November 1, 2025 • 51 mins
On August 18, 2025, a household in Madbury, New Hampshire, was destroyed when Emily Long (34) shot and killed her husband, Ryan Long (48), and their two children, Parker (8) and Riley (6), before taking her own life—leaving her three-year-old youngest child as the sole survivor. This tragedy was not just about domestic violence, but a deadly convergence of terminal illness, financial fraud, and mental exhaustion. Just 48 hours before the massacre, Emily was still posting content on TikTok about her struggle with depression and her determination to be a better mother. However, behind that facade, she was grappling with her husband's glioblastoma brain cancer and the pressure to hide the embezzlement of $660,000 from her company.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I think the impact for the community is in it's
just trauma. It's absolute TRAUMPA.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
You wake up on a Monday morning in August and
the last sound you hear isn't an alarm clock, it's
gunfire echoing through your childhood home. For two children in Madbury,
New Hampshire, that nightmare became reality when the person who
should have protected them became their executioner. What drove a
mother to methodically shoot her husband and two of her
(00:28):
children before turning the gun on herself while leaving her
youngest child alive to discover the carnage.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
I want to grow up. I want this to be
a nightmare. I don't want this to be my life.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Before we dive into this devastating case. Please consider dropping
alike and subscribing. It helps spread these stories so more
people can hear them. Just forty eight hours before the massacre,
Emily Long was posting on TikTok about overcoming depression for
her family. The thirty four year old director of operations
at wing Its seemed to be fighting her demons, publicly
(01:05):
sharing her struggles with her followers while promising to be
better for her children. Her final video on Sunday August sixteenth,
twenty twenty five, carried a message of hope. She was
determined to beat her depression and be the mother her
kids deserved.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Okay, I put makeup on and real clothes for the first.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Time, basically makeup since we went to the Cape in July,
and real clothes, and God only knows how long. So
I'm trying to get myself out of this breath. I
know that I've said this before, but our kids are
definitely struggling, and now I'm starting to notice some changes
(01:50):
in our three year old, which is tough because he's
too young for therapy. I know that people are going
to say played therapy. We've done that before and I
just don't really see the benefit in it. And he's
too young for talk therapy, obviously.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
But behind Emily's online facade lay a family drowning in
unimaginable stress. Her husband Ryan wasn't just battling middle school
behavioral problems in his role as a school psychologist. He
was fighting for his life against glioblastoma, one of the
most aggressive and deadly forms of brain cancer. Emily's TikTok
(02:29):
posts from April twenty twenty five revealed someone navigating glioblastoma
one brutal day at a time, watching the man she
loved slowly dying while trying to maintain normalcy for their
three young children.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
It's just like, Okay, now we have totally lost control,
at least when he was going through radiation. I know
that it's been hard on him. I know that it's
been exhausting. His brain is swolen, he feels so many symptoms.
That has been hard for me as a partner to watch.
But now were in a daze of monitoring where reoccurrence
(03:05):
can happen, where during radiation it has totally halted.
Speaker 5 (03:11):
So I feel a lot of anxiety about that.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Glioblastoma is a death sentence disguised as a diagnosis. The
median survival time is just twelve to fifteen months, and
the cancer's assault on the brain can fundamentally alter a
person's personality, cognitive function, and ability to be the parent
they once were. Emily wasn't just dealing with her own
(03:35):
mental health struggles. She was watching her forty eight year
old husband deteriorate while carrying the full weight of their
family's emotional and financial survival. The long family appeared picture
perfect from the outside, but they were living through every
parent's worst nightmare. Ryan Long had dedicated his career to
helping children navigate emotional challenges as a school psychologist at
(03:58):
Oyster River Middle School and part time instructor at Plymouth
State University. Now he was the one who needed help,
his brain being systematically destroyed by an enemy He couldn't
counsel or reason with. Their children. Eight year old Parker
and six year old Riley were too young to fully
understand why daddy was getting sicker, why Mommy was always stressed,
(04:21):
and why their once stable world felt like it was
crumbling around them. The family's youngest, a three year old toddler,
was blissfully unaware of the medical catastrophe consuming their household.
But even small children sense when something is terribly wrong.
Emily's social media presence revealed someone drowning in caregiver burnout
and anticipatory grief. Watching a spouse die slowly from brain
(04:45):
cancer creates a unique form of psychological torture. You're mourning
someone who's still alive while simultaneously trying to be strong
for children who don't understand why everything is changing. The
financial pressure of medical bills combined with the emotional weight
of being a single parent in everything but name.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
But my husband is like processing.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
I see it as puttering, but he is processing everything.
He's listening, he is thinking about every side, every angle.
He's always Devil's advocate, as much as it literally kills me.
He's so thoughtful in his decisions. He's the most ethical
human on this entire planet. Like every single decision that
(05:30):
he makes is based on his code of ethics, and
it's like so respectful. I cannot even handle it. He's
taught me how to be a good partner, Like he's
taught me how to be vulnerable and you know, okay
(05:51):
with like relying on someone else, Like I was never
okay with that.
Speaker 5 (05:55):
I'm still not good at it.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
How to like ask for help and all these things
that he's through our relationship taught me.
Speaker 5 (06:05):
And like now I'm just.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Like what a waste, Like you don't even get to
like live in like the fruits of your labor, Like
you've given me so much, and like I don't get
to like show that to you and share that with you.
And I think that's one of the things I'm going
to miss, is being able to like show him how
(06:27):
wonderful he's been to me, and like he can enjoy that,
and I think that bumps me out a big time.
But the thing that I love about him the most,
and when I think of times where we won't be
together anymore, like the thing that breaks my heart the
most is like at the end of the night being together,
(06:53):
like either laying in bed, or like watching a show,
or just like hanging out in the kitchen and me
reach happing my day. I work in the restaurant industry,
so like every single second of my day is absolute chaos.
It is totally insane, and I see the most unhinged things.
And then like in my private life, like everything that
happens to me is bizarre.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
But Emily was also hiding a devastating secret that compounded
her stress exponentially. Between January twenty twenty three and July
twenty twenty five, she had been systematically embezzling money from
wing Its, stealing approximately six hundred sixty thousand dollars from
her employer. Whether this theft began before Ryan's diagnosis or
(07:37):
was a desperate response to mounting medical bills, the psychological
pressure of maintaining such an elaborate deception while caring for
a dying husband and three young children was creating a
perfect storm of desperation. What happens when someone who's supposed
to be holding everything together realizes their house of cards
is collapsing. For Emily Long, the end answer would come
(08:00):
in the early morning hours of August eighteenth, twenty twenty five,
when the weight of her secrets, her grief, and her
despair finally crushed her ability to see any way forward
except total destruction. At approximately five thirty in the morning,
Emily made a decision that would destroy what remained of
her family and shatter a community. She retrieved a handgun
(08:24):
from somewhere in their home on Mohaimit drive a weapon
that should have provided security, but instead became an instrument
of annihilation. The sequence of events that followed would be methodical, deliberate,
and absolutely devastating. Emily didn't act in a moment of
passion or rage. The evidence suggests she moved through her
(08:46):
house with calculated precision, targeting each victim individually. Ryan, already
weakened by his battle with brain cancer, suffered multiple gunshot wounds.
Was he trying to protect his children or was Emily
ensuring that her husband's suffering would finally end on her
terms rather than the cancers. Eight year old Parker and
(09:07):
six year old Riley were each shot once in the head,
execution style killings that speak to a level of cold
calculation that defies understanding. These weren't crimes of passion, but
deliberate acts of a mother who had convinced herself that
death was preferable to whatever future awaited her family. But
here's what haunts investigators. Emily spared her youngest child. The
(09:32):
three year old was left physically unharmed, sleeping in their
room while their family was being systematically murdered just feet away.
Why would a mother who had decided to destroy her
family choose to spare one child. Was it an act
of mercy, a moment of maternal instinct breaking through her
psychological break, or was she simply interrupted before she could
(09:55):
complete her plan?
Speaker 3 (09:57):
As certainly a shock that's obvious and saddened and trying
and coming together to support each other.
Speaker 6 (10:07):
Just a sad, sad thing.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
After killing her husband and two children, Emily turned the
gun on herself, dying from a single self inflicted gunshot
wound to the head. By eight twenty That evening when
New Hampshire State Police responded to the Mohaimit drive home,
they discovered a scene that would haunt even veteran investigators.
Four bodies, one survivor, and the devastating aftermath of what
(10:32):
happens when grief, desperation, and mental illness converge into ultimate violence.
That night, New Hampshire State Police officers had responded to
what they initially believed might be a welfare check or
domestic disturbance, but the scene that greeted them was something
from their worst nightmares. Blood spatter patterns throughout the house
(10:53):
told a story of methodical violence, and the positioning of
the bodies suggested this wasn't a crime of passion. It
was an execution carried out by someone who had reached
the end of their psychological rope. The surviving three year
old was discovered unharmed, but alone in the house with
four corpses. Imagine being that young child waking up to
(11:14):
silence where there should have been the sounds of breakfast
being prepared, cartoons playing, or siblings arguing over toys. Instead,
there was only the terrible quiet that follows unspeakable violence
in a home where daddy had already been slowly dying,
and Mommy had been quietly unraveling for months. Attorney General
(11:34):
John M. Formella's office moved quickly to coordinate the investigation.
This wasn't just another domestic violence case. The systematic nature
of the killings, combined with Ryan's terminal cancer diagnosis, Emily's
public social media presence documenting their struggles, and the surviving child,
demanded extraordinarily careful handling. The intersection of terminal illness, financial fraud,
(11:59):
and family annihilation created investigative complexities that required expertise from
multiple disciplines.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
What was going on with the money situation, another one
with the health situation. I think the big thing is
to try not to speculate that there's any one reason
like something like this would happen. Homicide and suicide is
usually much much more complex than just one reason.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
But the physical evidence only told part of the story.
