WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:03.879 Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is 2 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:05.639 not intended for all audiences. 3 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:08.480 Listener discretion is advised. 4 00:00:12.439 --> 00:00:15.279 He's laying here and I can't even see his head, 5 00:00:15.359 --> 00:00:16.960 and there's blood all over the place. 6 00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:18.480 There's blood everywhere. 7 00:00:18.839 --> 00:00:25.719 Yes, this isn't for the faint hearted, those who easily faint. 8 00:00:27.120 --> 00:00:30.239 This is episode three hundred and thirty one of Sword 9 00:00:30.320 --> 00:00:35.920 and Scale show that reveals that the worst monsters are real. 10 00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:30.599 Kennethrees was drained another long shift at the Chrysler plant 11 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:36.040 in Detroit, another bitter February night in twenty twenty. The 12 00:01:36.120 --> 00:01:40.040 last few years had taken everything from him. First, he 13 00:01:40.159 --> 00:01:44.719 lost his wife to cancer. Now, at sixty something, he 14 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:50.159 wore the title he never expected to have widower. Weren't 15 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:54.359 women supposed to outlive their husbands. That's not the way 16 00:01:54.359 --> 00:01:58.159 it worked out for Kenneth. At three am, he pulled 17 00:01:58.159 --> 00:02:01.959 into the driveway of his farmhouse and Prince Michigan. The 18 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:05.799 car ticked as it cooled. After an hour long trip home, 19 00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:09.360 he couldn't wait to lie down and just go to sleep. 20 00:02:10.599 --> 00:02:14.919 Kenneth climbed the porch steps, heavy with exhaustion, and opened 21 00:02:14.919 --> 00:02:19.560 the front door. The moment he stepped inside, he froze, 22 00:02:20.639 --> 00:02:25.439 part pounding. He yelled for his son upstairs, then grabbed 23 00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:27.199 his phone and called nine one. 24 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:33.360 Hello, do you have an emergency? 25 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:35.919 Yes, I got an emergency. I just got home from 26 00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:38.520 work and this this person's laying on my floor and 27 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:39.639 they looked dead. 28 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:41.800 Okay, watch the address. 29 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:45.639 Kenneth stared at the mess in his living room. His son, 30 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:49.599 Kenny McBride, had come downstairs from his bedroom. He'd only 31 00:02:49.639 --> 00:02:52.879 been staying with his father for a few weeks. Forty 32 00:02:52.919 --> 00:02:56.560 four year old Kenny was shirtless with plaid pajama pants 33 00:02:56.599 --> 00:03:01.560 and bare feet, but he provided no comfort. Kenny wasn't 34 00:03:01.560 --> 00:03:05.319 the sun, Kenneth wanted beside him in a moment of crisis. 35 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:06.879 And is it someone that you know? 36 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:10.759 No, I don't know. This is one of my son's buddies. 37 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:12.560 I can't. 38 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:15.280 Can you tell if he's breathing? 39 00:03:16.360 --> 00:03:18.719 No, I can't. Laying there, he looks dead. 40 00:03:19.039 --> 00:03:19.400 Okay. 41 00:03:20.439 --> 00:03:22.400 How old is he approximately? 42 00:03:22.639 --> 00:03:24.960 I don't know. I can't tell. I've got the lights 43 00:03:24.960 --> 00:03:26.319 so often here in the kitchen. 44 00:03:27.719 --> 00:03:30.560 Okay, are you able to lay him on his back? 45 00:03:30.719 --> 00:03:31.240 And no? 46 00:03:31.400 --> 00:03:35.199 He's the goods? Did good? I mean it's bad? Okay, 47 00:03:36.680 --> 00:03:38.759 I dropped out here. I just walked in the door. 48 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:41.360 Okay, why doesn't he look like he's dead. 49 00:03:41.719 --> 00:03:44.560 He's laying here and I can't even see his head, 50 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:46.240 and there's blood all over the place. 51 00:03:46.439 --> 00:03:47.759 There's blood everywhere. 52 00:03:48.120 --> 00:03:51.199 Yes, I just I seen it tracking through my house. 