September 11, 2022 • 35 mins
On August 30, 2022, 10-year-old Na’Mylah Turner-Moore was reported missing from Saginaw, Michigan and her 14-year-old stepbrother Jameion Peterson has been charged as an adult on suspicion of her murder; on August 28, 2022, a 51-year-old man was found shot and stabbed to death in his home in Orting, Washington, and two 16-year-olds have been charged as adults on suspicion of his murder: Justin Yoon and Gabriel Davies, who himself had been reported missing just prior to his arrest; and in 1991, 5 members of one family went missing and were eventually found murdered, with 15-year-old Bruce Brenizer arrested and prosecuted for the crimes.
Music:
We Talk of Dreams
For sources, visit: https://murderousminors.onpodium.com/episodes/135-missing-jameion-peterson-gabriel-davies-bruce-brenizer-863
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Music:
We Talk of Dreams
For sources, visit: https://murderousminors.onpodium.com/episodes/135-missing-jameion-peterson-gabriel-davies-bruce-brenizer-863
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/murderous-minors--2964579/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:09):
Just so you know, this showis built scary stuff. So don't say
I didn't warn you guys. Iremember, don't be scared. M M
(01:00):
episode one thirty five, Missing WarBaby here with another episode of Murderous Miners.
We have sort of a theme thisweek missing people, as in cases
of suspected homicide that began with amissing persons report. Two such cases hit
the media right at the end ofAugust, and the accused juveniles have already
(01:23):
been formally charged as adults, justas many people were starting their day.
Ten year old Amilia Turner Moore wasreported missing from Saginaw, Michigan's East Side
at around six to fifteen am onTuesday, August thirtieth, two thousand and
twenty two. Then the following day, sixteen year old Gabriel Davies was found
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to be missing two thousand miles awayin Olympia, Washington, when his dad
told police that the team had leftfor football practice on Wednesday afternoon but had
never arrived. In Nemila's case,the ten year old Stone Elementary School fourth
grader, who wanted to be adoctor when she grew up, simply disappeared
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and just wasn't there to go tothe bus stop. The bus stop was
located near the home of her mother'sex, and her mother stated that quote,
the only reason she went back thatnight is because she had school the
next day and the bus picked themup there every morning. The them she
referred to includes her daughter, aswell as at least one other child that
(02:29):
we know of, fourteen year oldJamie On Peterson, reportedly her stepbrother and
the son of the homeowner. WhenPeterson's father could not find Nemila, he
called the little girl's biological father,who didn't have her either, and police
were alerted At six fifteen am.Investigators descended on South twelfth Street and frantically
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searched for hours. Nimila's mother suffersfrom Crohn's disease and was in the hospital
recovering from two recent stomach surgeries whenher daughter was reported missing. She received
the alarming phone call while lying inher hospital bed and raced to the scene,
arriving while still wearing a patient gownin slippers. The devastated mother,
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who just had twins four months ago, told mlive dot Com that, quote,
as soon as I made it tothe scene is when they found her.
According to police, quote law enforcementstarted searching the area and unfortunately located
her body a short distance away fromthe home. By eleven am, Nimila
had been found in an overgrown lotat the end of South twelfth and Annesley
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Streets, and police are saying thatthey believed that she was killed there.
They don't think any weapons were used, and there's no evidence thus far of
any sexual assault. Soon after,Nimila's stepbrother was arrested on suspicion of her
murder. By Wednesday morning, Augustthirty first, two thousand and twenty two,
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fourteen year old Jamie On Peterson wasin custody. Namila's mother, Ann
Peterson's one time stepmother, told themedia quote, I put clothes on his
back. He was like another childof mine. I would have never thought
he would have done nothing like this, But then again, you can't put
nothing past nobody, and you can'tjudge a book by its cover. Her
(04:19):
mother wanted everyone to know that quote. My baby was everything. She was,
jolly, smiley faced, she hadpersonality. She had so many friends.
Everybody wanted to be around her.She just wanted to love on her
sisters and brothers. Because she knewshe was the oldest she just was lovable,
and she just wanted them in herface all the time. Namila was
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just twenty days away from her eleventhbirthday September eighteenth, two thousand and twenty
two, which is also a significantdate for long term Saginaw residence because it
also happens to be the thirtieth anniversaryof the day another little girl from the
neighborhood went missing. According to ColeWaterman at mlive dot com, eight year
(05:04):
old Shamonica Brown lived near the overgrownlot at twelfth and Annesley in the early
nineteen nineties, and on September eighteenth, nineteen ninety two, she went missing
from the playground where she was hangingout with her friends. Four days later,
her lifeless body was discovered near theentrance of a Catholic church on Thirteenth
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Street. She was found in aplanter concealed by the bush. No one
was ever arrested for Shamonica's murder,and the only persons of interest police ever
had have long since died, oneof them within months of the murder in
nineteen ninety two, and the otherover ten years later in two thousand and
three. Peterson has been charged withopen murder which means he can be convicted
(05:49):
or first or second degree murder,and those charges automatically placed the miner in
adult court. Per Michigan law,a first degree murder conviction would result in
a life without parole sentence, whilea second degree conviction would see him sentenced
to life with the possibility of parole. That's what's been released so far,
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and Peterson has a preliminary hearing setfor September twenty first, two thousand and
twenty two. I've included the linkfor the go fund me for Nemila's family
in the show notes and on Twitterat Killer Kids Pod. As I was
following Peterson's Michigan arrest, it becamepublic that a sixteen year old Olympia,
Washington High School student was missing.Here's Thurston County Sheriff John Snazza. About
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five thirty we received a report ofan abandoned vehicle at the sixteen thousand,
one hundred block of Tilly Road,and it was reported that keys were indignition
and the driver's side door was open. We had deputies responded the area do
a vehicle registration check, and welearned that calling the registaurant owner, the
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registair owner said that his son wassupposed to be at football practice, so
at that time there was no juvenilearound the vehicle, so we conducted as
search via using Washington State Patrol AviationUnit who conducted a search of the area
and then we also used our canineto check around the vehicle as well to
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see if we could pick up acent of an individual leaving that area.
