There was absolutely nothing tying Joe
to the crime. The defense didn'tlook bad, but with paid special prosecutor
Gary Llewellyn and arguably at the helmof the state's case, and a few
other incredible missteps of the justice systemand Joe's defense team. It could be

(19:38):
argued that it was more the artof persuasion and showmanship on display than facts
and evidence. Joe Bryan's decision toseek a change of venue was an example

(20:02):
of his naive trust in the goodnature of his fellow man, but his
defense team deserves the brunt of thecriticism for this move and a few other
missteps throughout the trial, especially afterrumor upon rumor had been swirling around Clifton
and the surrounding areas for months bythe time the trial got under way,

(20:23):
many inarguably started by baseless motive theorizingon the part of Texas Ranger Joe Wiley,
or the Ringleader, as Joe's defenseteam referred to him more than once.
The famous Clifton Rumor Mill had alreadyconducted a hell of a trial in
the court of public opinion, andthere's little doubt the seven men and five

(20:45):
women on the jury were well awareof those unofficial proceedings. The official trial
didn't require the state proove a motive, but during jury selection Brian's defense attorney
Charles MacDonald planted an important seed inthat regard. Why he asked the jurors,

(21:07):
after sixteen years of marriage, wouldthis man who'd let an exemplary life
kill his wife. There were nowitnesses, he continued, and when weighing
the evidence of guilt against the evidenceof innocence, it was important to remember
that majority rules should not control anindividual's decision. Each juror should instead exercise

(21:30):
their own judgment independently of the others. While the prospective jurors seemed to understand
when everything was all said and done, it appeared to the defense they might
not have many believe they undoubtedly didnot comprehend the meaning of reasonable doubt.
The prosecution's opening statement, given byBosqui County District Attorney Andy McMullen, was

(21:56):
relatively standard, direct into the point, describing how their evidence fit together,
and pointed in one direction. Onlythe physical evidence, along with the actions
and words spoken by Joe Brian,will speak for themselves. Joe's defense declined
to make an opening statement, perhapstheir second major blunder. Next, the

(22:21):
prosecution worked a slow build up,bringing the first few witnesses to the stand
in the following order manager of Clifton'sLowe's Home improvement store, Charles Feller Junior,
who testified as to the layout ofthe Brian home he'd done some work
there. B C. Bennett,a local insurance man who sold Joe Brian

(22:44):
the three fifty seven Smith and Wessonrevolver believed to be the murder weapon.
Clifton Elementary school teacher and coach LeeStanley, whose home the pistols transfer of
ownership took place from Bennett to JoeBrian. When cross examined by the defense,
all three of those witnesses raved aboutJoe's honest and upright character, along

(23:07):
with he and Mickey's happy and lovingrelationship. If a person wanted some help,
Stanley testified, Joe Brian would bethe one to go to. Many
law enforcement officers who testified that dayagreed. Clifton Police Chief Rob brennand called
Joe friendly and professional, adding thatthe Brian's reputations were above reproach. Joe

(23:33):
Brian had fully cooperated with the investigation, even going so far as to tell
the chief to do whatever they hadto do inside his home. The crime
scene Texas Ranger Joe Wiley too,said Joe cooperated fully and like Chief brennand
and every other person who'd seen Joethat day, told the court that he

(23:55):
was not apprehensive of law enforcement presenceand seemed in his intense grieving. Ranger
Wiley testified he entered the Brian homethrough the front door and was immediately led
down the hallway to the master bedroom, where Mickey's body laid. Earlier,
medical technologist Joanne Weaver of Clifton Medicaland Surgical Clinic had testified that she'd taken

(24:19):
a blood sample from Justice of thePiece Alvin James, who said he'd flipped
the remainder of his unfiltered camel cigaretteon the street in front of the Brian
home after smoking. This butt,as the story went, was then unwittingly
stepped on by Texas Ranger Joe Wiley, who transferred it up the long front

(24:41):
walkway into the Brian home, apparentlythrough a few rooms of the house,
and then finally it fell from hisboot on the kitchen floor. Later,
Clifton police officer Kenneth Fields claimed beforejurors he'd seen the cigarette butt fall from
Ranger wyley boot, something that strangeto witness something so unnoticeable, and to

(25:06):
be privy to the fact that acigarette butt had been found and bagged at
the scene would generally be something notedin the witnessing officer's report. It was
not an officer Fields's report or evennotes. However, this was far from
the last time the cigarette evidence wouldcome into Joe Bryan's case, but unfortunately,

(25:27):
the defense's cross examination was embarrassingly weak. It had been determined through saliva
that the cigarette butt contained a bloodtype A RH positive, which was the
same blood type as Peace Justice James, as well as it should be noted,
thirty to thirty four percent of thepopulation. The defense team didn't bring

(25:51):
that up. It's unclear if theydetermined James was a secretor, which would
have been necessary for the saliva tohave shown a B blood type. Approximately
eighty to eighty six percent of thepopulation are secretors, putting the odds in
the prosecution's favor, at least atthis point in time in nineteen eighty six,

(26:12):
the story of the traveling cigarette buttwasn't challenged as it should have been
by Joe Brian's defense, not yetto be fair, perhaps overly so,
as far as the defense's performance.The trial was complicated until Special Prosecutor Gary
Llewellen came in to cross examine defensewitnesses, namely Joe Brian himself, things

(26:37):
appeared to be going the defendant's way, or at least fifty to fifty.
Brian's defense lawyers called Blue's decision tohire Llewellyn again purely vindictive, a retaliation
for Joe's choice in hiring Waco lawyersto defend him, as opposed to retaining
counsel from Clifton. Whatever the case, hiring the special prosecutor set the victim's

(27:03):
brother back ten thousand dollars, anamount equivalent to about twenty eight grand today.
But from the cigarette butt, CharlieBlue and Bud Saunders' nighttime drive,
the discovery of the flashlight, theconstantly implicated motives, one certainly fabricated and
the other downright deceptive, while alsodoubling down about how that's something the state

(27:27):
does not have to prove, andpseudoscience to soiled underwear, the back of
money in the trunk, and thepeculiar story of Jack Shaw at the highatt
Regency Hotel in Austin. From thelead defense attorney's a weak hand to the
fairly blatant use of falsehoods and pureconjecture on the part of prosecutors. As

(27:51):
the state of Texas versus jo Dale, Bryan continued, it could only be
described as a shit show. That'snext time on go On Texas True Crime.
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(28:38):
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