Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Today, we're sharing the story of Brandy Renee Dyson, a
kind hearted woman who faced incredible challenges in her life.
Brandy's story is one of resilience, love and tragedy, a
story that needs to be heard to keep the fight
for justice alive.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
I'm Melissa and I'm Whitney.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
This is Navigating Advocacy. We stumbled upon Brandy's story while
perusing Reddit one evening. Her daughter Holly had posted that
she had taken over advocating for her mother, and she
was seeking assistance and gaining attention for her mother's unsolved
(01:16):
murder of nineteen years. Brandy's story has never been shared
on a podcast that we could find, and her family
has also had very little support in seeking justice for her.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Brandy was born on November one, nineteen seventy three. She
grew up in a large family with two brothers and
three sisters. Her parents were central figures in her upbringing.
Brandy was known for her silliness and an unforgettable laugh
that could brighten anyone's day. She had a difficult life
(01:47):
but loved deeply. She was an unselfish mother to her
daughter and son. She made the heart wrenching decision to
give her children a better life because she knew she
couldn't provide for them what she thought they deserved.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Brandy's sister Miranda told me that she was fearless, straight
to the point, honest and unapologetically herself. She would put
lizards on her ears as ear rings, just to be silly,
which I've never heard of this, but apparently it's a
pretty common thing in louis That's a Florida.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Thing, because yes, people do it.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
I believe my kids have even done it before, had
them bite their fingers or whatever.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
It's silly, but yes, I've heard of it before.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Her daughter Holly remembers her being creative and making her
things to send to her. When she was younger, she
would write her cards and letters from all of her travels.
Brandy moved around quite a bit, but she enjoyed seeing
different areas of the country. At one point, she lived
in New York City for a bit before she had
made her way back to Louisiana. It wasn't uncommon for
(02:51):
Brandy to go extended periods of time.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Without speaking with her family.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
See Brandy struggled with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, which what
we now referred to as schizoefective disorder. She faced addiction
and homelessness, but remained this kind hearted person. Her life
was marked by challenges, but her strength and love for
her family were undeniable. So Brandy returned to the Lake
(03:16):
Charles area from New York City about a year before
her death. She had just had a baby in July
and was thriving. She was clean, sober, and doing well.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Although she had.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Been thriving before the hurricane, Holly and Miranda didn't know
if she had a job or not. At the end
of August of two thousand and five, Brandy let some
evacuees live with her in the apartment she was renting. However,
that this prompted her landlord to evict her. After she
was evicted from her apartment, she lived at the Lake
(03:50):
Charles Civic Center shelter for a short time, which had
been set up as a shelter for Hurricane Rita evacuees.
Brandy would be asked to leave the shelter due to
some disruptive behavior and her not following shelter rules.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
From what I understood, the shelter had very strict roles
on drinking.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
While there.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
They tried to keep it an alcohol for re zone,
and Brandy broke those roles and was asked to leave.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Witnesses saw her with an unidentified man outside the civic center. Later,
they were spotted together at a nightclub in downtown Lake
Charles between midnight and two am. Hours later, Brandy's body
was found in the lake. This would be on November
(04:39):
fifth of two thousand and five. A jogger found her
partially clothed body floating in the lake there in Lake Charles.
She had been violently strangled. Her brother was called to
identify her remains, which was a devastating moment for the
entire family.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Something that I talked to Holly and Miranda about is
how quickly they were able to identify Brandy. You know,
sometimes it takes a bit to identify bodies when they're found,
especially if they're found without any identification or items on
the person. And they were able to identify Brandy very
quickly because she had been arrested in the days prior
(05:22):
for public intoxication and they had her fingerprints on file.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
The lead detective on Brandy's case, whose name is Colby Thompson,
reported that they did have sufficient evidence, but the right
tip could really lead to an arrest.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Law enforcement learned that the man Brandy was last seen
with was a man that we're going to call Jeremy.
Jeremy and Brandy had gone to a bar nearby the
Civic Center named Crystals.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
There weren't a lot.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Of establishments opened at the time, as many business were
still recovering from RITA and electricity was still out in
many areas.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Here is where some rumors all rand begin.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
They say that Jeremy and Brandy had been dating, and
that the two had met together at the Civic Center,
and that they had gone to this bar and supposedly
Jeremy left without Brandy. There's also a story that says
Jeremy left and then came back and found a Brandy
cheating on him, but there aren't any real avenues to
corroborate either of these stories. An autopsy was completed on
(06:25):
Brandy's body, and not only had she been strangled, but
her body had been violently beaten as well. Detectives told
Miranda that Brandy had water in her lungs very little,
but still had a little but still had some in
her lungs, meaning she was likely still alive when she
was thrown into the water. Jeremy was the last person
seen with Brandy and immediately became a person of interest.