During that whole time, we alsoreceived phone calls and a male walking north
on Tilly Road towards Miller Sylvania StatePark. We had about five or six
reports and one individual even said thathe had spoke to and the male individual
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who said that he was fine.We had detectives and FBI respond to the
registered owner's address to talk to thefamily members, and during that time we
were contacted by Pierce County Shares Officefor other investigations and interests. Investigators search
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Davy's room for clues as to hiswhereabouts and did see a nine millimeter shell
casing at the time, but didn'tfind it relevant to that investigation. The
search continued into the following morning,Thursday, September first, which was the
same morning that Deputy's in neighboring PierceCounty got a call requesting a welfare check
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be done on fifty one year oldDaniel McCaw who hadn't shown up for work
for his past four shifts. Accordingto the declaration of probable cause filed on
September six, authorities also learned fromthe caller that the missing man had been
in a long term relationship with themother of Gabriel Davies. The team from
the nearby county, who'd been missingsince the previous afternoon. Deputies smelled the
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odor of decomposition upon arrival and forcedto entry into the orting Washington home,
where the man found a ceased inhis laundry room, on the floor and
surrounded by a large quantity of blood. One forty five caliber shell casing,
one nine millimeter shell casing, andone live forty five caliber round were ultimately
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located, as well as quote bloodspattered patterns on the wall, while not
completely analyzed at the time, wereconsistent with cast off blood and with homicidal
violence. No gun was found aroundDaniel, meaning that he didn't shoot himself,
and two guns were presumed to bemissing from the home because two empty
holsters were found, indicating that twopeople and two guns were most likely going
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to be involved. A home surveillancesystem with a digital video recorder was also
collected from the scene and would beintegral to the investigation. The medical examiner
has so far determined that Daniel McCallhad a bullet hole roughly three inches behind
his right ear, as well asa second bullet in his abdomen. He
had nine presumed stab wounds. Onewas found in his right shoulder, one
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was found in his left armpit,and seven were found in his chest.
Daniel's boss wasn't the only individual toconnect the deceased man to Gabriel Davies,
because the father of the teen's bestfriend also alerted authorities to a connection between
the two. The probably cause documentstates that the father of sixteen year old
Justin Yune quote claimed to have informationregarding a homicide involving Davies that occurred in
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Pierce County. Given what they knewfrom mccau's boss, they realized what this
crime probably was. The violent deathof the man they discovered earlier that morning.
Davies was still missing, and hisfamily was interviewed as part of that
investigation, giving police vital information regardinghis movements over the previous week. They
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told police that the weekend before,which was August twenty seventh, and twenty
eighth, they had gone to PantherLake in Mason County, Washington, and
stayed in a cabin with the familyof Davy's best friend, the UN's.
The court document states that quote familymembers reported that un and Davies had left
the cabin on August twenty eighth alittle after midnight and returned to the cabin
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at about six thirty am. Theyleft the Panther Lake location again at about
eleven forty five am and did notreturn later on the same day that Daniel
McCall was found murdered. Davies wasfinally located by deputies on Thursday, September
first, at ten pm, aboutthree miles from where his truck was found
abandoned it or that evening. Heshowed up around the thirteen thousand block of
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Tilley Road later on Thursday evening.The first court documents indicate that quote Gabriel
Davies initially told a detective that hecould not remember what had happened to him
or where he had been during hisdisappearance. When Davies was allocated. He
was wearing shorts, but did nothave on a shirt, shoes, or
socks. Thurston County Sheriff's detectives noted, however, that Davies had no injuries
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to his feet or lower extremities thatwould be consistent with having been walking through
the woods for the thirty six hoursthat he had been missing. Defendant Davies
admitted to damaging his own cell phonebecause he was afraid that the police were
going to find what was on it. He later said that he could not
say what had happened to him becausepeople were going to hurt him. He
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showed up at an address and lawenforcement was contacted and we had detectives go
out and speak with him, andwe were able to take him home to
his family. When he was located, he was located by himself, and
he had contacted a homeowner and thehomeowner immediately called nine one one. According
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to the statements, he walked there, so he explained that he was out
wandering around for the last twenty fourhours. Investigators next went to the DVR
in evidence from the murder scene andzeroed in on the time I'm framed,
during which Yune and Davies were knownto have been gone from the Panther Lake
cabin. The court document states thatinvestigators quote noted that at approximately one fifty
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nine am on August twenty eighth,two suspects that appeared to be young,
skinny males approached the victim's house fromthe backyard. One male appeared to have
pepper spray on his belt. Thesuspects crawled into the residence through the dog
door. The victim can be seenexiting his detached to garage at approximately two
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forty one am. He then stumbledinto the residence. At two forty seven
am, the victim's dog suddenly ranout the dog door. One minute later,
both suspects exited the residence through theside door. The suspects ran back
and forth to the garage before fleeingat approximately two fifty two am. Both
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suspects appeared to be carrying items,including a possible handgun. Both suspects appeared
to be wearing gloves. Additionally,both appeared to be carrying something away from
the scene to include a military styleammunition can or similarly sized toolbox. The
images of the quote young skinny maleswere compared to and tentatively matched Yune in
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Davy's driver's license photos, and investigatorshad also begun receiving phone calls from their
fathers. Yune's father had called twice, and now Gabriel Davy's father called on
Friday, September second, claiming thatquote Gabe was involved in Macau's death.
The father said that his son wasapproached by the victim's biker buddies to steal
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something from the victim's residence. Hefurther stated that they threatened his son with
harm if he didn't do it.Davies then confided in Yune, and the
two of them developed a plot tosteal the item from a safe. On
Saturday night or Sunday morning, thetwo went to the victim's house and snuck
in through the doggie door. Thefather reported that his son knew where the
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victim's gun was kept, and thatwhen the victim came into the house,
Yune ran after him and stabbed him, and stated that then Gabe herd to
gunshot. He reported his son toldhim that he went out to the garage
to get the item out of thesafe when he heard a second gunshot.
The father reported that his son toldhim the firearm used in the incident was
(15:18):
ditched near his home. The manalso told police that quote his son claimed
the victim's biker buddies followed him onWednesday and pulled him out of his vehicle
at the location where his vehicle wasfound. Defendant Davies told his father that
the blood in his truck was fromthe bikers smashing his face against the interior
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of his car. They also reportedlyput him in a suburban and drove him
around, roughing him up before releasinghim. The father also said that his
son told him that the motorcycle clubmembers took his shirt and shoes and then
purportedly went through his truck looking forwhatever item had been stolen from the victim.
Defendant Davies told his father that theynever actually stole anything. Investigators executed
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a search warrant on both teens homesand arrested them on suspicion of murder at
around eight pm on Friday, Septembersecond, two and twenty two, a
shocking twist in this missing person storythat sent social media into a frenzy.