Investigators began digging into Emily's digital footprint, and what they
found revealed a woman drowning under the weight of impossible
circumstances while desperately trying to maintain a facade of strength
for her followers. Her TikTok account became a roadmap of
deteriorating mental health, with posts about navigating her husband's terminal
(12:44):
brain cancer, battling her own depression, and struggling to be
the mother her children deserved while watching their father slowly disappear.
What investigators couldn't determine from Emily's online presence was whether
she had been receiving professional mental health treatment. Her posts
suggested that friends and family had encouraged her to seek therapy,
(13:06):
but there was no evidence she had followed through with
formal treatment. The gap between recognizing the need for help
and actually accessing it would become a central theme in
understanding how this tragedy unfolded, particularly when caring for a
terminally ill spouse often leaves no time or energy for
self care. Before we jump back in, tell us where
(13:29):
you're watching from today and if this case hits you,
make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss what's next.
As investigators dug deeper into the Long family's finances, they
uncovered Emily's elaborate embezzlement scheme at Wingett's. Derek Fisher, owner
of the Hampton location, revealed that Emily had stolen approximately
(13:50):
six hundred sixty thousand dollars between January twenty twenty three
and July twenty twenty five. The timing of this theft
period overlapped significificantly with Ryan's cancer diagnosis and treatment, raising
questions about whether Emily's financial crimes were motivated by mounting
medical bills or represented a separate psychological break. Additionally, glioblastoma
(14:14):
treatment is devastatingly expensive, even with insurance. Radiation therapy, chemotherapy,
specialized medications, and frequent hospital visits can quickly exhaust a
family's financial resources. If Ryan's cancer treatment was creating crushing debt,
Emily's embezzlement might have been a desperate attempt to keep
their family financially afloat while her husband fought for his life.
(14:38):
The psychological pressure of stealing money to pay for her
husband's medical care, knowing the theft would eventually be discovered,
could have created an impossible psychological trap. But the embezzlement
also represented another layer of deception in Emily's increasingly complicated life.
She was hiding her financial crimes from her dying husband,
(14:58):
protecting him from additional stres while he battled cancer. She
was maintaining a social media presence that showed strength and
hope while privately drowning in despair. She was trying to
be a single parent in everything but name, while working
full time and managing a complex theft scheme. The cognitive
(15:19):
load of maintaining so many lies and facades simultaneously can
push anyone toward a complete psychological breakdown. The question of
why Emily spared her youngest child becomes even more complex
when viewed through the lens of Ryan's terminal diagnosis. Emily
had posted about having difficulty addressing her toddler's struggles, but
(15:40):
caring for a three year old while watching a spouse
die from brain cancer creates impossible competing demands. Did she
view the youngest child as too innocent to understand the
horror of their father's disease. Was the toddler spared because
Emily saw them as the only family member who hadn't
yet been touched by the trauma of watching Ryan deteriorate.
(16:01):
The surviving child was immediately placed in the care of
maternal and paternal grandparents and an aunt, but the long
term psychological impact of surviving such trauma, particularly in the
context of losing both parents simultaneously, remains unclear. This three
year old will grow up knowing their mother killed their
father and siblings but chose to let them live, while
(16:24):
also processing the fact that their father was already dying
from an incurable disease. The layers of grief, confusion, and
survivor's guilt this child will carry are almost incomprehensible. Ryan
Long's colleagues at Oyster River Middle School faced a particularly
complex grieving process. Their friend and colleague had been fighting
(16:48):
terminal brain cancer while trying to continue his work helping
children navigate emotional challenges. Now they had to process his
murder at the hands of his wife, who had been
publicly documenting her struggles with his diagnosis. The school district
immediately offered counseling services, recognizing that a tragedy involving terminal
(17:09):
illness and family annihilation would create traumatic ripples throughout the
entire educational community. The investigation also revealed the devastating irony
of Ryan's profession, intersecting with his medical diagnosis and ultimate fate.
As a school psychologist, he would have been trained to
recognize warning signs of mental health crises and family dysfunction,
(17:33):
but glioblastoma attacks the very organ responsible for personality judgment
and emotional regulation. The cancer may have been gradually eroding
Ryan's ability to recognize or respond to his wife's deteriorating
mental state, even as his professional training would have normally
made him sensitive to such changes. Community members who knew
(17:55):
the Long family described them as devoted parents who attended
school events and seemed committed to maintaining normalcy despite Ryan's diagnosis,
but neighbors on Mohaimit Drive had no indication that Emily's
stress was escalating toward violence. Her ability to maintain a
facade of coping while privately planning her family's destruction demonstrates
(18:18):
how effectively people can hide psychological crisis, particularly when they're
already dealing with public challenges like terminal illness that generate
community sympathy and support. The surviving three year old became
the focus of unprecedented community support, but also represented the
most haunting aspect of Emily's decision making process. Why spare
(18:40):
one child while systematically killing the others? Child psychologists theorizing
about Emily's mental state suggests several possibilities, all of them
deeply disturbing. Perhaps the toddler was seen as too young
to remember their father's illness and decline. Maybe Emily viewed
the youngest as the only family member who hadn't been
(19:01):
traumatized by watching Ryan deteriorate, or possibly Emily's psychological break
was interrupted by some remaining maternal instinct that couldn't complete
the final murder. The child's placement with extended family provided stability,
but the long term psychological impact of being the sole
survivor of their mother's rampage in the context of also
(19:24):
losing their father to terminal illness remains unknown. This three
year old will grow up carrying the weight of multiple traumas,
survivor's guilt, confusion about their mother's love, grief for their
murdered siblings, and the knowledge that their father was already
dying when their mother decided to end his suffering on
(19:44):
her terms. The Oyster River School District's response highlighted how
tragedies involving terminal illness and family annihilation create unique challenges
for communities trying to process such violence. Students who had
been helped by Ryan Long in his role as school
psychologist suddenly found themselves needing the kind of support he
(20:06):
would have provided while also trying to understand how someone
whose job was helping children with problems could become a
victim of his own wife's complete psychological breakdown. The intersection
of Ryan's professional identity and his role as both cancer
patient and murder victim created particular difficulties for the school community.
(20:27):
How do you maintain faith in mental health support systems
when a trained psychologist either couldn't recognize or couldn't address
the crisis developing in his own household. His glioblastoma diagnosis
complicated this question. Brain cancer can fundamentally alter personality, judgment,
and emotional regulation, potentially leaving Ryan unable to recognize warning
(20:49):
signs his professional training would normally have made obvious. Emily's
tik tok presence became a case study in how social
media can simultaneously reveal and conceal mental health crises. Her
posts documented someone clearly drowning in caregiver stress, anticipatory grief,
and depression, Yet they also demonstrated her ability to maintain
(21:11):
a facade of determination and hope. The platform became her
outlet for expressing struggles she couldn't share elsewhere, but it
also became part of the performance of strength she felt
obligated to maintain for her children and community. Mental health
advocates seized on Emily's case to highlight the specific challenges
facing caregivers of terminally ill family members. Caregiver burnout is
(21:36):
a recognized psychological condition that can lead to depression, anxiety, and,
in extreme cases, thoughts of harm toward oneself or others.
Emily's social media posts suggested people had encouraged her to
seek therapy, but accessing mental health care while managing a
dying spouse's medical needs, working full time, and raising three
(21:58):
young children creates practical barriers that can seem insurmountable. The
timing of Emily's psychological breakdown also raises questions about how
society supports families dealing with terminal illness. Glioblestoma patients and
their families often receive tremendous community support during the initial
diagnosis and treatment phases, but the grinding reality of months
(22:21):
or years of decline can leave caregivers increasingly isolated as
friends and extended families struggle to maintain engagement with such
overwhelming sadness. The Madbury community's vigil At United Church provided
a space for collective grieving, but it also highlighted how
ill equipped most communities are to process family annihilation cases
(22:44):
that involve terminal illness. Unlike random violence or sudden tragedies,
familicide in the context of cancer forces people to confront
questions about suffering, mercy, and the limits of human endurance
that have no comfortable answers. The case attracted national media
attention partly because it challenged common assumptions about family annihilation.
(23:07):
Most familicide cases involve male perpetrators who kill their families
as final acts of control, often in the context of
divorce or financial ruin. Emily's case involved a woman who
appeared to be motivated by a complex mixture of anticipatory grief,
financial desperation, and a desire to spare her family from
(23:28):
what she perceived as inevitable suffering. The investigation's conclusion that
multiple factors contributed to the tragedy, rather than a single
identifiable cause, reflects the complex reality of how terminal illness
can destroy families even before the patient dies. Emily's transformation
from devoted caregiver to family annihilator demonstrates how combinations of grief, stress,
(23:53):
financial pressure, and untreated mental illness can overwhelm even strong
people's coping mechanisms and lead to unthinkable decisions. The Long
family massacre stands as a devastating reminder that terminal illness
creates victims beyond the diagnosed patient, and that caregiver mental
health requires as much attention and support as the physical
(24:15):
care of the sick. Emily's case forces uncomfortable questions about
whether our medical system adequately addresses the psychological needs of
families watching loved ones die slowly, and whether we provide
sufficient support for people drowning in the impossible responsibilities of
caring for terminally ill family members. The Madbury community's vigil
(24:36):
at United Church provided a space for collective grieving, but
it also highlighted how ill equipped most communities are to
process family annihilation cases that involve terminal illness. Unlike random
violence or sudden tragedies, familicide in the context of cancer
forces people to confront questions about suffering, mercy, and the
(24:58):
limits of human endurance that have no comfortable answers. The
case attracted national media attention partly because it challenged common
assumptions about family annihilation. Most familicide cases involve male perpetrators
who kill their families as final acts of control, often
in the context of divorce or financial ruin. Emily's case
(25:20):
involved a woman who appeared to be motivated by a
complex mixture of anticipatory grief, financial desperation, and a desire
to spare her family from what she perceived as inevitable suffering.