(06:47):
When I asked Miranda and Holly about him, they didn't
have many details. Holly was only ten years old when
her mother was murdered, and she lived with her grandparents,
and Miranda never met him. Miranda had heard that Jeremy
was living at the Civic Center as well because he
couldn't afford a hotel. He was working for Operation Blue Roof,
which is an organization that places tarps on the roofs
(07:09):
of hurricane damage homes. Miranda also learned that Jeremy and
Brandy had learned had planned to go to Tacoma, Washington together. Now, Melissa,
you live in a hurricane state, so you probably know
more about this. I didn't know a lot about this,
but at the time, FEMA was buying one way bus
tickets for survivors wanting to vacate the area. Brandy and
(07:32):
Jeremy had obtained tickets together to go to Tacoma, Washington,
and law enforcement was able to track down Jeremy because
when they searched for Brandy's name, it was attached.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
To these Oh wow, so I didn't know any of that,
but yeah, that is something FEMA would do, especially if
the area is like inhabitable at that particular time, and
there's probably a lack of hotel rooms considering most people
have to go there, so I mean getting them to
if you have family or friends anywhere else, they would
definitely get you out of that area as quickly as possible.
(08:07):
So that now all of this is making sense because
I could not find any real information about how Brandy
knew Jeremy, and this is now very enlightening. So the
detectives would drive all the way to Washington State from
Louisiana to arrest Jeremy. He was extradited, brought before a
(08:28):
grand jury who declined to indict him due to insufficient
DNA evidence, and he was released. Now I have no
clue what they have on Jeremy outside of the ticket
and the statement that he was the last one with her.
You would think something substantial considering that was a lot.
They used a lot of resources to go get him,
(08:51):
but at the end of the day they excluded him
based on DNA evidence, which is a pretty big deal.
So I mean, and in my mind this means they
have some DNA now they just really need someone to
match it to.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Asked Maranda and Holly a little bit more about this,
and in Holly's defense, she's just now taking over her
mom's her mom's story. She's just kind of becoming the
advocate for it. And Miranda was not given a lot
of information early on because she too had to be
evacuated from that area. So there's a lot of information
that was never given to this family. And the information
(09:26):
they were given was that the DNA collected from Brandy's
body was vaginal DNA and it was a small sample,
but that she was not sexually assaulted. Miranda said she
wasn't sure why they chose to use vaginal DNA if
she was not sexually assaulted. And then when it didn't
match Jeremy, what now, what are you supposed to do
(09:47):
with that information? I asked if there were other DNA
samples collected or what evidence Miranda knew of that law
enforcement had collected, and she mentioned that a Halloween mask
had been found on the pier that law enforcement believed
the killer to be wearing. How this conclusion came about,
But no.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
One really knows touch DNA, there could sweat, there could
be a lot of things within that if they would
just get attested, but if they have nothing to match
it to, it really doesn't make a difference unless they
do familial genealogy to try to get that. But it's
so weird if they say she's not sexually assaulted, but
they're going based on DNA collected vatually. It's just like,
(10:29):
why would they use that because the person could easily
whoever so say they do match it, the person could
easily come back and be like, oh, it was consensual,
I had nothing to do with that.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
I left her.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
After that, Right, But if you take that information and
they find out who who this DNA matches to, does
that go back to that rumor of Jeremy catching her.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Cheating on him?
Speaker 3 (10:51):
And then is that what creates the motive for Jeremy
to murder Brandy? So that's my question, and that's really
the only the route I would take with that information.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
I'm still come back to that.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
I still want to come back to this Halloween mask
of obviously there's going to be a lot of debris
in the area a hurricane just hit. How are they
why do they believe that the killer wore this Halloween mask?
Speaker 2 (11:15):
And if he did.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Wear this Halloween mask, why would he just like throw
it on the pier but dispose of her body into
the water and not the mask also, or like this
Halloween mask has me very perplex.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Unless they found her DNA on the mask and they
know the mask was with her as well as I mean,
maybe she like scratched it or they they've even got fiber.