No further details were made public untilafter Labor Day, when Yune and Davies
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went to court and were charged asadults with first degree murder, second degree
murder, first degree burglary, andtwo counts of second degree unlawful possession of
a firearm. Court document state thatDavies and his attorney took police to where
he and Yune had dumped the twoguns they stole from the holsters Daniel McCaw's
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guns that they allegedly used to killhim in his own home where Davies himself
had reportedly lived for years. Onewas a nine millimeter and the other a
forty five caliber handgun, and theywere bound together in the AMMO box that
the young skinny mails took with themon the security footage. Family members of
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Davies set up a gofund me forhim on Saturday, September third to aid
his legal fund. It had agoal amount of twenty five thousand dollars and
raised over twenty thousand dollars in lessthan twenty four hours before it was shut
down by the site and all moneyrefunded. The account violates gofund me's terms
of service, which does not allowfunds to be raised for quote the legal
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defense of alleged crimes associated with violence, among many other things. Bail has
been set at one million dollars eachfor Justin Yune and Gabriel Davies, and
the charging documents have been made public. This story has already been playing out
in the media since the minute Davy'sfather reported him missing, and no one
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involved seems to take issue with releasingtons of details to the public. Though
the hiker gang theory has now beenthrown into the mix, investigators had initially
gleaned otherwise from the evidence, statingduring the search that quote. The info
we have thus far is that hedrove to this location on his own,
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and he walked from the vehicle onhis own. Both June and Davies are
being held at Rieman Hall Juvenile DetentionCenter and our next set to be in
court on October sixth, two thousandand twenty two. About twenty miles east
of Minnesota's eastern borders, it's thetiny rural town of Cushing, Wisconsin,
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a quiet area from which no onewould expect an entire family to go missing,
but back on April twenty second,nineteen ninety one, that's exactly what
seemed to happen. It was astatistically safe place with a low violent crime
rate, where hunting cabin breakins madeup a good deal of police reports,
so when thirty five old Rick Bryneiser, his thirty one year old girlfriend,
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Ruth Benson, her daughter's ten yearold Heidi, and seven year old Mindy,
and the couple's daughter together, fiveyear old Crystal, were all just
suddenly and inexplicably gone, the communitywas rightfully concerned. The only member of
the household accounted for was Rick's fifteenyear old son, Bruce Bryneiser, a
Saint Croix High School eleventh grader,who was the individual to report his family
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as missing. Fifteen year old BruceBryneiser was an only child for the first
several years of his life, andafter his parents broke up, his father
said that he'd never get married again. His mother remarried, and although he
didn't live with her, he gaineda step brother named Jesse, who was
just a bit older than him andwith whom he'd grow alarmingly close over the
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years. Bryneiser lived with his father, Ricky, and his father's girlfriend Ruth,
in a rural mobile home, alongwith his two step sisters and one
half sister, and had been vocalin his distaste for the rustic quote backwoods
living conditions they endured. Video ofthe inside of the trailer from that time
show a messy, cluttered, andcramped living space which had no running water
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or electricity. Investigators would later speakto those who knew or had worked with
Ricky, and all shared their respectand admiration for the man who worked hard
and took a great deal of pridein doing so. But Bruneiser claimed that
his father was abusive and he didn'tlike Ruth either. He hated living with
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them, something he'd not only sharedwith Jesse but also journaled about extensively.
Investigators would later learn Bruneiser's mother claimedthat she was just about to get custody
when the family went missing, butthat her son backed out because he was
scared of his father and the repercussionsof their decision. Ruth's mother told police
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after her disappearance that her daughter wasn'tso fond of her boyfriend's son either,
and that she had allegedly recently givenRickie Berniser an ultimatum if his son didn't
move out, she and her daughterswould. It was Jesse who ended up
giving police the most information, tellingthem that Brinyser had stayed at his house
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over the weekend and had told himabout his plan to murder his family the
day before they'd allegedly gone missing.Jesse said he didn't believe him and that
he didn't let any adults know.Instead, he testified later that he provided
him with ammunition and advised him tocommit the murder's outside, adding quote,
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I told him what I would doin my situation. The next day was
Monday, April twenty second, andthey both went to school as normal,
But that evening, Jesse got acall from Berneyser saying that the deadly deed
was done, that they were alldead. He said Bruneyser told him that
after school, he'd waited for theschool bus to arrive carrying Ruth's daughters,
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then used bailing wire to tie upseven year old Mindy and ten year old
Heidi Barrens and lying in wait untilthe rest of the family got home.
When he heard the girls planning howto escape, Bruneiser took them behind the
house and shot them both in thehead. He then waited at an open
window until his father arrived and sawhim, asking why he had the rifle,
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the team reportedly replied, quote highDad before shooting him once in the
head and once in the chest.Less than fifty feet from the house,
Bruneyser found Ruth as she tried tocall for help, unable to because he
cut the wires and shot her inthe back of the head after she dashed
out the front door. Five yearold Crystal was killed last as she ran
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toward her dead sisters. That whenBruneiser called Jesse, and instead of alerting
his parents or the authorities, Bruneiser'sstepbrother became an accomplice in the cover up.
According to police, he rode hisbike over and claimed to be shocked
at what he saw when he arrivedat Ricky and Ruth's their bullet riddled bodies,
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plus the bodies of all three girlsoutside, a sight he said made
him vomit. He was somehow ableto gather his composure enough after that to
help move them into the family stationwagon with the help of a wheelbarrow,
and used a shovel to get ridof bloody areas and other biological evidence outside
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the house. They drove the bodiesthree miles west to a remote area near
a trout stream about five miles fromCushing in Sterling Township. Wisconsin. They
poured gasoline all over the car andignited it, starting an inferno that so
badly engulfed the family's remains a biologicalanthropologist had to eventually assist in the identifications.
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He also determined that all of thebodies had been mutilated, and that
at least one of the girls wasdecapitated and her skull crushed, likely by
the point blink rifle blast used tomurder her. The Associated Press reported that
investigators determined that a machete or cornknife was also likely used to mutilate the
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bodies before they were burned, thoughthey were so horribly damaged that their causes
of death were mostly assumed. Jessetestified at trial that he and Berneyser had
made equal decisions on how to disposeof the bodies and clean up the crime
scene. Once the car was ablaze, they left and went their separate ways.
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They didn't speak until school the nextday, where Jesse said he couldn't
sleep the night before, while Berneysersaid that he did because his house was
Finally quiet that the day, thepair went home together and Berneyser's mother continued
to try and contact Ricky and Ruth. No one answered and the following day,
April twenty fourth, she reported thefamily missing, and a full scale
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air and land search took place butfound nothing. Investigators tried to recreate the
family's last day, having to beginwith a lie. Bruce Berneiser had started
out lying by telling his mother thathis family had gone to buy lumber but
never returned. The store had norecord of a purchase made by them in
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the past few days, indicating thatthey probably never made it to Minneapolis,
as the concerned son had said.Once they waded through the residence, investigators
found no evidence of foul play inall the while those in Cushing and Sterling
Township were doing all they could tomake sure that the young lone survivor was
all right. Several weeks went bywith no sign of the missing five,
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until May eleventh, nineteen ninety one, when the burned out station wagon was
stumbled upon by an unlucky fisherman headingdown to the stream. According to Jesse,
they had just been back at thecar within the last few days because
Bruneiser wanted to make sure that thebodies had been sufficiently destroyed. Jesse admitted
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to holding a duffel bag into whichhis stepbrother placed a small skull and other
bone fragments he had shoveled from thecar. The vehicle's condition made it extremely
difficult for an immediate identification of thevictims to take place, and teeth had
to be used to identify Ricky andRuth definitively, while the remains of three
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children whose age ranges matched their daughterswere also found. Investigators concluded that the
family had been murdered before they weredriven there, and that the fire was
arson designed to destroy evidence. Themedia had been mumbling under their breath since
the station wagon was found that thefamily could have fallen victim to Satanic sacrifice
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because of the fire, and sincesome graffiti had cropped up in Polk County.
