Cold Case Vault

🩸 Real crimes. Dark secrets. Untold stories.
🔎 Unsolved mysteries, missing persons & criminal minds.
📁 Every case leaves a trace. We uncover the truth.

[Cold Case Vault @ColdCaseVaultX]

He starred in Hollywood movies. He was married to Katy Perry. Millions watched his videos every week.

On Thursday, Russell Brand walked out of a London court and into custody.

A jury found him guilty of rape and sexual assault.

Here's what happened, in simple words:

• The crimes go back more than 20 years. Back then he was one of the biggest names on British TV and radio.
• In 2023, a TV investigation shared anonymous claims from several women.
• After it aired, women went to the police. 6 of them testified at trial. None of them knew each other.
• The jury: 8 men and 4 women. They talked for more than 8 hours over two days.
• Guilty: 1 rape and 3 sexual assaults, against 4 women.
• Not guilty: 2 other rape charges and 1 attempted indecent assault.

The rape happened in 2009. A woman met him after a gig. Days later, at his home, she said sex turned into rape.

Brand denied everything. He told the court he was obsessed with sex as a young man, but he never forced anyone.

His lawyers said the women waited years and only spoke up after the documentary. The prosecutor called him a "sexual predator."

In recent years Brand left mainstream TV, moved to Florida, and built a huge online following. Many of his fans say this case was never about justice.

The judge says he faces a "significant" prison term.

On Monday, November 9, we'll find out how many years.

I'll post Part 2 right after the sentence. Follow so you don't miss it.

Did fame protect him for too long, or did the media decide this case before the jury did?

[Cold Case Vault @ColdCaseVaultX]

In court, he sat in a wheelchair. Mouth open. Staring at nothing. He looked like a weak old man.

Then prosecutors showed a video from his jail cell.

He was climbing on furniture. Doing jumping jacks.

His name is Joseph DeAngelo. The Golden State Killer.

In the 1970s and 80s, he terrorized California.
13 murders.
At least 50 rapes.
87 victims in total.

The worst part? For part of that time, he was a police officer.

He was fired in 1979. Not for murder. For shoplifting a hammer and dog repellent.

Then he just... lived. Married. Raised three daughters. For over 40 years, nobody knew.

In 2018, investigators tried something new. They put DNA from a crime scene into a genealogy website. They found a distant relative. Then they built his family tree.

April 2018. Arrested at his home near Sacramento. He was 72.

In 2020 he pleaded guilty. He stood up from his wheelchair only once, to say sorry.

Life in prison. No parole.

Was the wheelchair an act for sympathy, or one last way to mock everyone?

[Cold Case Vault @ColdCaseVaultX]

He asked the police one question:
Could he send them a floppy disk without it being traced?

The police answered with a newspaper ad:
"Rex, it will be OK."

They lied.

He was BTK. For 31 years, he got away with it.

Wichita, Kansas. Between 1974 and 1991, he killed 10 people. Four of them were one family, on a single day.

He sent letters to the newspaper and TV. In one he asked:
"How many people do I have to kill before I get my name in the paper?"

Then he went quiet. For years.

In 2004, he came back. More letters. More taunts.

And in 2005, he sent the floppy disk.

Hidden in the file's details were two clues: the name "Dennis" and "Christ Lutheran Church."

Police looked up the church. Its president was Dennis Rader.

A husband. A father of two. A city code officer. The man who ran his church.

To be sure, they tested DNA from a medical test his daughter had taken at college. It matched.

February 25, 2005. Arrested.

His first question to the detective:
"How come you lied to me?"

The detective's answer:
"Because I was trying to catch you."

10 life sentences. At least 175 years before parole.

What's crazier: that he trusted the police, or that he hid in plain sight for 31 years?

[Cold Case Vault @ColdCaseVaultX]

@SSoxvv Both can be true. She was exploited at 18, and then she went back because the world outside offered her nothing better. That’s not her failure. That’s everyone’s.

[Cold Case Vault @ColdCaseVaultX]

@KateriSeraphina “Too loud. Too angry.” That’s what they always say about women who won’t stop telling the truth. She was right the whole time.

[Cold Case Vault @ColdCaseVaultX]

PART 2: Russell Brand has been sentenced.

10 and a half years in prison.

I promised to post this the moment it dropped. Here's what happened in court:

• He showed almost no emotion.
• As he was led away, he mouthed "we'll be OK" to his wife.
• The judge called him "a sexual predator" with a "casual and arrogant disregard" for any woman who said no.
• The judge also said he lied in court.

One detail shocked the room. The woman he raped was saved in his phone under "T." For "tart."

The women spoke too.
One said she felt like "damaged goods."
One said she still reacts when she hears his voice.
The woman he raped said she was scared no one would believe her, because of his fame and money.

His lawyer talked about his charity work and his three young children.

Outside, his supporters held a banner about his new Christian faith.

And it may not be over. UK police are looking into two more rape claims against him.

Is 10.5 years fair? Too much? Too little?

[Cold Case Vault @ColdCaseVaultX]

@orshovskiy That's the scary part. On paper he probably looked fine. The real story was in why he left, and nobody checks that

[Cold Case Vault @ColdCaseVaultX]

🚨"I'm half a mile from home."

That's what Katie Suarez, 28, told her dad on the phone. She was out for an evening run in Brooklyn.

Minutes later, her dad went looking for her. He found her under a tree. She had been stabbed twice in the neck.

She died three days later.

Police say it looks random. No robbery. No fight. Nothing taken.

For a week, nobody knew who did it.

Then cameras gave police a name: Sayed Mohassib, 27.

