Introducing Gone Cold – Texas True Crime

WEBVTT

1
00:00:01.240 --> 00:00:06.639
In twenty seventeen, Gone Cold,
Texas True crime began with the story of

2
00:00:06.719 --> 00:00:13.160
Carla Walker, and a community came
together and demanded justice. Almost forty seven

3
00:00:13.240 --> 00:00:19.760
years after her murder, Carla's case
is solved. Since then, Gone Cold

4
00:00:19.879 --> 00:00:25.280
has told the stories of hundreds of
other cold cases, concentrating on lesser known

5
00:00:25.320 --> 00:00:31.199
cases that the media has long left
behind. Cases like the brazen two thousand

6
00:00:31.320 --> 00:00:35.479
murder of Les Barrazza, who was
shot to death in what appears to be

7
00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:41.000
a targeted killing while setting up a
garage cell, and the mysterious nineteen eighty

8
00:00:41.079 --> 00:00:46.439
nine disappearance of thirteen year old Elisa
Robertson, who disappeared while she was walking

9
00:00:46.439 --> 00:00:51.280
a few blocks from home to meet
a friend. On Gone Cold, you'll

10
00:00:51.320 --> 00:00:57.200
also occasionally hear high profile cases,
such as a comprehensive series on the nineteen

11
00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:02.719
ninety six abduction and murder of nine
year old Amber Hagerman The Little Girl Behind

12
00:01:02.759 --> 00:01:07.280
the Amber. Alert. You're about
to hear a clip from Gone Cold series

13
00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:11.159
on nineteen year old Brittany McLoone.
As you're listening, join Gone Cold's mission

14
00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:17.200
to bring these forgotten cases back into
the public's awareness by subscribing to Gone Cold

15
00:01:17.239 --> 00:01:23.400
podcast Texas True Crime wherever you listen
to podcasts, Gone Cold isn't simply a

16
00:01:23.519 --> 00:01:34.400
murder podcast, It's a pursuit for
justice. On Friday May fourth, two

17
00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:40.439
thousand and seven, Brittany mcloone's boyfriend, Jeff Stagner, and his stepfather left

18
00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:45.120
their home on the two hundred block
of Country Road forty eight thirty seven to

19
00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:49.840
travel to the Cleeburn area to pick
up Jeff's maternal grandmother. The time was

20
00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:57.760
just after eight thirty am. Cleeburn
is located about thirty two miles due south

21
00:01:57.879 --> 00:02:02.319
of Fort Worth. One hundred and
forty five mile drive there from the Stagner

22
00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:07.400
home in Wood County takes about two
hours and forty minutes in non rush hour

23
00:02:07.520 --> 00:02:13.680
traffic. Jeff's mother was at work
at the local Alco store, and his

24
00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:19.159
brother and sister in school. Brittany, who had just finished her shift early

25
00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:23.719
that morning, went straight to Jeff's
after and stayed there while everyone was gone

26
00:02:24.120 --> 00:02:30.680
getting some rest. Early that afternoon, Jeff Stagner phoned Patricia, Britney's mother

27
00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:37.599
from his cell phone and asked if
Brittany was home. Brittany was not home,

28
00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:42.039
and since she had told her mother
that she'd probably go straight to Jeff's

29
00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:46.919
after work. Patricia figured her daughter
had gone to sleep while Jeff and his

30
00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:53.159
parents were away. She'd be heading
home soon enough, Patricia thought. Almost

31
00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:58.560
an hour later, however, at
about two twenty pm, Brittany still hadn't

32
00:02:58.599 --> 00:03:04.240
made it home. Patricia called Britney's
cell phone. It went straight to voicemail.

33
00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:09.599
Patricia was already passively worried, but
at this point a feeling of dread

34
00:03:09.759 --> 00:03:15.840
was bubbling to the surface. It
wasn't like Brittany to leave her mother hanging

35
00:03:15.240 --> 00:03:21.919
as far as her whereabouts or movements
were concerned, and anyway, the nineteen

36
00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:25.639
year old's cell phone was, as
her mother put it, like an extension

37
00:03:25.759 --> 00:03:31.960
of her arm. She always had
it nearby and always answered it never went

38
00:03:32.039 --> 00:03:38.879
straight to voicemail. Brittany going to
her boyfriend's right after work, too,

39
00:03:38.919 --> 00:03:44.039
factored into Patricia's worry. She knew
that was her daughter's plans that day,

40
00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:49.759
but she hadn't known her daughter to
do that before. Generally, as her

41
00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:53.719
regular routine, Brittany came home,
took a shower, and slept for a

42
00:03:53.759 --> 00:04:00.000
bit before going to Jeff's. His
calls to Brittany As he, his dad

43
00:04:00.120 --> 00:04:05.439
and grandmother made their way back to
Wood County, he later said had also

44
00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:12.919
gone straight to voicemail. Patricia called
Jeff back and asked him if he'd found

45
00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:16.319
Britney yet, and as they pulled
up at the Stagner home, Jeff replied

46
00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:20.480
that he had. She was at
his house sleeping, he presumed, because

47
00:04:20.519 --> 00:04:26.279
as they returned home at about three
pm, Britney's truck was still in the

48
00:04:26.360 --> 00:04:31.759
driveway. When Patricia asked him why
Brittany didn't answer her call, Jeff told

49
00:04:31.800 --> 00:04:35.879
her that she must be sleeping hard
and must not have heard the ring.