The message quote devil warship death byfire had been spray painted on the
wall of a Masonic temple roughly thirtymiles away, but it was investigated and
no ties to a Satanic cult wereever found. All contacts of the family
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and of Bruce Byrneiser were interviewed tooto try and find some motives or enemies,
but nothing about Ricky or Ruth's alivesseemed likely to spawn revenge murder.
As far as what had been goingon in recent days, Jesse's girlfriend told
investigators that tensions were high between thestep brothers and it was only getting worse
(27:49):
as they spoke to more and moreof their friends and family. The girlfriend
also said, when questioned that sheheard them talking about the deaths as though
they knew exactly y what had happened. The more interviews they did, the
more suspicious detectives got. As Berneyser'sfriends described him selling off his family's possessions,
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bragging about now having three cars,and spending his father's coin collection at
the arcade. They went to Bruneiser'smother's house in Saint Croix Falls to interview
Jesse one week after the bodies hadbeen found. He was immediately defensive,
and his father ended up telling policethat they weren't going to speak to them
anymore without a lawyer present. Afew hours later, Jesse, his dad,
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and his new attorney turned up andtold them everything he allegedly knew about
what had happened to Ricky, Ruthand the girls. He gave them details
that hadn't been released in the media, and once they were confident that he
hadn't helped with the actual murders.They offered him immunity and requested he lead
them to crucial evidence. When detectivesgot a warrant and search Jesse's home,
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they found Berneiser's journal, in whichhe'd written that he wished his father was
dead. This gave them enough evidenceto arrest Bruce Berniser for the murder of
his five family members. Jesse ledthem to the station wagons, buried license
plates behind his barn, and theDuffel bag they'd buried by the burn pit
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near the cornfield. The personalized thirtythirty caliber lever action Marlin rifle used in
the killings was retrieved from a pondby the highway, where Jesse had told
Berneiser to throw it. A bulletfrom the scene ended up matching the suspected
murder weapon, and other evidence there, such as bone fragments, teeth,
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and blood, corroborated Jesse's version ofevents. Bruneiser said nothing when he was
arrested and transferred to juvenile detention,which shocked his small community. He was
soon charged as an adult, anda few months later, in September nine,
ten ninety one, his attorneys appealedthat decision. Finally revealing in their
(30:04):
filing some sort of motivation for themurders. In the brief sent to the
Wisconsin Court of Appeals, his attorneywrote, quote, it was the culmination
of a lifetime of abuse. Hewas ashamed of his home life and hated
living with his father. The motivefor the killings was self preservation. He
called his client the victim of quoteclassic abusers who took their problems and their
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anger out on him and forced himto live in a home with no electricity
or functioning plumbing. In December nineteenninety one, the appeals court sided with
the original judge and clarified what theysaw as his reasoning, writing that quote
here, the court did not weighthe child's best interests equally with the public's
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best interests. Instead, it properlyconsidered the child's best interests as paramount,
but also considered the type and seriousnessof the offense. Although his public defender
tried to get the Wisconsin's Supreme Courtto review Berniser's waiver to adult court,
they declined. In April nineteen ninetytwo, the judge referenced Jesse's account in
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his decision to send Berniser to trial, saying that quote, the circumstantial evidence
here is compelling, and the testimonyof Jesse regarding this case as plausible.
Bruneiser's public defender felt differently, ofcourse, responding that quote, at this
point, we deny every aspect ofthe state's case, calling Jesse's depiction of
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the alleged events quote implausible, forensicallyspeaking, impossible. They began hinting that
an insanity defense could be forthcoming.When it came time to enter please on
his five counts of first degree intentionalhomicide, Bruneiser's stood stoic and said nothing,
forcing the judge to enter please ofinnocent and innocent by way of mental
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defect for him on June first,to nineteen ninety two. His murder trial
was ultimately scheduled for May tenth,nineteen ninety three, but just weeks before,
on April twenty third, Berneiser withdrewthose please as part of a plea
agreement with the prosecutors, saying thatit was justified since the defense did have
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enough evidence to prove Berniser was likelyinsane during the murders. In exchange for
pleading guilty to two counts of firstdegree intentional homicide for killing Ricky and Ruth.
Berneiser received two consecutive life sentences withparole eligibility. The judge didn't set
an eligibility date, instead telling himthat quote, you have some influence as
(32:45):
to what happens in regards to parole. I want to hold out some incentive
for you. In relation to themurders of Crystal, Heidi and Mindy.
Berneiser entered please of guilty but insanethe time and was committed to the Mendota
Mental Health Institute in Madison, Wisconsin, for life. If the time were
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to come that Bruneiser was deemed nolonger a danger to himself and others,
he would be released to prison tocomplete his consecutive life sentences for the murders
of Ricky and Ruth. He wentto Mendota in June nineteen ninety three,
and it was speculated at the timethat Berneiser's earliest parole eligibility date would be
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two thousand and sixteen, two yearsafter he was committed. In nineteen ninety
five, he made the news again, this time for a hospital policy that
allowed field trips where the criminally insanemingled with the public. A local reporter
had witnessed numerous chaperoned outings in thespring of nineteen ninety five that saw patients
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bowling, shopping at the mall,and dining in restaurants, but when Burneiser
was spotted at the movies, thepractice came under scrutiny. The institution insisted
that socializing the patients was essential totheir recovery, and that while quote public
safety overrides anything we do here,we need to normalize the illness by getting
(34:14):
people in the community so they canexperience their healing in real life. It's
extremely important, or they are evenless safe when they get out. Within
a few weeks of the Wisconsin StateJournal article breaking the story, Mendota announced
that they changed the policy in patientswho also had to serve a prison term
(34:36):
became ineligible for offsite trips. Brneiserdidn't make the news again until June two
thousand and seventeen, when he wonan appeal he had filed in two thousand
and fourteen because in two thousand andthirteen he was transferred to Wampon State Prison,
even though his life sentence at Mendotawasn't finished. After spending four years
(35:00):
in prison, Bruce Berneiser who wasnow forty seven, was returned to Mendota
Mental Health Institute, where he remains. His parole eligibility date is currently listed
as January eighteenth, two thousand andtwenty three. As always, thanks for
listening. Be back soon with anall new episode, but until then,
(35:22):
Lovely's don't be scared
Just so you know, this showis built scary stuff. So don't say
I didn't warn you guys. Iremember, don't be scared. M M
(01:00):
episode one thirty five, Missing WarBaby here with another episode of Murderous Miners.