The investigation's conclusion that multiple factors contributed to the tragedy
rather than a single identifiable cause, reflects the complex reality
(25:42):
of how terminal illness can destroy families even before the
patient dies. Emily's transformation from devoted caregiver to family annihilator
demonstrates how combinations of grief, stress, financial pressure, and untreated
mental illness can overwhelm even strong people's coping mechanisms and
lead to unthinkable decisions. This case isn't isolated. There have
(26:06):
been other heartbreaking stories where a mother turned on her
own family. In another tragic case, a mother killed her
two babies and the motive pointed back to her husband.
It's devastating and sadly not unfamiliar. We've covered something similar before.
The Wary Family Murders, a case that still haunts many
of us to this day.
Speaker 7 (26:27):
In twenty sixteen, this small house on South Madison Street
in Darlington, Indiana, became the setting for one of the
most haunting crimes the state had ever seen.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
Brandy Worley sentenced for chilling crime that horrified central Indiana.
Speaker 7 (26:44):
On the night of November seventeenth, two children, seven year
old Tyler and three year old Charlie, were tucked into
bed by their mother. Tyler had spent the day at school,
still wearing the same clothes when he laid down to sleep.
Charlie was curled up in her crib, wrapped in the
same soft blanket she always clung to. Nothing about the
(27:08):
evening seemed unusual, but by the next morning, both children
were dead and their killer never left the home. In fact,
she made the call herself.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Aniston, straight, Darlington, Here, what's one on there?
Speaker 3 (27:29):
My two children?
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yourself and your two children?
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (27:34):
And what's your name?
Speaker 5 (27:36):
Brandy?
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Oily, Brandy?
Speaker 8 (27:38):
Whatly?
Speaker 7 (27:41):
Hours earlier, Brandy had walked into a local walmart and
purchased a knife. Then she went home, fed the kid's dinner,
and waited. Once everyone was asleep, she descended into methodical cruelty.
She waited until Jason, her husband, had gone to sleep
in the basement. Then she walked up the stairs with
(28:03):
the knife hidden in her robe. In less than ten minutes,
both of their children had been killed, stabbed multiple times
in their beds. When she was finished, Brandy turned the
knife on herself. She stabbed her own neck, then picked
up the phone and calmly dialed nine one one.
Speaker 6 (28:25):
And where they where?
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Their children at?
Speaker 6 (28:28):
My daughter's and your daughters are one floor?
Speaker 8 (28:31):
Okay?
Speaker 7 (28:33):
What's uh?
Speaker 2 (28:33):
What's your phone number?
Speaker 4 (28:34):
Brandy?
Speaker 8 (28:38):
And and what caused you to do this today?
Speaker 6 (28:41):
My husband, my kids?
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Okay?
Speaker 6 (28:46):
And how old are your children?
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Till?
Speaker 5 (28:49):
Three?
Speaker 7 (28:50):
So the big question is why would a mother do
this just because of a divorce, and why with such
calm detachment. To answer that question, let's go back to
a time when everything looked picture perfect, no crime scene,
just a quiet street in Darlington, Indiana, where the Warley
(29:11):
family lived in a simple home on South Madison Street.
Darlington wasn't the kind of place where tragedy was expected.
Less than nine hundred people tucked just forty minutes from Indianapolis,
where everyone waved hello and nothing bad ever seemed to happen.
Inside that home were thirty year old Brandy, her husband
(29:33):
Jason thirty one, and their two children, seven year old
Tyler Daniel Clinton Warley and his little sister, three year
old Charlie Rose Jane Warley. From the outside, they were
the definition of a happy young family, the kind people
in town saw at school events and library visits, smiling, laughing, normal.
(30:00):
Tyler was the kind of kid every teacher loved. Born
on September seventeenth, two thousand nine, he had just started
first grade at Sugar Creek Elementary School. He was already
obsessed with sports, basketball, football, soccer, baseball. If it involved
running and a ball, Tyler wanted in. But he wasn't
(30:22):
just athletic. He was thoughtful. He wanted to work with
computers when he grew up, just like his dad, Jason
once said, Tyler was the kind of boy who could
walk into a room full of strangers and walk out
with twenty new friends. On the other hand, Charlie was
born on September twenty sixth, twenty thirteen. At just three
(30:46):
years old, she had a busier schedule than most adults.
Preschool at the Wilson Early Learning Center, dance classes, basketball camp,
and weekly trips to the local library for story time.
She loved dressing up, especially when someone braided her hair.
Jason said she was a ball of light in a tutu,
(31:09):
always on the go, always smiling.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Now.
Speaker 7 (31:12):
Brandy and Jason had met in two thousand and seven,
fell in love quickly, and got married in two thousand
and nine, the same year Tyler was born. Jason worked
as a software engineer and Brandy stayed home to raise
the kids. To their neighbors, the Warlis seemed completely normal.
They attended school events, helped with dance rehearsals, and played
(31:36):
in the yard. There were no fights in public, no
calls to police, no signs that the perfect picture was
slowly tearing at the edges. In fact, the day before
the murders, November sixteenth, twenty sixteen, had been nothing short
of ordinary. It was a Thursday, Tyler had gone to school,
(31:58):
Charlie had a dance performance that evening, and the whole
family showed up to cheer her on. Afterward, they drove home,
had dinner together, and wound down like they always did. However,
later that night, Brandy made a quick trip to Walmart
to buy pipe cleaners for one of Tyler's school projects.
(32:19):
The Walmart was just eleven minutes away in Crawfordsville. Brandy
went alone. No one suspected that her shopping trip wasn't
just for craft supplies. When she returned, the kids were
winding down for bed. Brandy and Jason played with them
for a while, then Jason helped them settle into their
(32:40):
blankets for the night. Tyler curled into his spider Man bedding,
Charlie snuggled into her crib with her favorite blanket. But
then Brandy said something strange. She asked Jason if he
wanted to sleep on the couch, but he declined. He
preferred to go down to the basement where he'd been
sleeping recently. And this raises a question many people would
(33:04):
later ask, why wasn't Jason sleeping beside his wife. The
truth is, like many couples, Brandy and Jason had been struggling.
Arguments had become more frequent, but this wasn't just about
bickering or stress. The problems ran deeper. In fact, Jason
(33:24):
had just filed for divorce the day before. They had
been together for nine years, married for seven, but Jason
had finally reached his breaking point. He believed Brandy had
been cheating on him with their neighbor and he had proof, painful,
undeniable proof. This wasn't just suspicion. This was betrayal, confirmed
(33:47):
through texts, photos, and late night messages she thought he'd
never see. Jason had noticed that Brandy became overly protective
of her phone. She changed her password and kept close, so,
using his skills as a software engineer, he installed monitoring
software that let him view her messages. What he discovered
(34:10):
crushed him. Brandy had been flirting ating their fifty one
year old neighbor, a man Jason thought was just a friend.
One message stood out, I'm all covered in frosting? Want
to lick it off? Jason wanted to believe it was
a joke, just Brandy's twisted sense of humor, but soon
(34:33):
he saw more graphic messages, snapchats sent from the bathroom
at work, plans to meet up while Jason was away.
He read them all. He watched their affair unfold in
real time. The emotional damage was overwhelming that Jason turned
to the internet for help. On Reddit, under the user
(34:54):
name Jason in Hell, he shared his pain. His post
titled I'm having a hard time coping with my wife
cheating on me with our neighbor went viral. In it,
he detailed the betrayal, how Brandy denied everything until he
showed her the evidence. Even then she minimized it, claimed
(35:15):
it was just a mistake, that it never went all
the way, that it was his fault for being too
busy at work, and then she threatened him if he
left her. She said he'd never see his kids again.
She threatened to use his past mental health history a
self harm attempt in high school as ammunition in court.
(35:40):
She said she'd prove him unfit. Jason was heartbroken, scared,
and stuck. He didn't want to lose his kids, so
he stayed for a while, but the resentment kept building. Eventually,
he realized he couldn't pretend anymore. He didn't want his
children growing up in a house filled with secrets and tension,
(36:04):
so he decided to leave, and that's when things took
a dark, irreversible turn. Jason's next Reddit post said it all.
Brandy refused counseling, refused to change. He had finally contacted
an attorney. He said he was ready to get his
kids out to start over. He thanked strangers online for
(36:26):
giving him the courage, but no one not Jason, not
anyone reading those posts could have imagined what would happen next,
because the very next morning his children were gone.
Speaker 8 (36:41):
Now record show they found that seven year old Tyler
and three year old Charlie had deep cuts on their throats,
and that a combat style life was found in her
daughter's bedroom. Polise Wory told them her husband was divorcing
her and wanted custody of their children. They also say
she specifically told them she did not want him to
take the kids. Her husband tells police Whirley yelled, now,
(37:02):
you can't take the kids from me as he came
upstairs to find the children.
Speaker 7 (37:07):
After the murders, a press conference was held. There was outrage, confusion, shock.
The Montgomery County Sheriff addressed the public with trembling words.
Speaker 6 (37:20):
While the dispatcher kept Warley on the telephone. The first
deputy arrived at the residence and confirmed that two children
were in fact deceased at four forty three am.