50
00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:43.879
That certainly did not explain why Patricia's
calls went straight to voicemail, But knowing

51
00:04:43.959 --> 00:04:49.680
that her daughter worked hard and a
lot, that answer satisfied Patricia. She

52
00:04:49.839 --> 00:04:54.759
asked Jeff that he'd tell Brittany she
loved her and to give her a call

53
00:04:54.800 --> 00:04:59.480
when she woke up. Jeff told
Patricia he would, and as he ended

54
00:04:59.480 --> 00:05:03.800
the call with his girlfriend's mother,
Jeff walked into his room where he thought

55
00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:11.480
Brittany was sleeping. However, she
was not. When he entered, Brittany

56
00:05:11.720 --> 00:05:15.639
was there, but she was battered
and bloodied. She'd been badly beaten,

57
00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:26.000
brutally murdered, Britney's face and head
bludgeoned with an object. The Wood County

58
00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:30.439
Sheriff's office was certainly used to crime, but not a crime like the savage

59
00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:38.160
attack against nineteen year old Britney McGlone. They had no witnesses, and one

60
00:05:38.199 --> 00:05:43.959
state Attorney General's Office investigator told the
family that it was as if the perpetrator

61
00:05:44.040 --> 00:05:49.240
had entered the home, possibly sexually
assaulted and killed Brittany while covered in plastic

62
00:05:49.319 --> 00:05:57.040
wrap, an analogy meaning that he
left no physical evidence. However, years

63
00:05:57.120 --> 00:06:01.000
later, on a social media thread
of all places, Wood County Sheriff Tom

64
00:06:01.160 --> 00:06:06.439
Castleu, who was not sheriff at
the time of Britney's murder, admitted that

65
00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:14.839
officers who were unfamiliar with proper investigative
techniques had contaminated the crime scene. Wood

66
00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:19.639
County Sheriff's Office deputies too, let
the family back into the house the crime

67
00:06:19.720 --> 00:06:27.480
scene the same evening. Britney was
found slain there just hours later. This

68
00:06:27.639 --> 00:06:34.639
almost certainly resulted in further contamination.
Even still, an affidaphit years later states

69
00:06:34.680 --> 00:06:42.519
that numerous items of evidence were collected
there. A later Wood County Sheriff revealed

70
00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:47.800
that there were multiple sources of DNA
bagged for evidence items taken from Jeff's bedroom

71
00:06:47.959 --> 00:06:53.319
in areas such as the bed,
the wall, the carpet, and from

72
00:06:53.439 --> 00:07:00.560
clothing. Britney's boyfriend, Jeff was
scrutinized for obvious reasons. He was the

73
00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:04.920
last known person to see Britney alive, he found her body, and the

74
00:07:04.959 --> 00:07:11.879
two had recently gotten back together after
a pretty intense breakup. Jeff's DNA was

75
00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:15.160
all over the scene. Of course, it was his room, so it

76
00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:20.000
meant little in terms of evidence that
he was involved in Britney's murder in any

77
00:07:20.040 --> 00:07:28.560
way. The families and likely Wood
County Sheriff's Office investigator's first reaction was that

78
00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:34.519
Jeff was involved in Britney's death when
Sheriff's deputies told Patricia that Brittany was deceased.

79
00:07:34.920 --> 00:07:41.720
In fact, it was her first
reaction, But there was someone connected

80
00:07:41.720 --> 00:07:46.800
to Jeff or Jeff's sister, more
specifically, who eventually became the Wood County

81
00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:53.680
Sheriff's Office prime suspect. In fact, this person, chatter O Carr,

82
00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:59.480
had become a person of interest within
an hour of the discovery of Britney's body.

83
00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:05.680
It wasn't simply because the man was
visibly nervous when Deputy Mark Miller spoke

84
00:08:05.720 --> 00:08:09.759
with him at the scene that made
him look suspicious. Rather, it was

85
00:08:09.839 --> 00:08:16.399
the combination of that, a criminal
record that included violent offenses that mirrored Britney's

86
00:08:16.439 --> 00:08:24.120
slang lies he told regarding his alibi, and strong, circumstantial and physical evidence

87
00:08:24.360 --> 00:08:28.920
that pointed to him collected not long
after the heinous crime was committed.