We have sort of a theme thisweek missing people, as in cases
of suspected homicide that began with amissing persons report. Two such cases hit
the media right at the end ofAugust, and the accused juveniles have already
(01:23):
been formally charged as adults, justas many people were starting their day.
Ten year old Amilia Turner Moore wasreported missing from Saginaw, Michigan's East Side
at around six to fifteen am onTuesday, August thirtieth, two thousand and
twenty two. Then the following day, sixteen year old Gabriel Davies was found
(01:45):
to be missing two thousand miles awayin Olympia, Washington, when his dad
told police that the team had leftfor football practice on Wednesday afternoon but had
never arrived. In Nemila's case,the ten year old Stone Elementary School fourth
grader, who wanted to be adoctor when she grew up, simply disappeared
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and just wasn't there to go tothe bus stop. The bus stop was
located near the home of her mother'sex, and her mother stated that quote,
the only reason she went back thatnight is because she had school the
next day and the bus picked themup there every morning. The them she
referred to includes her daughter, aswell as at least one other child that
(02:29):
we know of, fourteen year oldJamie On Peterson, reportedly her stepbrother and
the son of the homeowner. WhenPeterson's father could not find Nemila, he
called the little girl's biological father,who didn't have her either, and police
were alerted At six fifteen am.Investigators descended on South twelfth Street and frantically
(02:51):
searched for hours. Nimila's mother suffersfrom Crohn's disease and was in the hospital
recovering from two recent stomach surgeries whenher daughter was reported missing. She received
the alarming phone call while lying inher hospital bed and raced to the scene,
arriving while still wearing a patient gownin slippers. The devastated mother,
(03:12):
who just had twins four months ago, told mlive dot Com that, quote,
as soon as I made it tothe scene is when they found her.
According to police, quote law enforcementstarted searching the area and unfortunately located
her body a short distance away fromthe home. By eleven am, Nimila
had been found in an overgrown lotat the end of South twelfth and Annesley
(03:37):
Streets, and police are saying thatthey believed that she was killed there.
They don't think any weapons were used, and there's no evidence thus far of
any sexual assault. Soon after,Nimila's stepbrother was arrested on suspicion of her
murder. By Wednesday morning, Augustthirty first, two thousand and twenty two,
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fourteen year old Jamie On Peterson wasin custody. Namila's mother, Ann
Peterson's one time stepmother, told themedia quote, I put clothes on his
back. He was like another childof mine. I would have never thought
he would have done nothing like this, But then again, you can't put
nothing past nobody, and you can'tjudge a book by its cover. Her
(04:19):
mother wanted everyone to know that quote. My baby was everything. She was,
jolly, smiley faced, she hadpersonality. She had so many friends.
Everybody wanted to be around her.She just wanted to love on her
sisters and brothers. Because she knewshe was the oldest she just was lovable,
and she just wanted them in herface all the time. Namila was
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just twenty days away from her eleventhbirthday September eighteenth, two thousand and twenty
two, which is also a significantdate for long term Saginaw residence because it
also happens to be the thirtieth anniversaryof the day another little girl from the
neighborhood went missing. According to ColeWaterman at mlive dot com, eight year
(05:04):
old Shamonica Brown lived near the overgrownlot at twelfth and Annesley in the early
nineteen nineties, and on September eighteenth, nineteen ninety two, she went missing
from the playground where she was hangingout with her friends. Four days later,
her lifeless body was discovered near theentrance of a Catholic church on Thirteenth
(05:25):
Street. She was found in aplanter concealed by the bush. No one
was ever arrested for Shamonica's murder,and the only persons of interest police ever
had have long since died, oneof them within months of the murder in
nineteen ninety two, and the otherover ten years later in two thousand and
three. Peterson has been charged withopen murder which means he can be convicted
(05:49):
or first or second degree murder,and those charges automatically placed the miner in
adult court. Per Michigan law,a first degree murder conviction would result in
a life without parole sentence, whilea second degree conviction would see him sentenced
to life with the possibility of parole. That's what's been released so far,
(06:09):
and Peterson has a preliminary hearing setfor September twenty first, two thousand and
twenty two. I've included the linkfor the go fund me for Nemila's family
in the show notes and on Twitterat Killer Kids Pod. As I was
following Peterson's Michigan arrest, it becamepublic that a sixteen year old Olympia,
Washington High School student was missing.Here's Thurston County Sheriff John Snazza. About
(06:34):
five thirty we received a report ofan abandoned vehicle at the sixteen thousand,
one hundred block of Tilly Road,and it was reported that keys were indignition
and the driver's side door was open. We had deputies responded the area do
a vehicle registration check, and welearned that calling the registaurant owner, the
(06:56):
registair owner said that his son wassupposed to be at football practice, so
at that time there was no juvenilearound the vehicle, so we conducted as
search via using Washington State Patrol AviationUnit who conducted a search of the area
and then we also used our canineto check around the vehicle as well to
(07:21):
see if we could pick up acent of an individual leaving that area.
During that whole time, we alsoreceived phone calls and a male walking north
on Tilly Road towards Miller Sylvania StatePark. We had about five or six
reports and one individual even said thathe had spoke to and the male individual
(07:45):
who said that he was fine.We had detectives and FBI respond to the
registered owner's address to talk to thefamily members, and during that time we
were contacted by Pierce County Shares Officefor other investigations and interests. Investigators search
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Davy's room for clues as to hiswhereabouts and did see a nine millimeter shell
casing at the time, but didn'tfind it relevant to that investigation. The
search continued into the following morning,Thursday, September first, which was the
same morning that Deputy's in neighboring PierceCounty got a call requesting a welfare check
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be done on fifty one year oldDaniel McCaw who hadn't shown up for work
for his past four shifts. Accordingto the declaration of probable cause filed on
September six, authorities also learned fromthe caller that the missing man had been
in a long term relationship with themother of Gabriel Davies. The team from
the nearby county, who'd been missingsince the previous afternoon. Deputies smelled the
(08:52):
odor of decomposition upon arrival and forcedto entry into the orting Washington home,
where the man found a ceased inhis laundry room, on the floor and
surrounded by a large quantity of blood. One forty five caliber shell casing,
one nine millimeter shell casing, andone live forty five caliber round were ultimately
(09:13):
located, as well as quote bloodspattered patterns on the wall, while not
completely analyzed at the time, wereconsistent with cast off blood and with homicidal
violence. No gun was found aroundDaniel, meaning that he didn't shoot himself,
and two guns were presumed to bemissing from the home because two empty
holsters were found, indicating that twopeople and two guns were most likely going
(09:37):
to be involved. A home surveillancesystem with a digital video recorder was also
collected from the scene and would beintegral to the investigation. The medical examiner
has so far determined that Daniel McCallhad a bullet hole roughly three inches behind
his right ear, as well asa second bullet in his abdomen. He
had nine presumed stab wounds. Onewas found in his right shoulder, one
(10:00):
was found in his left armpit,and seven were found in his chest.