Speaker 7 (37:33):
Now, Brandy had been involved in a minor car accident once,
but beyond that nothing to prepare anyone for this. Jason
returned to Reddit after the killings, writing again in grief.
He said he felt like he had failed to protect
his children. He shared how he returned to the house
after the crime scene was cleaned, but he swore he
(37:55):
could still smell the blood in Charlie's room. He wasn't
sure if it was real or just trauma, clinging to
his senses. Either way, he knew he couldn't stay there.
He packed his things and left. Jason questioned everything. Why
had Brandy asked him to sleep on the couch that night?
(38:15):
Did she plan to kill him two? Could he have
saved the kids if he'd stayed upstairs? Would things be
different if he'd left earlier, or if he'd stayed married.
These are the kinds of questions that torment a father
who did everything he thought he could but still lost everything.
(38:36):
I had one job, Jason later wrote. A father's job
is to protect his children, and I failed. He set
up a go fund Me to help with the funeral expenses.
The campaign was shared by YouTuber Philip DeFranco, who discovered
Jason's story on Reddit and used his massive platform to
(38:56):
bring attention to the tragedy. Thanks to the support of
viewers and readers across the internet, the fund raised enough
to give Tyler and Charlie the farewell they deserved, but
no amount of money could undo what had been done,
and no amount of sympathy could answer the one question
that still echoes through every post, every headline, every courtroom.
(39:21):
Why In a town as small and close knit as Darlington,
where everyone knew each other by name, grief spread like wildfire.
Within days, the town organized a candlelight vigil at the
local church. People came not just to mourn, but to
try to understand how something so unthinkable had happened right
(39:43):
in their midst. There weren't enough chairs. It was standing
room only. Five days after the murders, the funeral for
Tyler and Charlie was held at the Darlington Community Center.
Their tiny caskets were surrounded by flowers, stuff, animals, and
handwritten letters. The children's mother, the woman who had taken
(40:05):
their lives, was not there, but Jason was, and so
was nearly everyone else in Darlington. Hundreds showed up, some
in tears, others simply silent. A few brought candles, many
brought memories, and every single one of them carried heartbreak.
(40:26):
The Wary family released a statement during the funeral, saying,
we are shocked and saddened by the sudden loss of
our beloved Tyler and Charlie. They meant the world to
our family and words cannot describe our feelings of devastation.
We are thankful for the outpouring of support from our friends, family,
and the community. We will grieve forever the loss of
(40:49):
our precious little boy and girl. However, the case was
far from over. Eleven days after the murders, Brandy was
finally released from the hospital. Her neck wound had healed enough,
but she wasn't walking out to freedom. The moment she
was stable enough to move, she was transferred directly to
(41:10):
the Montgomery County jail and charged with two counts of murder.
Her bail was denied. Her defense attorney, Mark Inman, met
with her shortly after. He said that in their first
few meetings, Brandy showed emotion, she cried, but after that
something changed. She shut down. No more emotion, no explanations,
(41:35):
just a blank stare. She refused to speak about what happened.
Inman said he couldn't find any clear cut reason for
the murders, and Brandy wasn't offering one. Her behavior puzzled
even her own legal team. Some believed it was trauma
others thought it was coldness. The defense hinted they might
(41:57):
pursue an insanity plea, but first Brandy had to undergo
a full psychiatric evaluation. The results weren't made public at
the time, but prosecutors were already building a case that
would dismantle any claim of mental instability. In fact, the
more investigators dug, the more premeditated the crime looked. They
(42:21):
discovered that on November fifteenth, two days before the murders,
Brandy had learned Jason was moving forward with divorce. He
had contacted an attorney. He was ready to go, and
she knew it. In the days leading to the murder,
she kept things deceptively normal. She took the kids out
(42:43):
with her mother, Jason came home from work, and the
family went to Charlie's dance recital that evening. But what
Brandy did next exposed her true intentions. That night, she
told Jason she needed to buy pipe cleaners for a
school product, but she lied that trip to Walmart was
(43:04):
not about craft supplies. It was a cover. Surveillance footage
and receipts revealed that she had bought a Ka Barr
combat knife, the kind used by the United States Marine Corps,
not a kitchen knife, not something from a dollar aisle,
a weapon designed for combat. When she came home, she
(43:27):
hid the knife in Tyler's room. Jason tucked the kids
into bed, he went downstairs to the basement. The house
went quiet, and then Brandy made her move. She walked
into Tyler's room, took out the knife, and woke him
up gently, not with fear, not with rage, but with
(43:48):
a lie. She asked him if he wanted to have
a sleepover in his little sister's room. Being seven years old,
Tyler was probably excited. A midweek sleepover meant breaking the rules,
something fun, something special. He had no idea what was coming.
Brandy led Tyler into Charlie's room, and once both children
(44:11):
were together, she began to stab her son. First, he
likely screamed, maybe tried to run, but Charlie, only three,
heard something and asked what was happening. Brandy told her
to go back to sleep. She did, she trusted her mother.
Once Tyler was gone, Brandy turned the knife on Charlie.
(44:35):
The details of the attack were described as overkill by
the prosecution. There was no mercy, no hesitation, just brutality.
When it was over, Brandy stabbed herself in the neck,
then calmly called nine one one and told the dispatcher
what she had done. Before the case ever reached trial,
(44:56):
Brandy changed her plea to guilty. There would be no
courtroom drama, no jury to convince. The only thing left
was sentencing and a chance for Jason to speak. The
court asked Jason what kind of sentence he believed Brandy
should get. He didn't give a long statement, he didn't cry.
(45:18):
He just said, I never want to see her again.
Out of sight, out of mind. The judge, Harry Seamus,
asked Brandy directly if she had anything to say, any explanation,
any apology. She said nothing. She didn't cry, she didn't
(45:38):
ask for forgiveness. She didn't even look at Jason, and
the court took that silence as her final act of cruelty.
Brandy Warley was sentenced to sixty five years for the
murder of Charlie and fifty five years for Tyler, one
hundred twenty years total, no possibility of parole. The sentences
(46:00):
would run consecutively at Rockville Correctional Facility. Judge Siama said,
everyone wants to know why, Why would a mother kill
her children. But sometimes there is no explanation. Sometimes darkness
exists in the world, and it finds its way into
people's hearts. After the trial, Jason said that hearing Brandy
(46:24):
talk about the murders on the nine one one call
and later to police like she was describing a grocery
list was the most painful part of it all. She
never showed any emotion, never even seemed to understand what
she'd done, he said, I just want to move forward.
(46:46):
I want to protect the memory of my kids. As
of twenty twenty five, Brandy Warley remains locked away inside
the cold, gray walls of the Indiana Women's Prison. She's
not a mother anymore, not a wife, not even a
name that brings comfort to anyone. She's a number, a
(47:06):
ghost of the woman who once rocked her children to
sleep and later stole their last breaths. Inmates who've crossed
paths with her say she barely speaks. She doesn't cry,
she doesn't scream. She simply exists, quiet, unemotional, like she's
detached from the reality of what she did. She eats
(47:29):
when she's told, moves when she's told, and when her
name is called for mandatory therapy or evaluations, she shows
up and offers almost nothing. Her most recent psychiatric evaluation
diagnosed her with major depressive disorder, but to the outside
world that doesn't matter anymore. No diagnosis can explain away
(47:52):
what she did. No label can soften the fact that
she murdered her two children with a knife she bought
for that purpose. The world didn't need a psychological report
to know that something inside Brandy was broken far beyond repair. Meanwhile,
Jason Warley, the man Brandy tried to emotionally destroy before
(48:15):
physically destroying their family, is still standing. He's older now,
in his early forties. He moved away from Darlington long
ago and started over in a different city. He remarried,
he has more children, and although photos show a man
smiling beside his new family, those closest to him say
(48:37):
grief still lives in his eyes, just below the surface.
Jason never became a public figure. He never gave lengthy
interviews or tried to spin his story for attention. He
just kept living quietly day by day. But online in
the same Reddit threads where he once opened up about
(48:59):
Brand's betrayal, He's made a few rare appearances. In one
heartbreaking post. He admitted that he still tortures himself over
that night, Over the moment Brandy asked him to sleep
on the couch and he chose the basement instead. He
wonders if that was her test, if she wanted him
(49:20):
upstairs to stop her, or worse, if she wanted to
kill him too. He'll never know. But the part that
breaks people the most isn't what happened, it's what should
have happened instead. If that night had gone differently, if
Brandy had just left, like most people do during a divorce,
(49:43):
Tyler and Charlie would still be alive. Tyler would be
fifteen now. He'd be in high school, probably obsessed with
football and video games, maybe teaching himself how to code.
He was sharp, curious, always asking how things worked. Jason
used to say Tyler could charm anyone. He'd make friends
(50:07):
at the grocery store. He had that glow, that natural
warmth you can't teach. Charlie would be eleven. She'd be
in middle school, maybe still wearing sparkly sneakers and asking
for glitter in her hair. She loved dance class, loved
story time. She had this way of making people smile
without saying a word. She was the kind of child
(50:30):
who sang to herself when no one was watching, and
always wanted to help with the dishes, even when she
wasn't tall enough to reach the sink. But instead of
growing up, their names are carved in stone. Their birthdays
are remembered with candles and tears, not balloons and laughter.
(50:51):
The rooms that once echoed with their voices are silent.
Now photos are all that remain, pictures frozen in time
of two kids who never had the chance to become
who they were meant to be. The Reddit community that
once stood by Jason, offering advice, cheering him on as
(51:11):
he tried to leave a toxic marriage, was devastated when
the truth came out. They hadn't just followed a story
about infidelity. They had watched unknowingly as a double homicide
unfolded in real time. Some users felt guilty, Some wondered
if encouraging Jason to leave had pushed Brandy too far.