53 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:55.439 I need to we need to get police here or something. 54 00:03:55.520 --> 00:03:57.520 I'm I don't know what you do. 55 00:03:57.560 --> 00:03:58.879 You think he's being help? 56 00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:00.560 Yes? 57 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:06.360 That yes, is chilling, isn't it. The two officers from 58 00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:09.599 the Monroe County Sheriff's Department were dispatched and headed over 59 00:04:09.719 --> 00:04:15.199 to Kenneth's house. Temperance was a small, unincorporated town, the 60 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:18.360 kind of place that had a few gas stations, some groceries, 61 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:23.839 mom and pop shops, a doctor's office, everything you would need, 62 00:04:24.279 --> 00:04:26.160 and not much more else. 63 00:04:26.800 --> 00:04:28.839 Are there we don't want to would tell if it's 64 00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:31.639 a guy, it's a girl. If it's I don't know 65 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:35.759 where my mother in law is. She's usually laying here 66 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:37.920 asleep on the couch. That there's blood all over. 67 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:40.079 Are you able to tell what part of the body 68 00:04:40.120 --> 00:04:41.519 of blood came from? 69 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:43.600 It looks like you're around the head. 70 00:04:44.240 --> 00:04:45.079 Where's your son? 71 00:04:46.040 --> 00:04:48.800 My son's standing right here. I just wove him up 72 00:04:48.839 --> 00:04:50.439 when I come in, he was upstairs. 73 00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:51.959 Does he know who the person is? 74 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:58.439 No, the body was unrecognizable. Kenneth didn't know who it 75 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:01.040 was or why this bloody person was lying in the 76 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:05.199 middle of his living room, and Kenny, his son, stood 77 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:10.160 there quietly, acting as dumbfounded as his father. Soon the 78 00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:14.120 police arrived. The officers on the scene were new recruits, 79 00:05:14.839 --> 00:05:17.399 young guys with not much under their belts in this 80 00:05:17.519 --> 00:05:23.199 sleepy town. They'd never encountered anything as gruesome as this before. 81 00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:26.000 So they were kind of in shock when they got 82 00:05:26.040 --> 00:05:32.040 unseen there. They encountered Kenneth, who was obviously the nine 83 00:05:32.079 --> 00:05:36.120 one one collar, and they also encountered Kenny. They took 84 00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:41.240 a look into the living room, they saw a headless body, 85 00:05:41.879 --> 00:05:45.959 at which point they detained both Kenneth and Kenny. 86 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:50.680 This is Detective Sergeant Jeff Hooper from the Monroe County 87 00:05:50.680 --> 00:05:55.160 Sheriff's Office. He took the lead on the investigation. The 88 00:05:55.199 --> 00:05:58.959 officers who first arrived were not only shocked to find 89 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:02.839 a headless body, but also the state of Kenneth's living 90 00:06:02.920 --> 00:06:03.759 room a. 91 00:06:03.800 --> 00:06:09.480 Total disarray, and blood probably and everywhere in that room, 92 00:06:09.560 --> 00:06:13.680 on the couch saturated into the floor, on the ceiling 93 00:06:15.199 --> 00:06:21.360 on the railing going upstairs, and there's broken there's broken 94 00:06:21.480 --> 00:06:24.480 glass by the body, cut up pictures. 95 00:06:25.639 --> 00:06:28.480 In the middle of the carpet lay a headless body. 96 00:06:29.480 --> 00:06:33.639 Next to the corpse was a broken piggybank, some shattered glass, 97 00:06:34.360 --> 00:06:37.319 and a metal baby gate that had been disassembled and 98 00:06:37.399 --> 00:06:41.240 thrown around the room in pieces. With both Kenny and 99 00:06:41.319 --> 00:06:46.319 Kenneth detained, the officers called in for help and took action. 100 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:49.839 When they were securing the scene to make sure that 101 00:06:49.920 --> 00:06:54.000 there weren't any perpetrators or other victims. On their outside 102 00:06:54.040 --> 00:06:58.199 clearing a garage, and he happened upon the head in 103 00:06:58.279 --> 00:06:59.000 the driveway. 