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00:00Oh, I have mercy.
00:07Ooh, wee, Lord.
00:09The deadly Thanksgiving fire is classified as a homicide.
00:13The lighter fluid was placed into his mouth, and he burned to death.
00:18I've never witnessed something so horrific before.
00:22I ain't got time for these lies, okay?
00:24You think I'm posting damn gas on this mic?
00:26Do you want to rule out everything before you charge a personal?
00:30You need to start getting your story straight, and you need to be straight right now.
00:33You're just trying to get me out of here so you can move that bitch in here.
00:35If you were told to have the virus, they would have killed you.
00:38She is evil, hateful, and lowdown, all of the above.
00:48Every suspect accused of a crime has the right to remain silent.
00:52Many agree to be interrogated anyway, but they can stop the interview at any moment,
00:57making it a race against time.
01:02Justice hangs in the balance.
01:04Oh, I have mercy.
01:16Ooh, wee, Lord.
01:20It was Thanksgiving Day.
01:22I remember Boakland and my son in his car seat, and next thing we know,
01:27that house right across the street from us is smoking a whole lot.
01:31So I immediately called 911.
01:34Is this the Brownlee house?
01:36Yeah.
01:37We arrived at the fire scene within minutes of 911 call.
01:42I witnessed two windows that had been breached, smoke coming out of them, smoke coming from the roof.
01:49The fire has got some air.
01:51It's really burning, and we got our work cut out for us.
01:54My family, they come outside, and I remember hearing that somebody was indeed in the house.
02:01So at this point, a harsh drive.
02:04The most important thing is to get the victims out.
02:06We looked for a point of entry into the house, which on this house was going to obviously be the front door.
02:12They went in searching for the victim, trying to search thoroughly each room and bedroom for occupants.
02:17They searched the house until they made it to the bedroom.
02:21They found the victim in the bed.
02:24He was in the room with the fire was breaching out of the windows.
02:26He was within 10 feet of those windows.
02:29The bed was heavily consumed with fire.
02:33It was clear that he had passed away.
02:36Me being from West Point, I just knew William Brownlee to be a respectful person.
02:48He was a church-going guy who was 62 years of age.
02:51He had multiple sclerosis.
02:53William Brownlee Sr., he lived there with his daughter-in-law, Latoya, and his son, William Brownlee Jr.
03:00William Brownlee Sr. was bedridden, and they both were taking care of him because of some health issues he had going on at the time.
03:09I just hated that fact that, hey, there was somebody that was in the house.
03:14That was a very difficult moment, and it was horrific.
03:17I had never smelled someone burning.
03:27It is an indescribable smell.
03:29Like, you just couldn't even imagine.
03:32He was bedridden.
03:33He didn't even have a chance to get up or try to escape the room.
03:37He was just there to suffer.
03:39My gut was telling me something's really, really strange here.
03:44The fire was almost completely in William Sr.'s bedroom.
03:47The rest of the house was just heavily smoke-damaged.
03:51From the bed to where Mr. Brownlee lay and the wall right above his head,
03:57all of it was heavily burned, way worse from how it was on the other side of the room.
04:03And then I saw where the outlet, it was very heavily burned.
04:09That seems very suspicious because it was a very new house.
04:13It was built two years before prior.
04:16They're built with modern wiring.
04:18And to really cause the damage that it did,
04:20electrical fires just alone would not make this fire angry like it did.
04:26You definitely want to get down to the bottom of what went wrong
04:30for this fire to become fully engulfed in this one particular room.
04:35I remember going to the back porch of the home.
04:38There where I found a lot of fluid bottle.
04:42And I took it into evidence.
04:44I believe the fire chief, he was pretty much confident
04:46that something went wrong in that room.
04:49He believed something was started for that fire to get so hot in certain areas
04:54that he wanted to go ahead and call a state fire marshal.
05:00LaToya, she showed up in her vehicle.
05:05She gets out of her car.
05:06She's crying.
05:07She's hysterical.
05:09What we learned from the initial contact with Miss LaToya Brownlee
05:12was she had been visiting family for Thanksgiving
05:15before this incident took place.
05:18Then she left and was shopping with her auntie, Miss Virgie Gardner.
