Woman stabbed to death called cops on old classmate: Police

homesafetytechpros — Sat, 22 Mar 2025 09:47:16 +0000

Left: Brandon Braxton (Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office). Right: Whitney Heard (Facebook).

Almost a year after a North Carolina woman was found stabbed to death in her home, one of her former classmates allegedly confessed to the crime while in jail.

According to an affidavit filed on March 20, Brandon Braxton, 33, was charged with the murder of Whitney Hurd, 32, who was found dead in her home on July 14, 2024. Braxton, who was in custody at the Mecklenburg County Jail on an unrelated charge, reportedly submitted a grievance on March 3 with a note that read, “I killed Whitney Hurd.” Detectives confirmed through video surveillance that it was Braxton who wrote the note. Braxton, who has a long list of arrests in North Carolina, was named as a person of interest in the case and has now been formally charged.

Hurd was discovered in the early afternoon of July 14, 2024, and just hours before that, one of her neighbors told police that she saw a man driving Hurd’s white BMW X3 away from her home with no one in the passenger’s seat. She reportedly told police that Hurd “never let other people drive her car.”

The affidavit stated that the vehicle was later found using cellphone data from Hurd’s phone, which was never recovered.

Law&Crime’s “Sidebar with Jesse Weber” recently delved into Braxton’s criminal past and his history with Hurd, a former classmate from high school. According to the affidavit, Braxton was interviewed by police on Aug. 8, 2024, a couple of weeks after Hurd was found dead. At the time, police said that Braxton confirmed they used to “hang out” in high school and that he had been inside her residence. He denied to police that he had ever been in her vehicle. Braxton, who had just been signed out of jail after being arrested for an unrelated crime on July 24, 2024, reportedly acknowledged that he was aware of what had just happened to Hurd.

When police asked Braxton about the last time he saw Hurd, he reportedly said, “she looked petrified.” He also allegedly told police that he “would not provide further details” when asked if he knew where she was.

The affidavit stated that during interviews with Hurd’s friends and family, they said that while Hurd and Braxton “used to be friends” in high school, the two lost touch over the years. They also said that Braxton “began showing up at her residence,” and recounted an incident during which he “had fallen asleep intoxicated” in Hurd’s driveway “when she wouldn’t let him in.”

At some point, per the affidavit, Braxton allegedly broke into Hurd’s home, which prompted Hurd to call the police and inform her friends.

Police said in the affidavit that fingerprints found at the crime scene and in Hurd’s SUV matched Braxton’s. Phone records also allegedly showed that Braxton was in the area at the estimated time of the crime.

Braxton remains in custody at the Mecklenberg County Jail without bond after being charged with first-degree murder and robbery with a dangerous weapon.

Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.

Source link

The post Woman stabbed to death called cops on old classmate: Police appeared first on Home Safety Tech Pros.

Man killed former classmate for getting him expelled

homesafetytechpros — Sat, 26 Oct 2024 23:15:26 +0000

Left to right: Aranda Isabel Briones (Facebook/Justice for Aranda Isabel Briones), Owen Skyler Shover (Riverside County Sheriff’s Department), Briones at school (Moreno Valley Police Department).

A California man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for the disappearance and revenge murder of a classmate who he blamed for getting him expelled from high school several years ago.

Owen Skyler Shover, 23, learned his fate on Friday in the January 2019 murder of Aranda Isabel Briones, 16, who was buried somewhere in the unforgiving San Bernardino Mountains and whose remains have not been found.

Shover was convicted in August on one count of murder in the first degree, along with a special circumstance of lying in wait, Law&Crime reported.

On Jan. 13, 2019, two of the girl’s friends saw her get into the since-condemned man’s car at Bayside Park in Moreno Valley. After that, she vanished. The only trace of the girl left was her blood — found pooled in the trunk of Shover’s Nissan Versa.

But the relationship between the killer and the victim went back much further.

The two were friends who attended Moreno Valley High School together. On Nov. 7, 2017, a group of students, including the ill-fated pair, were hanging out at a local park instead of attending classes. Shover had a small handgun in his possession that day.

When a truancy officer broke up the party, Shover threw the weapon to Briones and shouted for her to hide it, according to a trial brief prepared by Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin and obtained by City News Service, a California-based wire service.

Briones panicked. She threw the gun into a drainage canal — and got caught disposing of the firearm. When questioned by law enforcement and school officials, she finally told the truth: the gun belonged to Shover, and he was the one who gave it to her.

In February 2018, both Briones and Shover were expelled.

The girl moved to another school but stayed in the district, while the boy was forced to move in with his father in Hesperia, some 50 miles north.

During the trial, prosecutors argued that Shover nursed his bitterness for nearly a year in the dry heat.

“He’s a stone-cold killer,” Hestrin told CNS. “On the day of his conviction, he spoke to his grandfather from jail, wondering whether he should ‘get a trophy’ for being a convicted murderer. He has shown no remorse.”

Law enforcement cataloged a series of social media interactions from November 2018 through January 2019 in which the defendant tried to — and eventually did — obtain another handgun.

Then, on Jan. 12, 2019, Shover asked Briones to hang out with him again. He promised something of the Wild West to the girl in the text messages cited by prosecutors: she would accompany him on drug deliveries and ride along as he “robs drug dealers.”

For whatever reason — a breach seemingly repaired, the thrill of crimes that could barely be punished — the girl agreed. They met at Bayside Park at 5 p.m. the next day. Within an hour, she posted photos of the old friends being reunited, happy to be with the “homie” once more, and glee at being allowed to do some driving.

But the hour was only golden for just about that long.

Minutes before 6 p.m., the car was heading north — toward a trailer park in San Bernardino County. Along the way, Shover messaged his brother: “Be ready for tonight. Get shovels and lighter fluid ready.”

Then, the boys headed into the tall mountains — taking state Routes 138 and 18. Between roughly 8:30 p.m. and 10:15 p.m., there is no good indication of exactly where they traveled due to the lack of cellular phone data. Owen Shover’s phone only turned back on again when he returned to his father’s house on Grevillea Street.

Gary Anthony Shover, 27, pleaded guilty in March to one count of accessory after the fact. He was sentenced to one year in the county jail, followed by 12 months of probation. The older brother was initially charged with Briones’ murder (and the lying-in-wait enhancement) as well — but that charge was dismissed in 2022.

In the end, the elder Shover admitted to the cover-up but not the underlying crime, according to a report by City News Service. A neighbor said she saw investigators retrieve clothing and blankets from holes in their backyard — evidence used to charge them both.

While the older brother took the plea deal, the younger brother opted for a 6-day trial. After over a day of deliberations, Riverside County jurors sealed his fate. Due to the death penalty effectively nonexistent in California, he faces a mandatory term of life in prison without the possibility of parole when he is sentenced on Oct. 25.

Law&Crime’s Colin Kalmbacher contributed to this report.

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]

Source link

The post Man killed former classmate for getting him expelled appeared first on Home Safety Tech Pros.

classmate Archives - Home Safety Tech Pros

Woman stabbed to death called cops on old classmate: Police

Man killed former classmate for getting him expelled