Daniel's boss wasn't the only individual toconnect the deceased man to Gabriel Davies,
because the father of the teen's bestfriend also alerted authorities to a connection between
the two. The probably cause documentstates that the father of sixteen year old
Justin Yune quote claimed to have informationregarding a homicide involving Davies that occurred in
(10:26):
Pierce County. Given what they knewfrom mccau's boss, they realized what this
crime probably was. The violent deathof the man they discovered earlier that morning.
Davies was still missing, and hisfamily was interviewed as part of that
investigation, giving police vital information regardinghis movements over the previous week. They
(10:46):
told police that the weekend before,which was August twenty seventh, and twenty
eighth, they had gone to PantherLake in Mason County, Washington, and
stayed in a cabin with the familyof Davy's best friend, the UN's.
The court document states that quote familymembers reported that un and Davies had left
the cabin on August twenty eighth alittle after midnight and returned to the cabin
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at about six thirty am. Theyleft the Panther Lake location again at about
eleven forty five am and did notreturn later on the same day that Daniel
McCall was found murdered. Davies wasfinally located by deputies on Thursday, September
first, at ten pm, aboutthree miles from where his truck was found
abandoned it or that evening. Heshowed up around the thirteen thousand block of
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Tilley Road later on Thursday evening.The first court documents indicate that quote Gabriel
Davies initially told a detective that hecould not remember what had happened to him
or where he had been during hisdisappearance. When Davies was allocated. He
was wearing shorts, but did nothave on a shirt, shoes, or
socks. Thurston County Sheriff's detectives noted, however, that Davies had no injuries
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to his feet or lower extremities thatwould be consistent with having been walking through
the woods for the thirty six hoursthat he had been missing. Defendant Davies
admitted to damaging his own cell phonebecause he was afraid that the police were
going to find what was on it. He later said that he could not
say what had happened to him becausepeople were going to hurt him. He
(12:20):
showed up at an address and lawenforcement was contacted and we had detectives go
out and speak with him, andwe were able to take him home to
his family. When he was located, he was located by himself, and
he had contacted a homeowner and thehomeowner immediately called nine one one. According
(12:46):
to the statements, he walked there, so he explained that he was out
wandering around for the last twenty fourhours. Investigators next went to the DVR
in evidence from the murder scene andzeroed in on the time I'm framed,
during which Yune and Davies were knownto have been gone from the Panther Lake
cabin. The court document states thatinvestigators quote noted that at approximately one fifty
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nine am on August twenty eighth,two suspects that appeared to be young,
skinny males approached the victim's house fromthe backyard. One male appeared to have
pepper spray on his belt. Thesuspects crawled into the residence through the dog
door. The victim can be seenexiting his detached to garage at approximately two
(13:31):
forty one am. He then stumbledinto the residence. At two forty seven
am, the victim's dog suddenly ranout the dog door. One minute later,
both suspects exited the residence through theside door. The suspects ran back
and forth to the garage before fleeingat approximately two fifty two am. Both
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suspects appeared to be carrying items,including a possible handgun. Both suspects appeared
to be wearing gloves. Additionally,both appeared to be carrying something away from
the scene to include a military styleammunition can or similarly sized toolbox. The
images of the quote young skinny maleswere compared to and tentatively matched Yune in
(14:15):
Davy's driver's license photos, and investigatorshad also begun receiving phone calls from their
fathers. Yune's father had called twice, and now Gabriel Davy's father called on
Friday, September second, claiming thatquote Gabe was involved in Macau's death.
The father said that his son wasapproached by the victim's biker buddies to steal
(14:35):
something from the victim's residence. Hefurther stated that they threatened his son with
harm if he didn't do it.Davies then confided in Yune, and the
two of them developed a plot tosteal the item from a safe. On
Saturday night or Sunday morning, thetwo went to the victim's house and snuck
in through the doggie door. Thefather reported that his son knew where the
(14:56):
victim's gun was kept, and thatwhen the victim came into the house,
Yune ran after him and stabbed him, and stated that then Gabe herd to
gunshot. He reported his son toldhim that he went out to the garage
to get the item out of thesafe when he heard a second gunshot.
The father reported that his son toldhim the firearm used in the incident was
(15:18):
ditched near his home. The manalso told police that quote his son claimed
the victim's biker buddies followed him onWednesday and pulled him out of his vehicle
at the location where his vehicle wasfound. Defendant Davies told his father that
the blood in his truck was fromthe bikers smashing his face against the interior
(15:39):
of his car. They also reportedlyput him in a suburban and drove him
around, roughing him up before releasinghim. The father also said that his
son told him that the motorcycle clubmembers took his shirt and shoes and then
purportedly went through his truck looking forwhatever item had been stolen from the victim.
Defendant Davies told his father that theynever actually stole anything. Investigators executed
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a search warrant on both teens homesand arrested them on suspicion of murder at
around eight pm on Friday, Septembersecond, two and twenty two, a
shocking twist in this missing person storythat sent social media into a frenzy.