05:22And that's when she got the call that the house was on fire.
05:25So she came back to be home.
05:32With it being Thanksgiving Day,
05:34you would think that everybody would have been together.
05:38And that left me wondering in my mind,
05:41OK, something else is going on here.
05:44It was almost like you just knew, like, something just wasn't right.
05:48Biggest question was if this fire was actually intentionally set.
06:09And the next question was if it was, why?
06:11You can give me a rundown of yesterday and what all took place.
06:16All my brothers met at my house.
06:20And after that, we was going to my mom's house in Pontotoc
06:23in order to have Thanksgiving dinner.
06:25So my wife left home first before I did.
06:28She went to dinner in Yuna over at her family's house.
06:32So I got a call about 426.
06:36That's when I actually got the call
06:37that my house was fully engulfed in flames.
06:40Who gave you the call?
06:42Tony Harris.
06:43He asked me where I was
06:44and told me I need to get to my house as soon as possible.
06:47And my house was on fire.
06:49But did your wife ever call you at any time?
06:51No.
06:52Can you state your wife's name for the record?
06:54Latouria Janae Brownway.
06:56How long y'all been married?
06:5818 years.
06:59Actually, y'all was filing for divorce next week.
07:02Did she know about this?
07:04Yes.
07:04I had an eviction notice for her.
07:07Right.
07:07Still in the same room.
07:08I moved on with my life and started, you know, seeing someone else.
07:11And she is pregnant.
07:13I said, now by the time the child is born,
07:14yes, my child will be living on the same roof as me.
07:17The fact that now she was being evicted from the house by him
07:21and there would be an eviction hearing to have her removed from the house,
07:25very important piece in this investigation.
07:27So, uh, when did all the problems and stuff start occurring?
07:32It's been occurring for many, many, many years.
07:34She tried to actually burn the house down three years ago.
07:38And on one, I stayed in Lake Road.
07:40Mm-hmm.
07:40I had a trailer there.
07:42I found burn marks on the wall on the sheetrock.
07:46I learned before living with Mr. Brownlee Sr., Junior Brownlee,
07:51his wife, Latoya, they stayed in an old trailer.
07:56Junior Brownlee claims she tried to burn an outlet to start a fire.
08:00He said she used a plant to put it by an electrical outlet and light it up.
08:05But she said that she didn't.
08:07I didn't actually call the police, but I would go in my grave believing that she done it.
08:13Mm-hmm.
08:16Did her and your dad get along pretty well?
08:18I mean, yes.
08:19Yeah, she used to, but, I mean, since we've been going through our problems,
08:23she'll do anything to hurt me.
08:25Mm-hmm.
08:25So by hurting him, she knows it hurts me.
08:28If she got done angry before to try to start a house fire,
08:31she could have possibly got angry again to do the same.
08:35Your dad was owner of that house?
08:37Yes, my dad was owner.
08:38Your dad was?
08:39My dad was owner.
08:41Nine to my ten of something, what's that happened to your dad?
08:44You was going to get the house?
08:45I was going to get the house.
08:46We are going to go over here to the house.
08:49Fire Marshal going to be able to tell us where the fire started at?
08:53You're going to do that today?
08:55Hopefully.
08:55Should, hopefully.
08:56The deputy fire marshal was ruled out that it was any kind of electrical problems with the home.
09:08He basically told me that the fire was started by somewhere.
09:13After going through the scene and examining like he did,
09:16he was also adamant that that fire started in that room.
09:20Now we have an intentional fire, and this is a murder investigation.
09:25So now we have a suspect that we need to find.
09:29We began to look into the insurance claim.
09:32It went even over $20,000 policy.
09:34I didn't see enough there for that to be a motive coming from William Brindley Jr.
09:42But on Latoya's hand, I looked at the fact of, you got this divorce situation.
09:49Pretty sure she was very upset.
09:53At that moment, she most definitely was a suspect for me.
09:56I have Ms. Bargey Garner.
10:11Garner, yes.
10:13You may run out how you and Janine's came in contact yesterday.
10:16We had Thanksgiving dinner, and after the dinner, we left coming to West Point to go to Wawank.
10:25Right.
10:27But when we got in West Point, she said, take me by the house to drop off this food.