(51:34):
But none of this was their fault, and it wasn't
Jason's either. The blame rests on Brandy Warley alone.
I think the impact for the community is in it's
just trauma. It's absolute TRAUMPA.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
You wake up on a Monday morning in August and
the last sound you hear isn't an alarm clock, it's
gunfire echoing through your childhood home. For two children in Madbury,
New Hampshire, that nightmare became reality when the person who
should have protected them became their executioner. What drove a
mother to methodically shoot her husband and two of her
(00:28):
children before turning the gun on herself while leaving her
youngest child alive to discover the carnage.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
I want to grow up. I want this to be
a nightmare. I don't want this to be my life.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Before we dive into this devastating case. Please consider dropping
alike and subscribing. It helps spread these stories so more
people can hear them. Just forty eight hours before the massacre,
Emily Long was posting on TikTok about overcoming depression for
her family. The thirty four year old director of operations
at wing Its seemed to be fighting her demons, publicly
(01:05):
sharing her struggles with her followers while promising to be
better for her children. Her final video on Sunday August sixteenth,
twenty twenty five, carried a message of hope. She was
determined to beat her depression and be the mother her
kids deserved.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Okay, I put makeup on and real clothes for the first.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Time, basically makeup since we went to the Cape in July,
and real clothes, and God only knows how long. So
I'm trying to get myself out of this breath. I
know that I've said this before, but our kids are
definitely struggling, and now I'm starting to notice some changes
(01:50):
in our three year old, which is tough because he's
too young for therapy. I know that people are going
to say played therapy. We've done that before and I
just don't really see the benefit in it. And he's
too young for talk therapy, obviously.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
But behind Emily's online facade lay a family drowning in
unimaginable stress. Her husband Ryan wasn't just battling middle school
behavioral problems in his role as a school psychologist. He
was fighting for his life against glioblastoma, one of the
most aggressive and deadly forms of brain cancer. Emily's TikTok
(02:29):
posts from April twenty twenty five revealed someone navigating glioblastoma
one brutal day at a time, watching the man she
loved slowly dying while trying to maintain normalcy for their
three young children.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
It's just like, Okay, now we have totally lost control,
at least when he was going through radiation. I know
that it's been hard on him. I know that it's
been exhausting. His brain is swolen, he feels so many symptoms.
That has been hard for me as a partner to watch.
But now were in a daze of monitoring where reoccurrence
(03:05):
can happen, where during radiation it has totally halted.
Speaker 5 (03:11):
So I feel a lot of anxiety about that.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Glioblastoma is a death sentence disguised as a diagnosis. The
median survival time is just twelve to fifteen months, and
the cancer's assault on the brain can fundamentally alter a
person's personality, cognitive function, and ability to be the parent
they once were. Emily wasn't just dealing with her own
(03:35):
mental health struggles. She was watching her forty eight year
old husband deteriorate while carrying the full weight of their
family's emotional and financial survival. The long family appeared picture
perfect from the outside, but they were living through every
parent's worst nightmare. Ryan Long had dedicated his career to
helping children navigate emotional challenges as a school psychologist at
(03:58):
Oyster River Middle School and part time instructor at Plymouth
State University. Now he was the one who needed help,
his brain being systematically destroyed by an enemy He couldn't
counsel or reason with. Their children. Eight year old Parker
and six year old Riley were too young to fully
understand why daddy was getting sicker, why Mommy was always stressed,
(04:21):
and why their once stable world felt like it was
crumbling around them. The family's youngest, a three year old toddler,
was blissfully unaware of the medical catastrophe consuming their household.
But even small children sense when something is terribly wrong.
Emily's social media presence revealed someone drowning in caregiver burnout
and anticipatory grief. Watching a spouse die slowly from brain
(04:45):
cancer creates a unique form of psychological torture. You're mourning
someone who's still alive while simultaneously trying to be strong
for children who don't understand why everything is changing. The
financial pressure of medical bills combined with the emotional weight
of being a single parent in everything but name.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
But my husband is like processing.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
I see it as puttering, but he is processing everything.
He's listening, he is thinking about every side, every angle.
He's always Devil's advocate, as much as it literally kills me.
He's so thoughtful in his decisions. He's the most ethical
human on this entire planet. Like every single decision that
(05:30):
he makes is based on his code of ethics, and
it's like so respectful. I cannot even handle it. He's
taught me how to be a good partner, Like he's
taught me how to be vulnerable and you know, okay
(05:51):
with like relying on someone else, Like I was never
okay with that.
Speaker 5 (05:55):
I'm still not good at it.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
How to like ask for help and all these things
that he's through our relationship taught me.
Speaker 5 (06:05):
And like now I'm just.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Like what a waste, Like you don't even get to
like live in like the fruits of your labor, Like
you've given me so much, and like I don't get
to like show that to you and share that with you.
And I think that's one of the things I'm going
to miss, is being able to like show him how
(06:27):
wonderful he's been to me, and like he can enjoy that,
and I think that bumps me out a big time.
But the thing that I love about him the most,
and when I think of times where we won't be
together anymore, like the thing that breaks my heart the
most is like at the end of the night being together,
(06:53):
like either laying in bed, or like watching a show,
or just like hanging out in the kitchen and me
reach happing my day. I work in the restaurant industry,
so like every single second of my day is absolute chaos.
It is totally insane, and I see the most unhinged things.
And then like in my private life, like everything that
happens to me is bizarre.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
But Emily was also hiding a devastating secret that compounded
her stress exponentially. Between January twenty twenty three and July
twenty twenty five, she had been systematically embezzling money from
wing Its, stealing approximately six hundred sixty thousand dollars from
her employer. Whether this theft began before Ryan's diagnosis or
(07:37):
was a desperate response to mounting medical bills, the psychological
pressure of maintaining such an elaborate deception while caring for
a dying husband and three young children was creating a
perfect storm of desperation. What happens when someone who's supposed
to be holding everything together realizes their house of cards
is collapsing. For Emily Long, the end answer would come
(08:00):
in the early morning hours of August eighteenth, twenty twenty five,
when the weight of her secrets, her grief, and her
despair finally crushed her ability to see any way forward
except total destruction. At approximately five thirty in the morning,
Emily made a decision that would destroy what remained of
her family and shatter a community. She retrieved a handgun
(08:24):
from somewhere in their home on Mohaimit drive a weapon
that should have provided security, but instead became an instrument
of annihilation. The sequence of events that followed would be methodical, deliberate,
and absolutely devastating. Emily didn't act in a moment of
passion or rage. The evidence suggests she moved through her
(08:46):
house with calculated precision, targeting each victim individually. Ryan, already
weakened by his battle with brain cancer, suffered multiple gunshot wounds.
Was he trying to protect his children or was Emily
ensuring that her husband's suffering would finally end on her
terms rather than the cancers. Eight year old Parker and
(09:07):
six year old Riley were each shot once in the head,
execution style killings that speak to a level of cold
calculation that defies understanding. These weren't crimes of passion, but
deliberate acts of a mother who had convinced herself that
death was preferable to whatever future awaited her family. But
here's what haunts investigators. Emily spared her youngest child. The
(09:32):
three year old was left physically unharmed, sleeping in their
room while their family was being systematically murdered just feet away.
Why would a mother who had decided to destroy her
family choose to spare one child. Was it an act
of mercy, a moment of maternal instinct breaking through her
psychological break, or was she simply interrupted before she could
(09:55):
complete her plan?
Speaker 3 (09:57):
As certainly a shock that's obvious and saddened and trying
and coming together to support each other.
Speaker 6 (10:07):
Just a sad, sad thing.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
After killing her husband and two children, Emily turned the
gun on herself, dying from a single self inflicted gunshot
wound to the head. By eight twenty That evening when
New Hampshire State Police responded to the Mohaimit drive home,
they discovered a scene that would haunt even veteran investigators.
Four bodies, one survivor, and the devastating aftermath of what
(10:32):
happens when grief, desperation, and mental illness converge into ultimate violence.
That night, New Hampshire State Police officers had responded to
what they initially believed might be a welfare check or
domestic disturbance, but the scene that greeted them was something
from their worst nightmares. Blood spatter patterns throughout the house
(10:53):
told a story of methodical violence, and the positioning of
the bodies suggested this wasn't a crime of passion. It
was an execution carried out by someone who had reached
the end of their psychological rope. The surviving three year
old was discovered unharmed, but alone in the house with
four corpses. Imagine being that young child waking up to
(11:14):
silence where there should have been the sounds of breakfast
being prepared, cartoons playing, or siblings arguing over toys. Instead,
there was only the terrible quiet that follows unspeakable violence
in a home where daddy had already been slowly dying,
and Mommy had been quietly unraveling for months. Attorney General
(11:34):
John M. Formella's office moved quickly to coordinate the investigation.
This wasn't just another domestic violence case. The systematic nature
of the killings, combined with Ryan's terminal cancer diagnosis, Emily's
public social media presence documenting their struggles, and the surviving child,
demanded extraordinarily careful handling. The intersection of terminal illness, financial fraud,
(11:59):
and family annihilation created investigative complexities that required expertise from
multiple disciplines.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
What was going on with the money situation, another one
with the health situation. I think the big thing is
to try not to speculate that there's any one reason
like something like this would happen. Homicide and suicide is
usually much much more complex than just one reason.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
But the physical evidence only told part of the story.