No further details were made public untilafter Labor Day, when Yune and Davies
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went to court and were charged asadults with first degree murder, second degree
murder, first degree burglary, andtwo counts of second degree unlawful possession of
a firearm. Court document state thatDavies and his attorney took police to where
he and Yune had dumped the twoguns they stole from the holsters Daniel McCaw's
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guns that they allegedly used to killhim in his own home where Davies himself
had reportedly lived for years. Onewas a nine millimeter and the other a
forty five caliber handgun, and theywere bound together in the AMMO box that
the young skinny mails took with themon the security footage. Family members of
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Davies set up a gofund me forhim on Saturday, September third to aid
his legal fund. It had agoal amount of twenty five thousand dollars and
raised over twenty thousand dollars in lessthan twenty four hours before it was shut
down by the site and all moneyrefunded. The account violates gofund me's terms
of service, which does not allowfunds to be raised for quote the legal
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defense of alleged crimes associated with violence, among many other things. Bail has
been set at one million dollars eachfor Justin Yune and Gabriel Davies, and
the charging documents have been made public. This story has already been playing out
in the media since the minute Davy'sfather reported him missing, and no one
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involved seems to take issue with releasingtons of details to the public. Though
the hiker gang theory has now beenthrown into the mix, investigators had initially
gleaned otherwise from the evidence, statingduring the search that quote. The info
we have thus far is that hedrove to this location on his own,
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and he walked from the vehicle onhis own. Both June and Davies are
being held at Rieman Hall Juvenile DetentionCenter and our next set to be in
court on October sixth, two thousandand twenty two. About twenty miles east
of Minnesota's eastern borders, it's thetiny rural town of Cushing, Wisconsin,
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a quiet area from which no onewould expect an entire family to go missing,
but back on April twenty second,nineteen ninety one, that's exactly what
seemed to happen. It was astatistically safe place with a low violent crime
rate, where hunting cabin breakins madeup a good deal of police reports,
so when thirty five old Rick Bryneiser, his thirty one year old girlfriend,
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Ruth Benson, her daughter's ten yearold Heidi, and seven year old Mindy,
and the couple's daughter together, fiveyear old Crystal, were all just
suddenly and inexplicably gone, the communitywas rightfully concerned. The only member of
the household accounted for was Rick's fifteenyear old son, Bruce Bryneiser, a
Saint Croix High School eleventh grader,who was the individual to report his family
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as missing. Fifteen year old BruceBryneiser was an only child for the first
several years of his life, andafter his parents broke up, his father
said that he'd never get married again. His mother remarried, and although he
didn't live with her, he gaineda step brother named Jesse, who was
just a bit older than him andwith whom he'd grow alarmingly close over the
(19:52):
years. Bryneiser lived with his father, Ricky, and his father's girlfriend Ruth,
in a rural mobile home, alongwith his two step sisters and one
half sister, and had been vocalin his distaste for the rustic quote backwoods
living conditions they endured. Video ofthe inside of the trailer from that time
show a messy, cluttered, andcramped living space which had no running water
(20:18):
or electricity. Investigators would later speakto those who knew or had worked with
Ricky, and all shared their respectand admiration for the man who worked hard
and took a great deal of pridein doing so. But Bruneiser claimed that
his father was abusive and he didn'tlike Ruth either. He hated living with
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them, something he'd not only sharedwith Jesse but also journaled about extensively.
Investigators would later learn Bruneiser's mother claimedthat she was just about to get custody
when the family went missing, butthat her son backed out because he was
scared of his father and the repercussionsof their decision. Ruth's mother told police
(21:02):
after her disappearance that her daughter wasn'tso fond of her boyfriend's son either,
and that she had allegedly recently givenRickie Berniser an ultimatum if his son didn't
move out, she and her daughterswould. It was Jesse who ended up
giving police the most information, tellingthem that Brinyser had stayed at his house
(21:25):
over the weekend and had told himabout his plan to murder his family the
day before they'd allegedly gone missing.Jesse said he didn't believe him and that
he didn't let any adults know.Instead, he testified later that he provided
him with ammunition and advised him tocommit the murder's outside, adding quote,
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I told him what I would doin my situation. The next day was
Monday, April twenty second, andthey both went to school as normal,
But that evening, Jesse got acall from Berneyser saying that the deadly deed
was done, that they were alldead. He said Bruneyser told him that
after school, he'd waited for theschool bus to arrive carrying Ruth's daughters,
(22:08):
then used bailing wire to tie upseven year old Mindy and ten year old
Heidi Barrens and lying in wait untilthe rest of the family got home.
When he heard the girls planning howto escape, Bruneiser took them behind the
house and shot them both in thehead. He then waited at an open
window until his father arrived and sawhim, asking why he had the rifle,
(22:33):
the team reportedly replied, quote highDad before shooting him once in the
head and once in the chest.Less than fifty feet from the house,
Bruneyser found Ruth as she tried tocall for help, unable to because he
cut the wires and shot her inthe back of the head after she dashed
out the front door. Five yearold Crystal was killed last as she ran
(22:56):
toward her dead sisters. That whenBruneiser called Jesse, and instead of alerting
his parents or the authorities, Bruneiser'sstepbrother became an accomplice in the cover up.
According to police, he rode hisbike over and claimed to be shocked
at what he saw when he arrivedat Ricky and Ruth's their bullet riddled bodies,
(23:18):
plus the bodies of all three girlsoutside, a sight he said made
him vomit. He was somehow ableto gather his composure enough after that to
help move them into the family stationwagon with the help of a wheelbarrow,
and used a shovel to get ridof bloody areas and other biological evidence outside
(23:40):
the house. They drove the bodiesthree miles west to a remote area near
a trout stream about five miles fromCushing in Sterling Township. Wisconsin. They
poured gasoline all over the car andignited it, starting an inferno that so
badly engulfed the family's remains a biologicalanthropologist had to eventually assist in the identifications.
(24:04):
He also determined that all of thebodies had been mutilated, and that
at least one of the girls wasdecapitated and her skull crushed, likely by
the point blink rifle blast used tomurder her. The Associated Press reported that
investigators determined that a machete or cornknife was also likely used to mutilate the
(24:26):
bodies before they were burned, thoughthey were so horribly damaged that their causes
of death were mostly assumed. Jessetestified at trial that he and Berneyser had
made equal decisions on how to disposeof the bodies and clean up the crime
scene. Once the car was ablaze, they left and went their separate ways.
(24:48):
They didn't speak until school the nextday, where Jesse said he couldn't
sleep the night before, while Berneysersaid that he did because his house was
Finally quiet that the day, thepair went home together and Berneyser's mother continued
to try and contact Ricky and Ruth. No one answered and the following day,
April twenty fourth, she reported thefamily missing, and a full scale
(25:12):
air and land search took place butfound nothing. Investigators tried to recreate the
family's last day, having to beginwith a lie. Bruce Berneiser had started
out lying by telling his mother thathis family had gone to buy lumber but
never returned. The store had norecord of a purchase made by them in
(25:33):
the past few days, indicating thatthey probably never made it to Minneapolis,
as the concerned son had said.Once they waded through the residence, investigators
found no evidence of foul play inall the while those in Cushing and Sterling
Township were doing all they could tomake sure that the young lone survivor was
all right. Several weeks went bywith no sign of the missing five,
(25:59):
until May eleventh, nineteen ninety one, when the burned out station wagon was
stumbled upon by an unlucky fisherman headingdown to the stream. According to Jesse,
they had just been back at thecar within the last few days because
Bruneiser wanted to make sure that thebodies had been sufficiently destroyed. Jesse admitted
(26:21):
to holding a duffel bag into whichhis stepbrother placed a small skull and other
bone fragments he had shoveled from thecar. The vehicle's condition made it extremely
difficult for an immediate identification of thevictims to take place, and teeth had
to be used to identify Ricky andRuth definitively, while the remains of three
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children whose age ranges matched their daughterswere also found. Investigators concluded that the
family had been murdered before they weredriven there, and that the fire was
arson designed to destroy evidence. Themedia had been mumbling under their breath since
the station wagon was found that thefamily could have fallen victim to Satanic sacrifice
(27:07):
because of the fire, and sincesome graffiti had cropped up in Polk County.