10:34We went by the house.
10:36This should have been like, what, around four?
10:41And she got out, went in, and she came back out less than five minutes, and we went to Walmart.
10:50As soon as we got to Walmart, she got a call saying, smoke coming out of your house.
10:57And I'm all upset now.
11:00I said, well, is your father-in-law in the house?
11:03She said, yes.
11:04So I really got nervous then.
11:06And then I could see smoke from Walmart parking lot in the air.
11:09Right.
11:09We just left the house.
11:11The store that she went to was not even a mile if that from the actual home.
11:18She left a full file of a cell phone video that shows the fire fully engulfed at 409.
11:23That definitely raises suspicion about what took place at that house.
11:27A house fire does not go from zero to that in that time frame, naturally.
11:33A gas leak would have more of an explosion-type situation.
11:36There's not a real natural cause that's going to allow it to burn that fast, that quick.
11:43Basically, what you're telling me, y'all left from the residence around 405.
11:48Now, a person called 9-1 at 14 saying the house was in flames.
11:53And I got a video showing of the house in flames at that time.
11:56That room was burning before she left.
11:58Really?
12:01She had to sit there and find them.
12:04They're going through this divorce.
12:06And I told her just last week, I said, Tara, I said, don't do nothing stupid.
12:11She said, yeah, because I was going.
12:13I thought about going there and putting a knife in them.
12:16So, if I was asked, do I think she came for doing this?
12:23I would say yes.
12:26She is evil, hateful, and lowdown.
12:29All of the above.
12:30The Brownlee family, they live directly across the street from my family.
12:45I've never witnessed something so horrific before.
12:49This is a small community, and the love of each other and the respect of each other pull us together.
12:59You hate to see a community hurt.
13:01You hate to see the families hurt.
13:03My heart just hate me because I just hated that fact that, hey, there was somebody that was in the house.
13:11Oh, amazing.
13:11So, after she went to the house and came back out to go to Walmart, what did she say?
13:34She was talking about him, and when you see him, you just go ahead and tell him he's wrong for what he's doing.
13:40I said, you just do what's right.
13:43If an uncle or auntie say something about their niece or nephew, you could take it to the bank and cash it.
13:51The missing situations can cause people to do some crazy things because, you know, hurt people hurt people.
13:57At that point, I was pretty much sold on it being hurt, but I still had to prove it.
14:04I had to get more than just word of mouth.
14:12So, I received a video that was on Facebook Live at the time that the fire started.
14:19At 411, Latoya makes a post on Facebook about the Black Friday sale.
14:32You look at the time span, and it was very odd to me.
14:36I think she made that post to try to create an alibi or try to, you know, just say, hey, I didn't set a house on fire.
14:49What's up?
15:02How you doing?
15:03Fine, and you?
15:04Good.
15:09All right, you do understand you're still up on a Miranda, so you're still willing to speak?
15:13Yeah.
15:14Okay.
15:15Everything's pointing to her.
15:19You know, this house was set on fire.
15:22The situation going on between her and her husband, she's the only one that went in the house.
15:28Now is the time we've got to get her to break and tell us the truth.
15:33As of right now, just tell me your thoughts.
15:36Just let me know what's going on.
15:37I hate it happen, and I love my father-in-law.
15:40I hate it happen, and I just want to know what this stemmed from, what started this fire.
15:47All right, you left you on Thursday around what time again?
15:52Stay around 3.20, 3.30.
15:55You left around 3.20, 3.30.
15:57What time you make it to town?
16:023.55.
16:04All right, and when you got to town, would you, before you left you on it, would you
16:09head at home, or would you head at the Walmart?
16:11Head at the Walmart.
16:13All right, what made you go by the house?
16:15Then take my plate, and I had to use the bathroom, and then I got in the house, took my plate to
16:20the kitchen, went to the bedroom to see him.
16:23He was in the bedroom, and then I was headed out, and then he asked for a piece of candy,
16:27and I gave it to him, and he said, I smell some smoke.
16:31I said, I smell some, too.
16:32And I looked in the chimney room, and I ain't seen nothing burning, or no smoke.
16:36And I went to the kitchen, make sure never went on the eye, and I didn't see anything.