104 00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:03.040 It was dark and cold outside, but when that officer 105 00:07:03.199 --> 00:07:06.720 looked down and saw the victim's head, there was no 106 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:08.399 mistaking exactly what he'd found. 107 00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:11.279 Yeah, you could tell it was a head, I mean 108 00:07:11.399 --> 00:07:15.199 basically because the hair. The hair was super saturated with 109 00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:18.800 blood and it was actually leaning up against the truck 110 00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:22.600 tire when it was found. It also had one of 111 00:07:22.680 --> 00:07:25.199 the key things that we saw was that it had 112 00:07:25.319 --> 00:07:28.519 frost on it. It was a particularly cold night, there 113 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:31.360 was a hard frost, and there was frost. 114 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:34.240 On the head. It was clear that the victim had 115 00:07:34.240 --> 00:07:37.480 been murdered inside the home earlier that evening, and that 116 00:07:37.600 --> 00:07:41.160 the head had not been carefully placed under that truck fire, 117 00:07:42.040 --> 00:07:43.959 but thrown with force. 118 00:07:44.759 --> 00:07:48.360 So when the head was thrown out the back door, 119 00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:52.600 it was thrown twenty yards and came to rest up 120 00:07:52.600 --> 00:07:56.959 against the truck tire. And one thing that I can't 121 00:07:57.360 --> 00:08:01.879 ever forget is the head was probably thrown in the 122 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:07.879 air about fifteen yards in that super saturated hair. It 123 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:12.639 hit the concrete and left wavy blood impressions in the 124 00:08:12.680 --> 00:08:18.519 concrete as it bounced to where it finally came to rest. 125 00:08:19.279 --> 00:08:22.120 The face was just a mess of blood, swelling and 126 00:08:22.759 --> 00:08:27.360 shattered bone, But as Detective Hooper looked closer, the truth 127 00:08:27.560 --> 00:08:32.799 became clear. The victim was a female, Her face had 128 00:08:32.840 --> 00:08:37.240 been used like a punching bag and the beating hadn't 129 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:41.840 been enough. Whoever did this kept going right up until 130 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:49.159 her decapitation around the body where a smashed piggybank, broken 131 00:08:49.240 --> 00:08:53.240 pieces of a metal baby gait, and cut up family 132 00:08:53.240 --> 00:08:56.000 photographs that were soaking in the victim's blood. 133 00:08:56.440 --> 00:09:01.600 So at that point, having a quote unqung quote who 134 00:09:01.720 --> 00:09:04.759 done it? Or you know, possible home invasion or you know, 135 00:09:04.759 --> 00:09:07.600 we have to look at every scenario. So we reached 136 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:10.480 out to the Michigan State Police crime Lab and had 137 00:09:10.519 --> 00:09:14.279 them come down to process the scene, which we typically 138 00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:18.720 do for larger crime scenes. That lets us the detectives 139 00:09:18.759 --> 00:09:22.799 focus in more on the interviews in a little bit 140 00:09:22.840 --> 00:09:25.639 of a smaller bit of evidence and not so much 141 00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:30.960 that forensic evidence. We as detectives started looking at Kenneth 142 00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:35.159 and Kenny, you know, wanting to talk to them, wanting 143 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:38.639 to go through their digital evidence, their phones and whatnot, 144 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:40.399 and that's where we started. 145 00:09:41.480 --> 00:09:45.360 Three am turned to early morning. The birds were chirping, 146 00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:50.039 the sun was stretching through the clouds, and Prosecutor Leah 147 00:09:50.120 --> 00:09:52.559 Hubbard was on our way to the office. 