Investigators began digging into Emily's digital footprint, and what they
found revealed a woman drowning under the weight of impossible
circumstances while desperately trying to maintain a facade of strength
for her followers. Her TikTok account became a roadmap of
deteriorating mental health, with posts about navigating her husband's terminal
(12:44):
brain cancer, battling her own depression, and struggling to be
the mother her children deserved while watching their father slowly disappear.
What investigators couldn't determine from Emily's online presence was whether
she had been receiving professional mental health treatment. Her posts
suggested that friends and family had encouraged her to seek therapy,
(13:06):
but there was no evidence she had followed through with
formal treatment. The gap between recognizing the need for help
and actually accessing it would become a central theme in
understanding how this tragedy unfolded, particularly when caring for a
terminally ill spouse often leaves no time or energy for
self care. Before we jump back in, tell us where
(13:29):
you're watching from today and if this case hits you,
make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss what's next.
As investigators dug deeper into the Long family's finances, they
uncovered Emily's elaborate embezzlement scheme at Wingett's. Derek Fisher, owner
of the Hampton location, revealed that Emily had stolen approximately
(13:50):
six hundred sixty thousand dollars between January twenty twenty three
and July twenty twenty five. The timing of this theft
period overlapped significificantly with Ryan's cancer diagnosis and treatment, raising
questions about whether Emily's financial crimes were motivated by mounting
medical bills or represented a separate psychological break. Additionally, glioblastoma
(14:14):
treatment is devastatingly expensive, even with insurance. Radiation therapy, chemotherapy,
specialized medications, and frequent hospital visits can quickly exhaust a
family's financial resources. If Ryan's cancer treatment was creating crushing debt,
Emily's embezzlement might have been a desperate attempt to keep
their family financially afloat while her husband fought for his life.
(14:38):
The psychological pressure of stealing money to pay for her
husband's medical care, knowing the theft would eventually be discovered,
could have created an impossible psychological trap. But the embezzlement
also represented another layer of deception in Emily's increasingly complicated life.
She was hiding her financial crimes from her dying husband,
(14:58):
protecting him from additional stres while he battled cancer. She
was maintaining a social media presence that showed strength and
hope while privately drowning in despair. She was trying to
be a single parent in everything but name, while working
full time and managing a complex theft scheme. The cognitive
(15:19):
load of maintaining so many lies and facades simultaneously can
push anyone toward a complete psychological breakdown. The question of
why Emily spared her youngest child becomes even more complex
when viewed through the lens of Ryan's terminal diagnosis. Emily
had posted about having difficulty addressing her toddler's struggles, but
(15:40):
caring for a three year old while watching a spouse
die from brain cancer creates impossible competing demands. Did she
view the youngest child as too innocent to understand the
horror of their father's disease. Was the toddler spared because
Emily saw them as the only family member who hadn't
yet been touched by the trauma of watching Ryan deteriorate.
(16:01):
The surviving child was immediately placed in the care of
maternal and paternal grandparents and an aunt, but the long
term psychological impact of surviving such trauma, particularly in the
context of losing both parents simultaneously, remains unclear. This three
year old will grow up knowing their mother killed their
father and siblings but chose to let them live, while
(16:24):
also processing the fact that their father was already dying
from an incurable disease. The layers of grief, confusion, and
survivor's guilt this child will carry are almost incomprehensible. Ryan
Long's colleagues at Oyster River Middle School faced a particularly
complex grieving process. Their friend and colleague had been fighting
(16:48):
terminal brain cancer while trying to continue his work helping
children navigate emotional challenges. Now they had to process his
murder at the hands of his wife, who had been
publicly documenting her struggles with his diagnosis. The school district
immediately offered counseling services, recognizing that a tragedy involving terminal
(17:09):
illness and family annihilation would create traumatic ripples throughout the
entire educational community. The investigation also revealed the devastating irony
of Ryan's profession, intersecting with his medical diagnosis and ultimate fate.
As a school psychologist, he would have been trained to
recognize warning signs of mental health crises and family dysfunction,
(17:33):
but glioblastoma attacks the very organ responsible for personality judgment
and emotional regulation. The cancer may have been gradually eroding
Ryan's ability to recognize or respond to his wife's deteriorating
mental state, even as his professional training would have normally
made him sensitive to such changes. Community members who knew
(17:55):
the Long family described them as devoted parents who attended
school events and seemed committed to maintaining normalcy despite Ryan's diagnosis,
but neighbors on Mohaimit Drive had no indication that Emily's
stress was escalating toward violence. Her ability to maintain a
facade of coping while privately planning her family's destruction demonstrates
(18:18):
how effectively people can hide psychological crisis, particularly when they're
already dealing with public challenges like terminal illness that generate
community sympathy and support. The surviving three year old became
the focus of unprecedented community support, but also represented the
most haunting aspect of Emily's decision making process. Why spare
(18:40):
one child while systematically killing the others? Child psychologists theorizing
about Emily's mental state suggests several possibilities, all of them
deeply disturbing. Perhaps the toddler was seen as too young
to remember their father's illness and decline. Maybe Emily viewed
the youngest as the only family member who hadn't been
(19:01):
traumatized by watching Ryan deteriorate, or possibly Emily's psychological break
was interrupted by some remaining maternal instinct that couldn't complete
the final murder. The child's placement with extended family provided stability,
but the long term psychological impact of being the sole
survivor of their mother's rampage in the context of also
(19:24):
losing their father to terminal illness remains unknown. This three
year old will grow up carrying the weight of multiple traumas,
survivor's guilt, confusion about their mother's love, grief for their
murdered siblings, and the knowledge that their father was already
dying when their mother decided to end his suffering on
(19:44):
her terms. The Oyster River School District's response highlighted how
tragedies involving terminal illness and family annihilation create unique challenges
for communities trying to process such violence. Students who had
been helped by Ryan Long in his role as school
psychologist suddenly found themselves needing the kind of support he
(20:06):
would have provided while also trying to understand how someone
whose job was helping children with problems could become a
victim of his own wife's complete psychological breakdown. The intersection
of Ryan's professional identity and his role as both cancer
patient and murder victim created particular difficulties for the school community.
(20:27):
How do you maintain faith in mental health support systems
when a trained psychologist either couldn't recognize or couldn't address
the crisis developing in his own household. His glioblastoma diagnosis
complicated this question. Brain cancer can fundamentally alter personality, judgment,
and emotional regulation, potentially leaving Ryan unable to recognize warning
(20:49):
signs his professional training would normally have made obvious. Emily's
tik tok presence became a case study in how social
media can simultaneously reveal and conceal mental health crises. Her
posts documented someone clearly drowning in caregiver stress, anticipatory grief,
and depression, Yet they also demonstrated her ability to maintain
(21:11):
a facade of determination and hope. The platform became her
outlet for expressing struggles she couldn't share elsewhere, but it
also became part of the performance of strength she felt
obligated to maintain for her children and community. Mental health
advocates seized on Emily's case to highlight the specific challenges
facing caregivers of terminally ill family members. Caregiver burnout is
(21:36):
a recognized psychological condition that can lead to depression, anxiety, and,
in extreme cases, thoughts of harm toward oneself or others.
Emily's social media posts suggested people had encouraged her to
seek therapy, but accessing mental health care while managing a
dying spouse's medical needs, working full time, and raising three
(21:58):
young children creates practical barriers that can seem insurmountable. The
timing of Emily's psychological breakdown also raises questions about how
society supports families dealing with terminal illness. Glioblestoma patients and
their families often receive tremendous community support during the initial
diagnosis and treatment phases, but the grinding reality of months
(22:21):
or years of decline can leave caregivers increasingly isolated as
friends and extended families struggle to maintain engagement with such
overwhelming sadness. The Madbury community's vigil At United Church provided
a space for collective grieving, but it also highlighted how
ill equipped most communities are to process family annihilation cases
(22:44):
that involve terminal illness. Unlike random violence or sudden tragedies,
familicide in the context of cancer forces people to confront
questions about suffering, mercy, and the limits of human endurance
that have no comfortable answers. The case attracted national media
attention partly because it challenged common assumptions about family annihilation.
(23:07):
Most familicide cases involve male perpetrators who kill their families
as final acts of control, often in the context of
divorce or financial ruin. Emily's case involved a woman who
appeared to be motivated by a complex mixture of anticipatory grief,
financial desperation, and a desire to spare her family from
(23:28):
what she perceived as inevitable suffering. The investigation's conclusion that
multiple factors contributed to the tragedy, rather than a single
identifiable cause, reflects the complex reality of how terminal illness
can destroy families even before the patient dies. Emily's transformation
from devoted caregiver to family annihilator demonstrates how combinations of grief, stress,
(23:53):
financial pressure, and untreated mental illness can overwhelm even strong
people's coping mechanisms and lead to unthinkable decisions. The Long
family massacre stands as a devastating reminder that terminal illness
creates victims beyond the diagnosed patient, and that caregiver mental
health requires as much attention and support as the physical
(24:15):
care of the sick. Emily's case forces uncomfortable questions about
whether our medical system adequately addresses the psychological needs of
families watching loved ones die slowly, and whether we provide
sufficient support for people drowning in the impossible responsibilities of
caring for terminally ill family members. The Madbury community's vigil
(24:36):
at United Church provided a space for collective grieving, but
it also highlighted how ill equipped most communities are to
process family annihilation cases that involve terminal illness. Unlike random
violence or sudden tragedies, familicide in the context of cancer
forces people to confront questions about suffering, mercy, and the
(24:58):
limits of human endurance that have no comfortable answers. The
case attracted national media attention partly because it challenged common
assumptions about family annihilation. Most familicide cases involve male perpetrators
who kill their families as final acts of control, often
in the context of divorce or financial ruin. Emily's case
(25:20):
involved a woman who appeared to be motivated by a
complex mixture of anticipatory grief, financial desperation, and a desire
to spare her family from what she perceived as inevitable suffering.