16:39And I came again, and I said, I don't know what it is.
16:41And that was it, and I left.
16:45You actually smell smoke in the home, and you still left?
16:50Common sense would have been like, I need to call somebody.
16:53I need to get somebody over here and see what's going on.
16:56It didn't sit well with me during that interview with her.
17:02How long was you at Walmart?
17:03We was there in no time.
17:07We pulled her in the parking lot, and we was in the park, and we pulled her back out.
17:12Mm-hmm.
17:13What was the reason for it?
17:15Somebody called.
17:17Did they call on Facebook or on your phone?
17:18Facebook.
17:19It should still be on Facebook.
17:21I ain't got time to take a look and see.
17:26She called you at 4-11.
17:31Okay.
17:32And y'all stayed on the phone in about a minute and three seconds, right?
17:35I guess.
17:37Okay.
17:39Uh, was you on Facebook around that time?
17:43Was I on Facebook?
17:44Mm-hmm.
17:45I was at Walmart, so I'm not.
17:49You are aware that there's a Facebook post on your page that made it, 4-11, that you
17:54was in Walmart parking lot.
17:56Okay.
17:58Yeah, I guess.
18:00You remember that?
18:01I can't remember the post, but...
18:07You don't remember making that post?
18:09I don't remember.
18:13You can remember what you did inside the house for over five minutes, but all of a sudden,
18:17now you don't remember.
18:18I think she kind of felt like we was closing in on her.
18:22I had to go in a little harder.
18:27From what I'm looking at and from what the fire marshal report is saying, either you wasn't
18:32at home at 4 o'clock or you was there when the fire started.
18:37Well, I wasn't there when no fire started because I don't think I...
18:39Did you go in the room?
18:40I went in his bedroom.
18:42All right.
18:42Did you go in the bedroom when you first got to the house or was it right before you left?
18:45No, I went to the kitchen.
18:46Then I went to his bedroom.
18:47Then we talked and he wanted...
18:50Hadn't you used the bathroom yet, like you said?
18:51No, I hadn't used the bathroom.
18:53But you told me you went to the bathroom.
18:56That's the reason why I said you went to the bathroom.
18:58You never said you didn't use the bathroom.
18:59I didn't use it.
19:00I didn't use it.
19:02So you lied to me like you used the bathroom?
19:05Well, I went to the bathroom and I didn't have to go.
19:08I didn't go.
19:09But I did.
19:10Listen.
19:12You need to start getting your story straight.
19:14You need to be straight right now.
19:15Okay.
19:15Because I ain't got time for these lies.
19:17That's okay.
19:26I went to the bathroom.
19:27I didn't go.
19:29And I left out there.
19:30I went back to his room.
19:33About how long was you in the house?
19:35About five minutes.
19:36I did not see no fire, no smoke, no nothing.
19:41So you're not going to make me say that.
19:43I did not see that, but I smelled it.
19:46I smelled it in the utility room.
19:47Right in the area.
19:48On the utility room and the bedroom.
19:50I smelled it.
19:50I smelled it.
19:51Okay.
19:51We get that.
19:53We get that.
19:53We get that.
19:55The thing of it is, you still left.
19:57I did.
19:58I did.
19:59Even though you smelled smoke or whatever.
20:02I thought I wasn't nothing because I ain't seen nothing.
20:05I did.
20:05I left.
20:06She continued to stick with her story over and over again.
20:11I'm still seeing the crime scene.
20:13I'm still seeing the remains of Mr. Brownlee.
20:15I'm still seeing how hot this room got.
20:18I'm on confessions.
20:20You still want to see if you can get her to go ahead and break.
20:23No, I went to the kitchen to make sure they went on the stove.
20:26I feel like you was pretty upset with them.
20:29You got a lot of lying going on.
20:30You better start being straight.
20:34You pretty expert in them out there, aren't you?
20:37No, I'm not.
20:39You ever fooled around one bowl?
20:41No, I did not.
20:42You haven't?
20:43I haven't.
20:44Never?
20:45Never.
20:46Spoke with your hoodie.
20:50You told me three years ago.
20:52Back at the trailer, when y'all got into it, you were going to tamper with it to start a fire on the trailer.
20:57It was right there.