148 00:09:53.200 --> 00:09:58.480 I had actually dropped my son off at daycare that morning, 149 00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:02.159 which was located just a couple of buildings down from 150 00:10:02.200 --> 00:10:04.559 where this house was located, on the opposite side of 151 00:10:04.600 --> 00:10:08.440 the road. I saw the crime scene unit from Michigan 152 00:10:08.440 --> 00:10:11.039 State Police there, so I knew right away. We have 153 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:15.720 very few homicides in Monroe County, not even one a year, 154 00:10:15.840 --> 00:10:18.399 do we average. So when I saw the Michigan State 155 00:10:18.399 --> 00:10:22.159 Police crime scene van there and multiple deputies as I'm 156 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:25.120 driving to work, I know something horrific happened. 157 00:10:26.360 --> 00:10:29.639 Lea knew that something earth shattering would be coming across 158 00:10:29.639 --> 00:10:33.240 her desk any minute. Back at the crime scene, Detective 159 00:10:33.240 --> 00:10:38.399 Hooper and his team started their investigation. So Kenneth was cooperative. 160 00:10:39.080 --> 00:10:42.080 His son not so much. 161 00:10:42.840 --> 00:10:46.879 Oh, Kenny was very quiet, just sitting on the ground, 162 00:10:47.720 --> 00:10:51.720 you know, by the side door. When deputies came in 163 00:10:51.879 --> 00:10:55.279 as they were detaining, you know, there was a basic 164 00:10:55.399 --> 00:11:00.919 question of what's going on here, and Kenny, he said, 165 00:11:01.320 --> 00:11:04.159 I don't believe I should talk, so right off the 166 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:07.799 git wasn't going to make a statement with the police. 167 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:11.960 Kenneth, on the other hand, was full of worry and words. 168 00:11:12.799 --> 00:11:15.240 Mostly he was concerned about his mother in law, ce 169 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:18.399 Celia Gibson, who also lived in the house with him 170 00:11:18.440 --> 00:11:19.679 and Kenny. 171 00:11:19.679 --> 00:11:21.480 My mother, I was supposed to be here. 172 00:11:21.519 --> 00:11:24.279 I don't know where she is. I just come in door. 173 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:27.120 I just pulled in from work, okay. 174 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:33.080 Cecilia Gibson, who everyone called Nicky, was seventy nine years old. 175 00:11:34.159 --> 00:11:37.200 She was Kenneth's mother in law, and she'd been staying 176 00:11:37.240 --> 00:11:40.559 with him to help him and his wife, her daughter, 177 00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:46.840 fight her battle with cancer. The arrangement had stuck passed 178 00:11:46.840 --> 00:11:51.200 her daughter's death. When police first arrived, Kenneth assumed the 179 00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:53.279 body in his living room belonged to one of his 180 00:11:53.360 --> 00:11:57.600 son's friends. But now under the cold light of morning, 181 00:11:58.440 --> 00:12:03.440 with reality pressing, he saw the truth, and so the 182 00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:04.399 detective Hooper. 183 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:08.399 So basically, in looking at pictures in the home, we 184 00:12:08.399 --> 00:12:10.519 were able to determine that that was Nicki. 185 00:12:11.639 --> 00:12:14.039 The headless victim on the floor was seventy nine year 186 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:20.639 old Nicki Gibson. Kenneth was destroyed. A group of officers 187 00:12:20.679 --> 00:12:22.960 took Kenneth and Kenny down at the station to talk 188 00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:27.559 further while the house was being processed. Kenneth was helpful 189 00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:30.679 and cooperative, while his son's silence started to take a 190 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:31.480 new shape. 191 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:33.519 We'll can shift take care of here? Him in all 192 00:12:33.559 --> 00:12:33.960 right here? 193 00:12:34.039 --> 00:12:36.519 How you gonna take care of me? How you gonna 194 00:12:36.519 --> 00:12:37.000 take care of me? 195 00:12:37.240 --> 00:12:37.919 You can't talk to you? 196 00:12:38.120 --> 00:12:39.120 You can't take care of me. 197 00:12:39.879 --> 00:12:40.879 Well, somebody'll be in here. 198 00:12:40.759 --> 00:12:41.159 To talk to you. 199 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:48.200 Kenny shifted from silence to irritation quickly. Every word the 200 00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:52.440 officer said only fueled his anger. As the minutes ticked by, 201 00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:57.080 his kurt replies twisted into something darker and much more concerning. 