The investigation's conclusion that multiple factors contributed to the tragedy
rather than a single identifiable cause, reflects the complex reality
(25:42):
of how terminal illness can destroy families even before the
patient dies. Emily's transformation from devoted caregiver to family annihilator
demonstrates how combinations of grief, stress, financial pressure, and untreated
mental illness can overwhelm even strong people's coping mechanisms and
lead to unthinkable decisions. This case isn't isolated. There have
(26:06):
been other heartbreaking stories where a mother turned on her
own family. In another tragic case, a mother killed her
two babies and the motive pointed back to her husband.
It's devastating and sadly not unfamiliar. We've covered something similar before.
The Wary Family Murders, a case that still haunts many
of us to this day.
Speaker 7 (26:27):
In twenty sixteen, this small house on South Madison Street
in Darlington, Indiana, became the setting for one of the
most haunting crimes the state had ever seen.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
Brandy Worley sentenced for chilling crime that horrified central Indiana.
Speaker 7 (26:44):
On the night of November seventeenth, two children, seven year
old Tyler and three year old Charlie, were tucked into
bed by their mother. Tyler had spent the day at school,
still wearing the same clothes when he laid down to sleep.
Charlie was curled up in her crib, wrapped in the
same soft blanket she always clung to. Nothing about the
(27:08):
evening seemed unusual, but by the next morning, both children
were dead and their killer never left the home. In fact,
she made the call herself.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Aniston, straight, Darlington, Here, what's one on there?
Speaker 3 (27:29):
My two children?
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yourself and your two children?
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (27:34):
And what's your name?
Speaker 5 (27:36):
Brandy?
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Oily, Brandy?
Speaker 8 (27:38):
Whatly?
Speaker 7 (27:41):
Hours earlier, Brandy had walked into a local walmart and
purchased a knife. Then she went home, fed the kid's dinner,
and waited. Once everyone was asleep, she descended into methodical cruelty.
She waited until Jason, her husband, had gone to sleep
in the basement. Then she walked up the stairs with
(28:03):
the knife hidden in her robe. In less than ten minutes,
both of their children had been killed, stabbed multiple times
in their beds. When she was finished, Brandy turned the
knife on herself. She stabbed her own neck, then picked
up the phone and calmly dialed nine one one.
Speaker 6 (28:25):
And where they where?
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Their children at?
Speaker 6 (28:28):
My daughter's and your daughters are one floor?
Speaker 8 (28:31):
Okay?
Speaker 7 (28:33):
What's uh?
Speaker 2 (28:33):
What's your phone number?
Speaker 4 (28:34):
Brandy?
Speaker 8 (28:38):
And and what caused you to do this today?
Speaker 6 (28:41):
My husband, my kids?
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Okay?
Speaker 6 (28:46):
And how old are your children?
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Till?
Speaker 5 (28:49):
Three?
Speaker 7 (28:50):
So the big question is why would a mother do
this just because of a divorce, and why with such
calm detachment. To answer that question, let's go back to
a time when everything looked picture perfect, no crime scene,
just a quiet street in Darlington, Indiana, where the Warley
(29:11):
family lived in a simple home on South Madison Street.
Darlington wasn't the kind of place where tragedy was expected.
Less than nine hundred people tucked just forty minutes from Indianapolis,
where everyone waved hello and nothing bad ever seemed to happen.
Inside that home were thirty year old Brandy, her husband
(29:33):
Jason thirty one, and their two children, seven year old
Tyler Daniel Clinton Warley and his little sister, three year
old Charlie Rose Jane Warley. From the outside, they were
the definition of a happy young family, the kind people
in town saw at school events and library visits, smiling, laughing, normal.
(30:00):
Tyler was the kind of kid every teacher loved. Born
on September seventeenth, two thousand nine, he had just started
first grade at Sugar Creek Elementary School. He was already
obsessed with sports, basketball, football, soccer, baseball. If it involved
running and a ball, Tyler wanted in. But he wasn't
(30:22):
just athletic. He was thoughtful. He wanted to work with
computers when he grew up, just like his dad, Jason
once said, Tyler was the kind of boy who could
walk into a room full of strangers and walk out
with twenty new friends. On the other hand, Charlie was
born on September twenty sixth, twenty thirteen. At just three
(30:46):
years old, she had a busier schedule than most adults.
Preschool at the Wilson Early Learning Center, dance classes, basketball camp,
and weekly trips to the local library for story time.
She loved dressing up, especially when someone braided her hair.
Jason said she was a ball of light in a tutu,
(31:09):
always on the go, always smiling.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Now.
Speaker 7 (31:12):
Brandy and Jason had met in two thousand and seven,
fell in love quickly, and got married in two thousand
and nine, the same year Tyler was born. Jason worked
as a software engineer and Brandy stayed home to raise
the kids. To their neighbors, the Warlis seemed completely normal.
They attended school events, helped with dance rehearsals, and played
(31:36):
in the yard. There were no fights in public, no
calls to police, no signs that the perfect picture was
slowly tearing at the edges. In fact, the day before
the murders, November sixteenth, twenty sixteen, had been nothing short
of ordinary. It was a Thursday, Tyler had gone to school,
(31:58):
Charlie had a dance performance that evening, and the whole
family showed up to cheer her on. Afterward, they drove home,
had dinner together, and wound down like they always did. However,
later that night, Brandy made a quick trip to Walmart
to buy pipe cleaners for one of Tyler's school projects.
(32:19):
The Walmart was just eleven minutes away in Crawfordsville. Brandy
went alone. No one suspected that her shopping trip wasn't
just for craft supplies. When she returned, the kids were
winding down for bed. Brandy and Jason played with them
for a while, then Jason helped them settle into their
(32:40):
blankets for the night. Tyler curled into his spider Man bedding,
Charlie snuggled into her crib with her favorite blanket. But
then Brandy said something strange. She asked Jason if he
wanted to sleep on the couch, but he declined. He
preferred to go down to the basement where he'd been
sleeping recently. And this raises a question many people would
(33:04):
later ask, why wasn't Jason sleeping beside his wife. The
truth is, like many couples, Brandy and Jason had been struggling.
Arguments had become more frequent, but this wasn't just about
bickering or stress. The problems ran deeper. In fact, Jason
(33:24):
had just filed for divorce the day before. They had
been together for nine years, married for seven, but Jason
had finally reached his breaking point. He believed Brandy had
been cheating on him with their neighbor and he had proof, painful,
undeniable proof. This wasn't just suspicion. This was betrayal, confirmed
(33:47):
through texts, photos, and late night messages she thought he'd
never see. Jason had noticed that Brandy became overly protective
of her phone. She changed her password and kept close, so,
using his skills as a software engineer, he installed monitoring
software that let him view her messages. What he discovered
(34:10):
crushed him. Brandy had been flirting ating their fifty one
year old neighbor, a man Jason thought was just a friend.
One message stood out, I'm all covered in frosting? Want
to lick it off? Jason wanted to believe it was
a joke, just Brandy's twisted sense of humor, but soon
(34:33):
he saw more graphic messages, snapchats sent from the bathroom
at work, plans to meet up while Jason was away.
He read them all. He watched their affair unfold in
real time. The emotional damage was overwhelming that Jason turned
to the internet for help. On Reddit, under the user
(34:54):
name Jason in Hell, he shared his pain. His post
titled I'm having a hard time coping with my wife
cheating on me with our neighbor went viral. In it,
he detailed the betrayal, how Brandy denied everything until he
showed her the evidence. Even then she minimized it, claimed
(35:15):
it was just a mistake, that it never went all
the way, that it was his fault for being too
busy at work, and then she threatened him if he
left her. She said he'd never see his kids again.
She threatened to use his past mental health history a
self harm attempt in high school as ammunition in court.
(35:40):
She said she'd prove him unfit. Jason was heartbroken, scared,
and stuck. He didn't want to lose his kids, so
he stayed for a while, but the resentment kept building. Eventually,
he realized he couldn't pretend anymore. He didn't want his
children growing up in a house filled with secrets and tension,
(36:04):
so he decided to leave, and that's when things took
a dark, irreversible turn. Jason's next Reddit post said it all.
Brandy refused counseling, refused to change. He had finally contacted
an attorney. He said he was ready to get his
kids out to start over. He thanked strangers online for
(36:26):
giving him the courage, but no one not Jason, not
anyone reading those posts could have imagined what would happen next,
because the very next morning his children were gone.
Speaker 8 (36:41):
Now record show they found that seven year old Tyler
and three year old Charlie had deep cuts on their throats,
and that a combat style life was found in her
daughter's bedroom. Polise Wory told them her husband was divorcing
her and wanted custody of their children. They also say
she specifically told them she did not want him to
take the kids. Her husband tells police Whirley yelled, now,
(37:02):
you can't take the kids from me as he came
upstairs to find the children.
Speaker 7 (37:07):
After the murders, a press conference was held. There was outrage, confusion, shock.
The Montgomery County Sheriff addressed the public with trembling words.
Speaker 6 (37:20):
While the dispatcher kept Warley on the telephone. The first
deputy arrived at the residence and confirmed that two children
were in fact deceased at four forty three am.
Speaker 7 (37:33):
Now, Brandy had been involved in a minor car accident once,
but beyond that nothing to prepare anyone for this. Jason
returned to Reddit after the killings, writing again in grief.