I'm just making crap up now because I'm like, there
has to be a reason they went after Jeremy so hard,
and then now they're like about this mask.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
They know that this was.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
The killer's mask, Like it seems like they know obviously
more than we do.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
But it's still frustrating, and how they came.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
To this conclusion, no one really knows, right, So I
asked if they had it this mask tested for DNA,
and if so, could that DNA potentially be the match
to Jeremy and they were able.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
To get that arrest warrant through that channel.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Miranda said she wasn't sure, but when law enforcement contacted
her in twenty twenty, she had lost contact for a
bit because she had moved from Louisiana to Alabama and
then she had come back and they actually found Miranda's
phone number online. They had like googled her and found
her number and gave her call. Yeah, law enforcement googled her.
Surprisingly good for them, found her phone number and called
(12:31):
her up to update her on her sister's case. And
in twenty twenty they told her they were submitting DNA
to the labs, not what DNA, so that they were
submitting DNA to the labs. But she's yet to hear
if they there were any results or if they ever
were actually sent off. And I think we know better
(12:52):
than most in this industry that DNA takes time. I mean,
it took three years for them to confirm Brandon Lawson's
DNA when they had bone fragments, they had human remains,
and it takes time, and they might still be.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Processing this, but we don't or if they were, we
don't know if like nothing came from it either, they
don't update you.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
If it's a nothing, you're just sitting in limbo. I
know that the unknown is what keeps most families up
at night. The waiting is constantly weighing on you. And
we get asked a lot about how we sleep at
night when we spend most of our time researching and
working on cases like these.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
To be honest, it's hard.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Thankfully we have magic Mind Sleep to help us go
to sleep. I swear before I started taking these sleep shots,
I would toss and turn for hours trying to turn
my brain off.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
I would too. I have also tried other natural remedies
like Valerian Route, but it just wasn't enough. Magic Mind
Sleep has taken that Valerian route and added it with
ten other natural ingredients like ashwagandha, camomeal, lavender, and kava
to make the perfect blend to help calm your mind
(14:04):
and boost serotonin. I have never slept better in my life.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
It's so true.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
It's non habit forming, and even better, I don't wake
up groggy or hungover like I have with other sleeve ades.
It doesn't taste gross or medicinal, and I'm not that
great at explaining tastes or flavors, but trust me when
I say it's delicious.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
I'm also super thankful that Magic Mind has decided to
put together a bundle of forty five percent off for
our listeners. Make sure you use our link. It's magicmind
dot com slash navigating jan that is Magicmind dot com
slash navigating jan The link will also be in our
(14:47):
show notes. Make sure to grab your bundle while you can.
It will change your nights. Brandy's family faced further heartbreak
when Hurricane Ike washed away her casket int two thousand
and eight. Her remains were eventually recovered and reburied. But
it's just awful. It's like time after time hurricanes are
(15:10):
disrupting this entire family. But despite these challenges, Brandy's loved
ones had continued to push for justice. So I researched
a little bit about like crime patterns and how they
can shift during and after natural disasters like hurricanes. Like
you would think that it would be looting and people
(15:33):
going into homes and businesses to rob them, and that
does occur much more frequently when there is a natural disaster.
Fraudulent activities occur, such as contractor scams, fake charities, and
price gouging. All of those type of crimes are happening,
but then you also have reports of domestic violence also
can increase during these natural disasters due to the heightened stress, isolation,
(15:58):
and economic hardships. Basically, because law enforcement is spread so thin,
many crimes go unnoticed and end up not being investigated
right away. Brandy's case also brings to mind the Jennings eight,
which is a series of unsolved murders in nearby Jennings, Louisiana.
(16:22):
This is about a thirty minute drive between Jennings and
Lake Charles, so not very far at all. So these
murders all occurred between two thousand and five and two
thousand and nine, which we know Brandy was murdered in
two thousand and five. The bodies of eight women were
found in canals and rural areas around the town. So
(16:45):
while there's zero evidence that links Brandy's case to the
Jennings eight, the proximity and similar circumstances, which were women
that were struggling with addiction and vulnerable living situation, really
raises so many more questions about what was happening in
this area around that time. All of the systemic issues
(17:08):
and all of the challenges in solving cases like this
or why these cases eight women found in a very
short period of time boggles my mind. How like pretty
much none of them are solved to this day.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Right And like you said, there's so many similarities that
I think, aren't they like similar age range and I'm
Jennings is very.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Close, close, close, very very close. A lot of the
bodies weren't even found right away, and so of course
they couldn't even determine how a lot of them died.