202 00:12:57.759 --> 00:13:04.159 But he starts chanting and singing and jumping around and dancing, 203 00:13:04.200 --> 00:13:09.519 all all handcuffed in the interview room. It sounded pretty 204 00:13:09.559 --> 00:13:12.080 demonic in the noises he was making. 205 00:13:13.159 --> 00:13:16.919 Kenny refused to talk sensibly. Instead, he acted out like 206 00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:20.039 someone who was in the middle of a bad acid trip, 207 00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:24.080 and according to prosecutor Leah Hubbard, he kept repeating the 208 00:13:24.120 --> 00:13:25.720 same eerie phrase. 209 00:13:26.519 --> 00:13:29.879 He repeatedly screamed, its mother fucking payday. 210 00:13:31.200 --> 00:13:35.200 Aside from his erratic outbursts, the marks on Kenny's body 211 00:13:35.240 --> 00:13:38.000 started pointing towards his guilt in Nikki's murder. 212 00:13:38.639 --> 00:13:42.000 He had an abrasion that looked like a scratch mark 213 00:13:42.120 --> 00:13:45.879 behind one of his ears. Most significantly, on one of 214 00:13:45.879 --> 00:13:50.399 his hands. There were multiple fresh cuts on the exterior 215 00:13:50.480 --> 00:13:52.399 of his hands with the top part of his hand, 216 00:13:52.840 --> 00:13:55.720 and then when he turned his hand over there were 217 00:13:57.120 --> 00:14:00.399 different sorts of marks and red abrasions. They almost look 218 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:04.159 like blisters. What we compared it to the most was 219 00:14:04.840 --> 00:14:08.480 if you're doing yard work with a wooden rake and 220 00:14:08.559 --> 00:14:11.120 you're using a repeated motion over and over. 221 00:14:12.159 --> 00:14:16.879 A repeated motion like having to cut off a person's head. 222 00:14:17.159 --> 00:14:20.000 Right on the palm of his hand, there were multiple 223 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:23.879 abrasions that looked like, you know, excessive rubbing or some 224 00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:27.600 sort of blisters forming. He also had an abrasion of 225 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:30.840 fresh abrasion that looked like a scratch or a fingernail 226 00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:33.279 mark on the top of his head, and then a 227 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:35.000 large bruise on his forearm. 228 00:14:36.159 --> 00:14:40.960 As Kenny McBride spun in his jail cell, hurling profanities 229 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:46.799 and shouting it's motherfucking payday, Detective Hooper and Prosecutor Hubbard 230 00:14:46.840 --> 00:14:50.639 were left to nothing but questions. They had a crime 231 00:14:50.679 --> 00:14:56.320 scene soaked in rage, a headless grandmother, and a suspect 232 00:14:56.360 --> 00:15:00.000 grinning through the madness. They knew how it all ends. 233 00:15:00.279 --> 00:15:04.120 But the question that gripped temperance that morning, the one 234 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:09.200 no one could let go of, was why, and that 235 00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:43.679 answer would be the hardest to find. Sixty five year 236 00:15:43.720 --> 00:15:47.200 old widower Kenneth Reese had come home from his late 237 00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:50.240 night shift to find his elderly mother in law decapitated 238 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:53.360 in the middle of his living room. Seventy nine year 239 00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:57.440 old Nikki Gibson had been savagely murdered. Her face was 240 00:15:57.480 --> 00:16:02.720 battered beyond recognition. Around her broken body lay the shattered 241 00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:06.240 remains of a ceramic piggy bank and a metal baby 242 00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:10.120 Git covered in blood. Her head was sowed off and 243 00:16:10.200 --> 00:16:15.840 thrown twenty yards down the back driveway. Kenneth's son, Kenny McBride, 244 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:19.919 was their number one suspect. He had been home with 245 00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:24.399 Nicky all night. Why Kenny would turn on the feeble 246 00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:27.679 seventy nine year old woman with such fury it made 247 00:16:27.720 --> 00:16:32.360 no sense. So if he did murder and decapitate her, 248 00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:36.799 that made it all the more terrifying. When police interviewed 249 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:40.919 Kenneth the father, he explained what happened. After he found 250 00:16:41.000 --> 00:16:44.840 Nicky's decapitated corpse in his living room, he called out 251 00:16:44.840 --> 00:16:48.679 for his son, Kenny. Moments later, Kenny came downstairs. He 252 00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:54.840 was acting strange, just completely off. Kenneth had never seen 253 00:16:54.879 --> 00:16:57.440 him like this, but he knew his son had a 254 00:16:57.519 --> 00:17:02.279 history of meth abuse. Immediately, he suspected that he'd relapsed. 