The message quote devil warship death byfire had been spray painted on the
wall of a Masonic temple roughly thirtymiles away, but it was investigated and
no ties to a Satanic cult wereever found. All contacts of the family
(27:27):
and of Bruce Byrneiser were interviewed tooto try and find some motives or enemies,
but nothing about Ricky or Ruth's alivesseemed likely to spawn revenge murder.
As far as what had been goingon in recent days, Jesse's girlfriend told
investigators that tensions were high between thestep brothers and it was only getting worse
(27:49):
as they spoke to more and moreof their friends and family. The girlfriend
also said, when questioned that sheheard them talking about the deaths as though
they knew exactly y what had happened. The more interviews they did, the
more suspicious detectives got. As Berneyser'sfriends described him selling off his family's possessions,
(28:11):
bragging about now having three cars,and spending his father's coin collection at
the arcade. They went to Bruneiser'smother's house in Saint Croix Falls to interview
Jesse one week after the bodies hadbeen found. He was immediately defensive,
and his father ended up telling policethat they weren't going to speak to them
anymore without a lawyer present. Afew hours later, Jesse, his dad,
(28:37):
and his new attorney turned up andtold them everything he allegedly knew about
what had happened to Ricky, Ruthand the girls. He gave them details
that hadn't been released in the media, and once they were confident that he
hadn't helped with the actual murders.They offered him immunity and requested he lead
them to crucial evidence. When detectivesgot a warrant and search Jesse's home,
(29:00):
they found Berneiser's journal, in whichhe'd written that he wished his father was
dead. This gave them enough evidenceto arrest Bruce Berniser for the murder of
his five family members. Jesse ledthem to the station wagons, buried license
plates behind his barn, and theDuffel bag they'd buried by the burn pit
(29:21):
near the cornfield. The personalized thirtythirty caliber lever action Marlin rifle used in
the killings was retrieved from a pondby the highway, where Jesse had told
Berneiser to throw it. A bulletfrom the scene ended up matching the suspected
murder weapon, and other evidence there, such as bone fragments, teeth,
(29:42):
and blood, corroborated Jesse's version ofevents. Bruneiser said nothing when he was
arrested and transferred to juvenile detention,which shocked his small community. He was
soon charged as an adult, anda few months later, in September nine,
ten ninety one, his attorneys appealedthat decision. Finally revealing in their
(30:04):
filing some sort of motivation for themurders. In the brief sent to the
Wisconsin Court of Appeals, his attorneywrote, quote, it was the culmination
of a lifetime of abuse. Hewas ashamed of his home life and hated
living with his father. The motivefor the killings was self preservation. He
called his client the victim of quoteclassic abusers who took their problems and their
(30:29):
anger out on him and forced himto live in a home with no electricity
or functioning plumbing. In December nineteenninety one, the appeals court sided with
the original judge and clarified what theysaw as his reasoning, writing that quote
here, the court did not weighthe child's best interests equally with the public's
(30:51):
best interests. Instead, it properlyconsidered the child's best interests as paramount,
but also considered the type and seriousnessof the offense. Although his public defender
tried to get the Wisconsin's Supreme Courtto review Berniser's waiver to adult court,
they declined. In April nineteen ninetytwo, the judge referenced Jesse's account in
(31:15):
his decision to send Berniser to trial, saying that quote, the circumstantial evidence
here is compelling, and the testimonyof Jesse regarding this case as plausible.
Bruneiser's public defender felt differently, ofcourse, responding that quote, at this
point, we deny every aspect ofthe state's case, calling Jesse's depiction of
(31:37):
the alleged events quote implausible, forensicallyspeaking, impossible. They began hinting that
an insanity defense could be forthcoming.When it came time to enter please on
his five counts of first degree intentionalhomicide, Bruneiser's stood stoic and said nothing,
forcing the judge to enter please ofinnocent and innocent by way of mental
(32:00):
defect for him on June first,to nineteen ninety two. His murder trial
was ultimately scheduled for May tenth,nineteen ninety three, but just weeks before,
on April twenty third, Berneiser withdrewthose please as part of a plea
agreement with the prosecutors, saying thatit was justified since the defense did have
(32:22):
enough evidence to prove Berniser was likelyinsane during the murders. In exchange for
pleading guilty to two counts of firstdegree intentional homicide for killing Ricky and Ruth.
Berneiser received two consecutive life sentences withparole eligibility. The judge didn't set
an eligibility date, instead telling himthat quote, you have some influence as
(32:45):
to what happens in regards to parole. I want to hold out some incentive
for you. In relation to themurders of Crystal, Heidi and Mindy.
Berneiser entered please of guilty but insanethe time and was committed to the Mendota
Mental Health Institute in Madison, Wisconsin, for life. If the time were
(33:07):
to come that Bruneiser was deemed nolonger a danger to himself and others,
he would be released to prison tocomplete his consecutive life sentences for the murders
of Ricky and Ruth. He wentto Mendota in June nineteen ninety three,
and it was speculated at the timethat Berneiser's earliest parole eligibility date would be
(33:28):
two thousand and sixteen, two yearsafter he was committed. In nineteen ninety
five, he made the news again, this time for a hospital policy that
allowed field trips where the criminally insanemingled with the public. A local reporter
had witnessed numerous chaperoned outings in thespring of nineteen ninety five that saw patients
(33:52):
bowling, shopping at the mall,and dining in restaurants, but when Burneiser
was spotted at the movies, thepractice came under scrutiny. The institution insisted
that socializing the patients was essential totheir recovery, and that while quote public
safety overrides anything we do here,we need to normalize the illness by getting
(34:14):
people in the community so they canexperience their healing in real life. It's
extremely important, or they are evenless safe when they get out. Within
a few weeks of the Wisconsin StateJournal article breaking the story, Mendota announced
that they changed the policy in patientswho also had to serve a prison term
(34:36):
became ineligible for offsite trips. Brneiserdidn't make the news again until June two
thousand and seventeen, when he wonan appeal he had filed in two thousand
and fourteen because in two thousand andthirteen he was transferred to Wampon State Prison,
even though his life sentence at Mendotawasn't finished. After spending four years
(35:00):
in prison, Bruce Berneiser who wasnow forty seven, was returned to Mendota
Mental Health Institute, where he remains. His parole eligibility date is currently listed
as January eighteenth, two thousand andtwenty three. As always, thanks for
listening. Be back soon with anall new episode, but until then,
(35:22):
Lovely's don't be scared
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