But I know at least one or two were strangled,
just like Brandy was. So it's very very strange how
they say she's not a part of the Jennings Eight
(17:53):
while others are. I went down a deep rabbit hole
about all of this because it's insane what was happening
in Louisiana around this timeframe.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
I believe that, and I could be wrong, but I
know that Brandy was violently strangled.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
There was a lot of damage to her.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Body outside of just the cause of death. She had
broken ribs, and there was very clear evidence of a
beating and abuse. And I'm wondering if that's any different
than these I obviously didn't research these eight like you did,
so I'm wondering if that's one way they were able
to Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
That's a possibility.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
And these eight, I don't know how, but they all
sort of knew each other or knew like one would
be cousins of someone and then he would be friends
with this they're all a little bit connected. Because Jennings
isn't a large town either, So the fact that eight
women in just a couple of years, it's just, yeah,
very crazy. One investigative journalist, Ethan Brown said investigators had
(18:58):
so many missteps in the investigation that they lost so
much evidence, and this is referring to the Jennings eight cases.
He also doesn't believe that this was like a serial
killer situation and that the women were most likely killed
by different people, and he has a few suspects in mind.
He actually wrote an entire book about the Jennings eight
(19:20):
and then it became an investigative Uh, investigative I always discovery,
investigative discovery. I eat the idea investigative discovery Murder in
the Bayou, So if you want to go to watch that,
it's a lot of information about this. But I still
feel like they kind of should have linked her with
these just to be like, is it a possibility that
(19:41):
she's linked, because I think right at first they said no,
and obviously they know more than we do, so they
have a reason to believe she's not a part of that.
So today Brandy's case remains unsolved. There are still so
many unanswered questions about what happened that night.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Miranda, Holly and I talked about a few advocacy options
related to Brandy's story. Obviously, they want more people to
hear it that that's a big one, right is the
awareness piece and what can we do to make the
biggest impact. Holly has been able to get a digital
billboard donated, which is absolutely amazing. She's we've never seen
(20:23):
someone donated billboard. Just want to point that out. So
it is like, this is the.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
First time I'm hearing this, and I could not be
more excited. Holy moly, that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Yes, so amazing. And it's actually not just one billboard.
It's going to be displayed over I think she said,
four to five different locations in town. So like, why
can't we get more billboard companies to do this for people?
Speaker 1 (20:48):
I love it, especially digital ones. There's no like, there's
barely a cost associated with that. In my mind, I
don't know what it would be the work to type
it up and put it up there, but I feel like,
compared to the old school billboards that someone has to
go put it up there and everything, I feel like
these digital ones are super easy.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Agreed, agreed.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
She's also done a little bit of research on her
own on Jeremy. She's learned that he has a history
with law enforcement. He's been arrested a few different times
for various charges, including false use of an ID, credit card, theft,
and a few drug charges. I find this interesting, and
we kind of talked at length about this because what
(21:32):
I didn't mention earlier is that Brandy's ID was found
that same day when she was the same day she
was murdered at the Isle of Capri Casino, which is
just four miles away and on the opposite side of
the lake.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Oh, but there's no record of Brandy ever being.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
And there's usually some pretty tight security and cameras in
those places, so I feel like, right, so this.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Is something I talked to talk to them at length
about video surveillance, and I thought maybe that was one
of the circumstantial evidence pieces that they were able to
go to Washington to arrest in Jeremy in the first place.
But the casino one hundred percent would have cameras, I mean,
without a doubt, now, right after the hurricane, with people
(22:21):
barely having electricity, maybe the ball yes.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
And if they were running on generators. Perhaps then they
might not be fully operational for everything.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Okay, right, but the casino would right, you know, like
in my mind, the casino would have the cameras above
air conditioning.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
I would assume.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
So if they have no record of Brandy being there,
why is her ID there? And if Jeremy has a
history of false use of an ID and' this is
me like grabbing a multiple straws and throwing string at it,
trying to get something to con you know, like maybe
maybe not, maybe someone it got stuck to the bottom
(23:04):
of someone's shoe and they walked it into the casino
and someone picked it up and turned in. I don't know,
but her ID was turned in at a casino on
the opposite side of you.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Really do have to just grasp for straws until something
sticks because nothing makes sense And so oh wow, yeah,
that just threw me for a loop too. And there's
literally no information about Brandy's case out there. I found
maybe two articles about anything to do with Brandy, and
(23:35):
one was an obituary of possibly a family member. So
it's just like, why did these people not get any attention?