255 00:17:03.159 --> 00:17:08.559 He kept pressing him what happened, but Kenny stayed blank, emotionless. 256 00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:12.680 He claimed he had no idea, said he'd been upstairs 257 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:16.960 for hours. As they waited for police, a patrol car 258 00:17:17.079 --> 00:17:20.720 sped past the house, missing the address. Kenny turned to 259 00:17:20.759 --> 00:17:25.079 his father, his voice low and eerie, and he said 260 00:17:25.960 --> 00:17:29.720 they'll be back by the time Kenny hit the jail cell, 261 00:17:29.799 --> 00:17:34.960 he was gone. Mental detachment had turned into full blown madness. 262 00:17:35.519 --> 00:17:38.839 Officers tried to talk to him, but he didn't listen, 263 00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:44.599 or couldn't listen. He just stared wide eyed and twitchy. 264 00:17:45.480 --> 00:17:49.240 Then he erupted into streams of gibberish and nonsense. 265 00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:52.839 We thought that he was under the influence of some 266 00:17:53.119 --> 00:17:58.079 mine altering drug, whether that be bath salts. You know, 267 00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:03.160 because it as investigator, we've seen the basic heroin or 268 00:18:03.319 --> 00:18:06.720 math or you know this, that this had risen to 269 00:18:06.759 --> 00:18:09.920 the level that something we hadn't seen. So that's why 270 00:18:09.920 --> 00:18:13.799 we took that extra step, sending the blood out for 271 00:18:14.359 --> 00:18:18.240 the exotic things like bath salts or K two or 272 00:18:18.599 --> 00:18:21.119 any of those other designer drugs. 273 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:25.680 As Detective Hooper waited for the toxicology reports to come back, 274 00:18:26.440 --> 00:18:29.119 they got to work figuring out what had happened that day. 275 00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:32.240 Kenneth had, I believe a little bit of running to 276 00:18:32.279 --> 00:18:36.119 do before work, you know, run to the gas station 277 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:40.559 just down the road. It's probably only half a mile, 278 00:18:40.720 --> 00:18:43.359 quarter or three quarters a mile down the road. Right 279 00:18:43.359 --> 00:18:46.680 across the streets a Dollar General and then the post 280 00:18:46.680 --> 00:18:49.119 office right there. So they're all right there down the road, 281 00:18:49.720 --> 00:18:54.000 I know. They Kenneth dropped off Kenny at the dollar 282 00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:58.079 store Dollar General, where he ended up getting a one 283 00:18:58.160 --> 00:18:59.559 hundred dollars Green Dot card. 284 00:19:00.640 --> 00:19:03.920 A Green Dot card is a prepaid debit card. Kenny 285 00:19:03.960 --> 00:19:08.759 purchased one and for what. Detective Hooper doesn't know, you know, he's. 286 00:19:08.519 --> 00:19:12.319 There for a few minutes. Kenneth does his running, picks 287 00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:16.799 them back up, and takes them back home, and shortly thereafter, 288 00:19:17.000 --> 00:19:18.839 Kenneth ends up leaving for work. 289 00:19:20.039 --> 00:19:23.240 Kenneth told the police that when he and Kenny return home, 290 00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:27.880 Nicky wasn't there. She had left with her son to 291 00:19:27.960 --> 00:19:29.440 run an errand you. 292 00:19:29.400 --> 00:19:33.200 Know, and investigating a case like this, a timeline is crucial, 293 00:19:33.880 --> 00:19:36.160 and so in talking with the family members, we had 294 00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:38.720 learned that she was with her son, Billy, you know, 295 00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:41.880 dropping off a mattress at a storage place. So we 296 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:44.920 go to the storage place, we'd get the video footage 297 00:19:44.960 --> 00:19:45.880 confirm all of that. 298 00:19:47.079 --> 00:19:49.440 Nicki's son then drove the two of them back to 299 00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:53.839 Kenneth's house, where Kenny was the only one there. Nicki's 300 00:19:53.839 --> 00:19:56.720 son walked her inside because she'd been having trouble with 301 00:19:56.720 --> 00:20:01.079 the stairs lately. Kenny was in the kitchen When they 302 00:20:01.160 --> 00:20:04.319 arrived inside, Nicki noticed that a case of water she'd 303 00:20:04.359 --> 00:20:07.640 purchased that morning was missing, so she asked Kenny if 304 00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:11.079 he knew where it was. That's when Nicki's son said 305 00:20:11.119 --> 00:20:17.519 that Kenny's whole demeanor changed. He became defensive and irritated. 