He said he felt like he had failed to protect
his children. He shared how he returned to the house
after the crime scene was cleaned, but he swore he
(37:55):
could still smell the blood in Charlie's room. He wasn't
sure if it was real or just trauma, clinging to
his senses. Either way, he knew he couldn't stay there.
He packed his things and left. Jason questioned everything. Why
had Brandy asked him to sleep on the couch that night?
(38:15):
Did she plan to kill him two? Could he have
saved the kids if he'd stayed upstairs? Would things be
different if he'd left earlier, or if he'd stayed married.
These are the kinds of questions that torment a father
who did everything he thought he could but still lost everything.
(38:36):
I had one job, Jason later wrote. A father's job
is to protect his children, and I failed. He set
up a go fund Me to help with the funeral expenses.
The campaign was shared by YouTuber Philip DeFranco, who discovered
Jason's story on Reddit and used his massive platform to
(38:56):
bring attention to the tragedy. Thanks to the support of
viewers and readers across the internet, the fund raised enough
to give Tyler and Charlie the farewell they deserved, but
no amount of money could undo what had been done,
and no amount of sympathy could answer the one question
that still echoes through every post, every headline, every courtroom.
(39:21):
Why In a town as small and close knit as Darlington,
where everyone knew each other by name, grief spread like wildfire.
Within days, the town organized a candlelight vigil at the
local church. People came not just to mourn, but to
try to understand how something so unthinkable had happened right
(39:43):
in their midst. There weren't enough chairs. It was standing
room only. Five days after the murders, the funeral for
Tyler and Charlie was held at the Darlington Community Center.
Their tiny caskets were surrounded by flowers, stuff, animals, and
handwritten letters. The children's mother, the woman who had taken
(40:05):
their lives, was not there, but Jason was, and so
was nearly everyone else in Darlington. Hundreds showed up, some
in tears, others simply silent. A few brought candles, many
brought memories, and every single one of them carried heartbreak.
(40:26):
The Wary family released a statement during the funeral, saying,
we are shocked and saddened by the sudden loss of
our beloved Tyler and Charlie. They meant the world to
our family and words cannot describe our feelings of devastation.
We are thankful for the outpouring of support from our friends, family,
and the community. We will grieve forever the loss of
(40:49):
our precious little boy and girl. However, the case was
far from over. Eleven days after the murders, Brandy was
finally released from the hospital. Her neck wound had healed enough,
but she wasn't walking out to freedom. The moment she
was stable enough to move, she was transferred directly to
(41:10):
the Montgomery County jail and charged with two counts of murder.
Her bail was denied. Her defense attorney, Mark Inman, met
with her shortly after. He said that in their first
few meetings, Brandy showed emotion, she cried, but after that
something changed. She shut down. No more emotion, no explanations,
(41:35):
just a blank stare. She refused to speak about what happened.
Inman said he couldn't find any clear cut reason for
the murders, and Brandy wasn't offering one. Her behavior puzzled
even her own legal team. Some believed it was trauma
others thought it was coldness. The defense hinted they might
(41:57):
pursue an insanity plea, but first Brandy had to undergo
a full psychiatric evaluation. The results weren't made public at
the time, but prosecutors were already building a case that
would dismantle any claim of mental instability. In fact, the
more investigators dug, the more premeditated the crime looked. They
(42:21):
discovered that on November fifteenth, two days before the murders,
Brandy had learned Jason was moving forward with divorce. He
had contacted an attorney. He was ready to go, and
she knew it. In the days leading to the murder,
she kept things deceptively normal. She took the kids out
(42:43):
with her mother, Jason came home from work, and the
family went to Charlie's dance recital that evening. But what
Brandy did next exposed her true intentions. That night, she
told Jason she needed to buy pipe cleaners for a
school product, but she lied that trip to Walmart was
(43:04):
not about craft supplies. It was a cover. Surveillance footage
and receipts revealed that she had bought a Ka Barr
combat knife, the kind used by the United States Marine Corps,
not a kitchen knife, not something from a dollar aisle,
a weapon designed for combat. When she came home, she
(43:27):
hid the knife in Tyler's room. Jason tucked the kids
into bed, he went downstairs to the basement. The house
went quiet, and then Brandy made her move. She walked
into Tyler's room, took out the knife, and woke him
up gently, not with fear, not with rage, but with
(43:48):
a lie. She asked him if he wanted to have
a sleepover in his little sister's room. Being seven years old,
Tyler was probably excited. A midweek sleepover meant breaking the rules,
something fun, something special. He had no idea what was coming.
Brandy led Tyler into Charlie's room, and once both children
(44:11):
were together, she began to stab her son. First, he
likely screamed, maybe tried to run, but Charlie, only three,
heard something and asked what was happening. Brandy told her
to go back to sleep. She did, she trusted her mother.
Once Tyler was gone, Brandy turned the knife on Charlie.
(44:35):
The details of the attack were described as overkill by
the prosecution. There was no mercy, no hesitation, just brutality.
When it was over, Brandy stabbed herself in the neck,
then calmly called nine one one and told the dispatcher
what she had done. Before the case ever reached trial,
(44:56):
Brandy changed her plea to guilty. There would be no
courtroom drama, no jury to convince. The only thing left
was sentencing and a chance for Jason to speak. The
court asked Jason what kind of sentence he believed Brandy
should get. He didn't give a long statement, he didn't cry.
(45:18):
He just said, I never want to see her again.
Out of sight, out of mind. The judge, Harry Seamus,
asked Brandy directly if she had anything to say, any explanation,
any apology. She said nothing. She didn't cry, she didn't
(45:38):
ask for forgiveness. She didn't even look at Jason, and
the court took that silence as her final act of cruelty.
Brandy Warley was sentenced to sixty five years for the
murder of Charlie and fifty five years for Tyler, one
hundred twenty years total, no possibility of parole. The sentences
(46:00):
would run consecutively at Rockville Correctional Facility. Judge Siama said,
everyone wants to know why, Why would a mother kill
her children. But sometimes there is no explanation. Sometimes darkness
exists in the world, and it finds its way into
people's hearts. After the trial, Jason said that hearing Brandy
(46:24):
talk about the murders on the nine one one call
and later to police like she was describing a grocery
list was the most painful part of it all. She
never showed any emotion, never even seemed to understand what
she'd done, he said, I just want to move forward.
(46:46):
I want to protect the memory of my kids. As
of twenty twenty five, Brandy Warley remains locked away inside
the cold, gray walls of the Indiana Women's Prison. She's
not a mother anymore, not a wife, not even a
name that brings comfort to anyone. She's a number, a
(47:06):
ghost of the woman who once rocked her children to
sleep and later stole their last breaths. Inmates who've crossed
paths with her say she barely speaks. She doesn't cry,
she doesn't scream. She simply exists, quiet, unemotional, like she's
detached from the reality of what she did. She eats
(47:29):
when she's told, moves when she's told, and when her
name is called for mandatory therapy or evaluations, she shows
up and offers almost nothing. Her most recent psychiatric evaluation
diagnosed her with major depressive disorder, but to the outside
world that doesn't matter anymore. No diagnosis can explain away
(47:52):
what she did. No label can soften the fact that
she murdered her two children with a knife she bought
for that purpose. The world didn't need a psychological report
to know that something inside Brandy was broken far beyond repair. Meanwhile,
Jason Warley, the man Brandy tried to emotionally destroy before
(48:15):
physically destroying their family, is still standing. He's older now,
in his early forties. He moved away from Darlington long
ago and started over in a different city. He remarried,
he has more children, and although photos show a man
smiling beside his new family, those closest to him say
(48:37):
grief still lives in his eyes, just below the surface.
Jason never became a public figure. He never gave lengthy
interviews or tried to spin his story for attention. He
just kept living quietly day by day. But online in
the same Reddit threads where he once opened up about
(48:59):
Brand's betrayal, He's made a few rare appearances. In one
heartbreaking post. He admitted that he still tortures himself over
that night, Over the moment Brandy asked him to sleep
on the couch and he chose the basement instead. He
wonders if that was her test, if she wanted him
(49:20):
upstairs to stop her, or worse, if she wanted to
kill him too. He'll never know. But the part that
breaks people the most isn't what happened, it's what should
have happened instead. If that night had gone differently, if
Brandy had just left, like most people do during a divorce,
(49:43):
Tyler and Charlie would still be alive. Tyler would be
fifteen now. He'd be in high school, probably obsessed with
football and video games, maybe teaching himself how to code.
He was sharp, curious, always asking how things worked. Jason
used to say Tyler could charm anyone. He'd make friends
(50:07):
at the grocery store. He had that glow, that natural
warmth you can't teach. Charlie would be eleven. She'd be
in middle school, maybe still wearing sparkly sneakers and asking
for glitter in her hair. She loved dance class, loved
story time. She had this way of making people smile
without saying a word. She was the kind of child
(50:30):
who sang to herself when no one was watching, and
always wanted to help with the dishes, even when she
wasn't tall enough to reach the sink. But instead of
growing up, their names are carved in stone. Their birthdays
are remembered with candles and tears, not balloons and laughter.
(50:51):
The rooms that once echoed with their voices are silent.
Now photos are all that remain, pictures frozen in time
of two kids who never had the chance to become
who they were meant to be. The Reddit community that
once stood by Jason, offering advice, cheering him on as
(51:11):
he tried to leave a toxic marriage, was devastated when
the truth came out. They hadn't just followed a story
about infidelity. They had watched unknowingly as a double homicide
unfolded in real time. Some users felt guilty, Some wondered
if encouraging Jason to leave had pushed Brandy too far.
(51:34):
But none of this was their fault, and it wasn't
Jason's either. The blame rests on Brandy Warley alone.
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