This is a horrific murder happening in a town. Why
was there nothing reported?
Speaker 2 (23:49):
I agree.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
Now at the time there were a lot of deaths
due to the hurricane, and I I understand that. But
it's been twenty years so, which is one of the reasons.
When I saw that plea for help on Reddit, I
think I screenshot it to you, and I was like,
we've got like, this is something we have to do,
like I'm going to reach out. Something's not right here.
It's that gut feeling of some We've got to do
(24:12):
something to help here. Because when I did my Google
search on her real quick of like, who even is this?
Before I talked to these people, I found the Facebook
page that Holly just started recently.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
So there's again there's nothing, like you said.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Yeah, So with Jeremy having been in multiple locations and
states after Brandy's murder, because he had been arrested in Lubbock, Texas,
he was arrested in Taoma, Washington, he's kind of been
all over the place. Holly, mirand and I kind of
talked this out, and Holly actually had the great idea
of doing a fire campaign, but in multiple cities. Let's
(24:49):
do it in Lubbock because maybe he talked about something
there and he had he was arrested for on drug charges,
and generally when you have someone that's been arrested on
drug charges, there's some sort of street cred that happens
there of someone popping off and saying like, oh yeah,
(25:11):
I've murdered somebody, or like trying to gain that street cred.
And on top of that, Miranda was told and again
this is a rumor, this is a this is one
of those he said, she said situations, which is a
lot of what Brandy's story has because there was no
reporting on it, and we don't have access to the files,
which we've requested, but we all know the chances of
(25:31):
getting those are actually slim because it's an active case.
Miranda said that he had told the police officer. A
police officer had told someone that he jumped on the.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Operation Blue Roof Crew to get away.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
From murdering someone in the past, like like a month before.
So there's all these stories and rumors.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
And again like it could be nothing.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
It could be it could be a made up story,
but it could also be something. So it could also
be something. So maybe we find someone who knows him
in Lubbock who's willing to say Oh yeah, I talked
to him and he told.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Me x Y and Z.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Now the police have a new lead, or a new
witness or someone to talk to that may spark some
new interest in this case. So we're going to do
this flower campaign, but over multiple cities. This may end
up being one of the biggest flower campaigns we've done
to date because we're going to hit a few different places.
We of course talked about advocacy con and as Miranda
(26:32):
and Holly have been investigating this alone, I really feel
that they are going to benefit from this so much.
This murder also isn't the only one in Holly's history.
Holly's father was murdered and she sat through the trial
and she remembers it. She was nineteen when our father
was murdered. So her and Miranda have been fighting alone
(26:52):
for Brandy, and now that we are here joining their fight,
we know the power of building a solid support team.
So we're also starting a fundraising campaign to fund their
scholarship to Indianapolis. If you're able to contribute financially, the
link will be in the show notes. But we truly
believe that them coming talking to different resources and meeting
(27:13):
with other families who are going through a similar going
down a similar path that they have gone down, will
be incredibly beneficial.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, just give them ideas and new avenues and the
resources that will be there can really can really help
them at a starting point. Oh wow, that's horrible about
the dad as well. If you saw Brandy or have
any information about what happened to her on November fifth,
(27:42):
two thousand and five, please contact the Lake Charles Police
Department at three three seven four nine one one four
five six. Even the smallest detail could make a difference.
Like the detective way back when said he said they
have a lot of evidence. They have said magnificant leads.
They just need a few more tips to make to
(28:04):
figure this out. Brandy's story is a reminder of how
important it is to advocate for victims and their family.
Every life deserves justice, and twenty years is long enough
to wait.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
We want to thank Holly and Miranda for allowing us
the honor of learning about Brandy and joining their pursuit
for justice. Please follow the Justice for Brandy dys on
Facebook page as they're trying to bring as much awareness
as possible.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
This episode is researched, written and produced by US Please
consider leaving us a five star review on your favorite
podcast platform or sharing us with a thread. You can
follow us on all social media outlets. If you would
like more information about the podcast, Advocacy con or our
nonprofit Impact Advocacy Foundation, head over to Navigatingadvocacy dot com.
(29:21):
If you would like to support the podcast financially, please
consider joining our Patreon, donating on our website, or purchasing
merch