306 00:20:18.400 --> 00:20:20.480 It got to the point where Nicki's son suggested that 307 00:20:20.599 --> 00:20:24.920 Nicky stay the evening at his house, but she refused. 308 00:20:25.640 --> 00:20:31.799 I know that when investigators talked with Billy the son, 309 00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:36.359 he was truly broken up because he wanted her to 310 00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:40.839 come with them, you know, not stay there, and so 311 00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:43.160 he was really really upset about that. 312 00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:47.640 So Nicki's son left around two thirty pm that afternoon 313 00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:50.440 with a bad feeling in his stomach. But what was 314 00:20:50.480 --> 00:20:53.640 he going to do? His mother was an adult, She 315 00:20:53.759 --> 00:20:56.920 could make her own decisions, and she wanted to stay there. 316 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:01.000 What happened in those next twelve hours was a mystery, 317 00:21:01.759 --> 00:21:04.720 and as much as Kenny had tried to cover his tracks, 318 00:21:04.839 --> 00:21:08.759 he also had left physical clues that solidified as guilt. 319 00:21:09.480 --> 00:21:15.039 In investigating the bathroom, they found a bloody I believe 320 00:21:15.079 --> 00:21:19.799 it was home print that matched Kenny's and it was 321 00:21:19.880 --> 00:21:21.000 in Nicky's blood. 322 00:21:21.880 --> 00:21:24.920 In the bathroom where that bloody palm print was located 323 00:21:25.160 --> 00:21:28.440 was a pair of genes. They were in a crumpled pile. 324 00:21:29.319 --> 00:21:32.000 Kenneth Reas advised that they were not his genes and 325 00:21:32.039 --> 00:21:35.480 that he believed they were Kenny McBride's jeans. Those genes 326 00:21:35.519 --> 00:21:39.559 had blood kind of smeared on the front. If you 327 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:43.119 could imagine your hands are covered in blood and you 328 00:21:43.240 --> 00:21:45.359 kind of wipe them on your size on the front 329 00:21:45.400 --> 00:21:48.240 of your gens to kind of get rid of the blood. 330 00:21:48.400 --> 00:21:50.680 We found some blood present on the front of the genes. 331 00:21:50.920 --> 00:21:54.440 There was also some blood spatter located on the backside 332 00:21:54.440 --> 00:21:57.799 of the genes. DNA analysis was done on those genes 333 00:21:57.799 --> 00:22:00.400 and it was determined that the blood flocated on the 334 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:02.440 genes belonged to ce Celia Gibson. 335 00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:06.400 Then they tested the waistband of those genes for traces 336 00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:07.000 of DNA. 337 00:22:07.799 --> 00:22:10.319 The inside of the waistband did determine that there was 338 00:22:10.359 --> 00:22:14.640 a mixture of DNA that included Kenny McBride's DNA. 339 00:22:14.920 --> 00:22:18.880 Kenny's DNA was also found on a bloody sweater as 340 00:22:18.920 --> 00:22:21.839 well as that metal baby gate that was found broken 341 00:22:21.880 --> 00:22:25.799 next to Nicky's body. Remember, Kenny used various objects to 342 00:22:25.880 --> 00:22:29.799 kill Nicky, namely a piggy bank and a metal baby gate. 343 00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:32.680 The baby gate had been a fix to that wall 344 00:22:32.759 --> 00:22:37.160 for years. The baby gate was a very strong, sturdy 345 00:22:37.319 --> 00:22:42.720 metal object. It was so carefully placed on the wall 346 00:22:42.759 --> 00:22:45.839 that actually left a mark on the wall when it 347 00:22:45.880 --> 00:22:48.720 was pulled off the wall by Kenny McBride, So that 348 00:22:48.759 --> 00:22:51.640 would have taken some force and some time to remove 349 00:22:51.720 --> 00:22:52.480 that baby gate. 350 00:22:53.680 --> 00:22:56.839 Whatever happened between Nicky and Kenny that evening had