What police say they found:
• Video of him walking toward the path before the attack, and running away after.
• 15 minutes later, he walks out of his apartment in just his underwear and throws things down the garbage chute.
• A bloodstain on his wall that he tried to clean.
• The knife, found in a landfill after he told police where he threw it.

His story: he took a knife to the path because he thought people were coming to kill his family. He says he sat on a bench and "became covered in blood." He denies stabbing anyone.

Who is he? He briefly worked for the NYPD and was let go for psychological reasons. The Marines discharged him over mental health. The NYPD turned him down when he tried to come back.

At the time of the attack, he was working as a teacher's aide at an elementary school. Reports say he kept going to work with kids after that night.

He's charged with murder and held without bail.

How does a man that both the NYPD and the Marines let go for mental health reasons end up working with little kids?

[Cold Case Vault @ColdCaseVaultX]

@no_xzen Fair point, and I agree. Deliberation time doesn't prove the verdict is right. But that works both ways. 8 hours doesn't prove it wasn't rape either. It just means we can't judge the case by the clock.

[Cold Case Vault @ColdCaseVaultX]

He starred in Hollywood movies. He was married to Katy Perry. Millions watched his videos every week.

On Thursday, Russell Brand walked out of a London court and into custody.

A jury found him guilty of rape and sexual assault.

Here's what happened, in simple words:

• The crimes go back more than 20 years. Back then he was one of the biggest names on British TV and radio.
• In 2023, a TV investigation shared anonymous claims from several women.
• After it aired, women went to the police. 6 of them testified at trial. None of them knew each other.
• The jury: 8 men and 4 women. They talked for more than 8 hours over two days.
• Guilty: 1 rape and 3 sexual assaults, against 4 women.
• Not guilty: 2 other rape charges and 1 attempted indecent assault.

The rape happened in 2009. A woman met him after a gig. Days later, at his home, she said sex turned into rape.

Brand denied everything. He told the court he was obsessed with sex as a young man, but he never forced anyone.

His lawyers said the women waited years and only spoke up after the documentary. The prosecutor called him a "sexual predator."

In recent years Brand left mainstream TV, moved to Florida, and built a huge online following. Many of his fans say this case was never about justice.

The judge says he faces a "significant" prison term.

On Monday, November 9, we'll find out how many years.

I'll post Part 2 right after the sentence. Follow so you don't miss it.

Did fame protect him for too long, or did the media decide this case before the jury did?

[Cold Case Vault @ColdCaseVaultX]

@butzj12530 True, and that's the case with most rape cases. They usually happen behind closed doors. In the UK a jury can convict on testimony if they're "sure." Fair rule or not? Curious what you think.

[Cold Case Vault @ColdCaseVaultX]

@no_xzen 8 hours for 7 charges, 6 women and a month of evidence isn't long. It means they took it seriously. They even cleared him on 3 charges. That's a jury doing its job, not guessing.

[Cold Case Vault @ColdCaseVaultX]

@Albert61547 Calling her a slut kind of proves the point of the trial. Rape isn't measured by how long it hurts. And the jury also convicted him of 3 sexual assaults against other women.

[Cold Case Vault @ColdCaseVaultX]

@J74Jacek He ran toward the danger when everyone else ran away. Thank you.

[Cold Case Vault @ColdCaseVaultX]

@simplynastasiia Claude reading my bank account would just be AI telling me to stop buying stuff 😅 Read-only is a smart start though.

[Cold Case Vault @ColdCaseVaultX]

@dromexa Been following this series since the sewing machine. Love that every round gets weirder

[Cold Case Vault @ColdCaseVaultX]

@Milajoy The jury cleared him on some charges and convicted on others. That actually shows they looked at each case one by one. I posted about this case too if you want a different angle.

[Cold Case Vault @ColdCaseVaultX]

@jaxfomo The 25-year-old. A parent not asking is neglect. An adult taking in a 14-year-old is a choice. Both failed her, but he knew exactly what he was doing.

[Cold Case Vault @ColdCaseVaultX]

@sotraxyz Self-defense doesn’t usually come with a text planning it first. That message said it all.

[Cold Case Vault @ColdCaseVaultX]

@JesseStan12 Some already have. Danny Masterson from That '70s Show got 30 years to life for rape in 2023. Fame doesn't protect people like it used to. Who do you think is next?

[Cold Case Vault @ColdCaseVaultX]

Prosecutors say he dropped his wife off at the hospital to give birth to their baby.

Then he drove through a blizzard to another woman's apartment. She was pregnant too. And she said the baby was his.

Days later she was found dead. Police called it suicide.

February 2021. Canton, Massachusetts.

Sandra Birchmore was 23. A teacher's aide. Excited to become a mom.

She met Matthew Farwell when she was a young teen. He was a police officer and an instructor in a youth police program she joined.

Prosecutors say he started a sexual relationship with her when she was 15. It went on for years.

In 2021 she told him she was pregnant with his son.

Prosecutors say he went to her apartment, killed her, and staged it to look like a suicide.

For two years, the official record said: suicide.

Then the FBI reopened the case. In 2024, Farwell was arrested.

The twist: DNA later showed he wasn't even the father.

His defense says Sandra took her own life. He has pleaded not guilty.

On Friday, after a month-long trial, the jury started to deliberate. They come back on Monday.

If convicted, he faces life in prison.

I'll post the verdict the moment it's in. Follow so you don't miss it.

Guilty or not guilty? Drop your verdict below 👇

[Cold Case Vault @ColdCaseVaultX]

@Osakamoti A normal Saturday afternoon. Families, tourists, coffee. This is heartbreaking.