escalated 351 00:22:56.880 --> 00:22:59.759 to the point where Kenny was so out of his 352 00:23:00.440 --> 00:23:03.079 that he ripped a metal baby git off the wall 353 00:23:03.480 --> 00:23:07.039 that had been screwed on there for years. That takes 354 00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:10.759 a lot of force to do that. The drywall screws 355 00:23:10.759 --> 00:23:14.599 were pretty substantial. It's not only a test of how 356 00:23:14.599 --> 00:23:19.400 physically strong Kenny was, but the amount of psychotic adrenaline 357 00:23:20.039 --> 00:23:20.880 rushing through him. 358 00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:25.400 The medical examiner testified that there were at least nineteen 359 00:23:25.519 --> 00:23:30.400 separate blows with multiple objects. The medical examiner testified that 360 00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:34.039 the two black eyes that she sustained were likely due 361 00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:39.279 to fists. Obviously the baby gate was used, you also 362 00:23:39.400 --> 00:23:40.880 had the piggybank being used. 363 00:23:42.039 --> 00:23:45.440 He stormed through the house, zeroing in on a specific piggybank, 364 00:23:46.079 --> 00:23:51.279 one that had belonged to Nicky's late daughter, Kenneth's beloved wife, 365 00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:54.319 and he smashed it over Nicky's head. 366 00:23:54.920 --> 00:23:59.359 So that had significant value to both Kenneth Reese and 367 00:23:59.640 --> 00:24:03.640 societ or Nicki Gibson. So we believe that was an 368 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:10.680 item potentially selected on purpose because of the significant value 369 00:24:10.759 --> 00:24:12.200 it had to the family. 370 00:24:13.319 --> 00:24:16.279 According to the medical examiner, this was no fight, It 371 00:24:16.400 --> 00:24:21.680 was a slaughter. Nicki barely defended herself. The few defensive 372 00:24:21.720 --> 00:24:26.599 wounds she had made that heartbreakingly clear. But how could 373 00:24:26.599 --> 00:24:30.279 she defend herself. Kenny stood five to ten, nearly two 374 00:24:30.359 --> 00:24:36.039 hundred pounds, hardened by years of prison workouts. Nicki was 375 00:24:36.119 --> 00:24:41.640 seventy nine, frail and defenseless the moment he attacked, the 376 00:24:41.640 --> 00:24:46.920 outcome was inevitable. Just imagine or terror, knowing there was 377 00:24:46.960 --> 00:24:51.400 no escape, no hope. Like a fragile bird caught in 378 00:24:51.400 --> 00:24:54.799 the jaws of a bobcat, she never stood a chance. 379 00:24:55.920 --> 00:24:59.559 This wasn't just premeditated, It was deeply personal, and in 380 00:24:59.599 --> 00:25:04.880 the end the beheading set at all It was Kenny's loudest, 381 00:25:05.400 --> 00:25:06.720 cruelest message. 382 00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:09.319 We also proved that he went to the kitchen and 383 00:25:09.359 --> 00:25:13.559 grabbed three knives that were inside drawers. To complete some 384 00:25:13.680 --> 00:25:14.440 of the acts of a. 385 00:25:14.440 --> 00:25:19.200 Saw, Kenny grabbed three knives from the kitchen, including an 386 00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:24.599 Appalachian bread saw. Any sourdough ladies out there, yeah, you 387 00:25:24.680 --> 00:25:27.240 know what this knife is, but for the rest of you, 388 00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:30.880 it's a serrated knife with a wooden bowed handle that 389 00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:33.839 makes it easy to cut slices of freshly baked bread. 390 00:25:34.440 --> 00:25:37.480 It would have taken a significant amount of force in time, 391 00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:40.720 I mean, to the point where he actually broke a knife, 392 00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:44.799 broke one of the knives trying to decapitate the victim. 393 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:49.559 He had callouses on his hand, which presumably are from 394 00:25:49.640 --> 00:25:51.119 the repeated sambers. 395 00:25:52.359 --> 00:25:57.319 Kenny sat there sawing at Nicky's neck until the bread 396 00:25:57.400 --> 00:26:01.759 knife broke, then he moved on to the other weapons. 397 00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:06.599 It took hours to get through her thick flesh, the muscle, 398 00:26:06.799 --> 00:26:09.279 the tenons, and the bone. 399 00:26:09.839 --> 00:26:12.519 This would have taken a lot of work to accomplish 400 00:26:12.599 --> 00:26:15.519 the completely heading and then to kind of toss it 401 00:26:15.559 --> 00:26:18.200