20:58I didn't mess with the outlet itself per se.
21:01It was a plant right by the outlet, and I put the plant on fire.
21:05That's what I tamper with.
21:06Oh, so I had a plant on fire?
21:07The plant right there by the outlet.
21:09That would make everything right there.
21:11But I didn't.
21:11I'd be a fool to go in and mess with this outlet and get shot.
21:14It's crazy.
21:16So how you said the plant on fire?
21:17It was a mattress.
21:23A plant?
21:24A real live plant?
21:25No, it was an artificial plant.
21:28And you said it was a fire with a mattress?
21:30Mm-hmm.
21:30We all had learned that LaToya Brownlee tried to set a previous house on fire because she got mad at Junior.
21:38And now, you know, the possibility of her doing this again after getting angry with her husband could be the very thing that started this fire.
21:47I did not mess with stuff, so not messing with a plant, but messing with an outlet.
21:51I did not mess with no outlet at this new house.
21:53I did not do nothing.
21:54You ain't going to make me say I did something.
21:56I did not do nothing.
21:58You did if I did with the outlet in the trailer, though.
22:00Is that what you're telling me?
22:01I started right there by the outlet.
22:03The outlet probably caught on fire, but I'm not going to put no fire to this outlet like this.
22:09At that point, I was just like, all right, we're done.
22:12She didn't admit, yes, I set the house fire.
22:15But she attached herself to the timeline that we had.
22:22So after that interview, I could have arrested her, but I didn't want to do it just yet because I knew I needed more evidence for it to stick.
22:32It was just like a lemon.
22:34We was just trying to get all the juice as we, you know, we could get out of that lemon.
22:38And so that's why we opted to continue this investigation.
22:45When you fire, it was intentionally set.
22:51So you start looking for accelerants that may have been poured there.
22:55What he saw was something was poured on the glove seat, the flooring, and the bed.
23:02He had a hydrocarbon detector.
23:05The hydrocarbon detector is going to pick up a petroleum product of some type.
23:09That detected some type of petroleum product was poured.
23:13It could have been lighter fluid.
23:15It could have been gasoline.
23:16He added an interesting fact that there was also an accelerant on a outlet across the room from the bed.
23:24There was no accident at the electrical outlet.
23:28There was no faulty electrical outlet.
23:30There was an accelerant.
23:32Somebody poured liquid on the outlet trying to make it look like the outlet had started the fire.
23:37But it doesn't go from her being in the house at 4.07, closing the door, walking out, to what you had two minutes later from a naturally occurring electrical fire in a wall.
23:47It doesn't happen.
23:48Another specific detail that he gave us that was important, that there was charring on the inside of the door of the room, but there were none on the outside.
23:57We determined that the door had been closed during the fire.
24:00And at some point in time, it was opened by my guys when they were fighting the fire.
24:07When I looked over the log, we found out there was entry at 4.02 p.m. of that day.
24:16And then there was an exit at 4.07 p.m.
24:21Latoya had already told us she went in the house alone within that time span.
24:28You got a Facebook video at 4.09 of the fire already coming out of the home.
24:34It was on a two-minute window there.
24:37No one else could have went in this house but Ms. Brownlee to start this fire.
24:43Everything's pointing to her.
24:44Even though we had all the evidence that we had, I still wanted to talk to her because I still wanted that confession from her as to why she done what she done.
25:06This is a murder investigation.
25:10Somebody lost their life.
25:11So, as much as we possibly can get from her, if she was willing to talk, it's what we were going to continue to get.
25:19Fire Marshal Mike Ivey and Detective Johnson were interviewing her.
25:28Of course, Mike, he would take the lead.
25:31This is a tragedy and it's up to us to figure out what happened.
25:39And when the investigators looked at the scene yesterday, they determined that somebody purposely set the fire.
25:50So, where we're at right now is to try to figure out what happened.
25:57When did you fire him?
25:59Now, we're in the bedroom where he was.
26:04The problem we've got is somebody set the fire.
26:07And we can't find anybody that was in that house other than you.
26:15The problem we've got is somebody set the fire.
26:31I didn't set no fire.
26:32I wouldn't harm that man.
26:34I seen him just like my dad.
26:36And I wouldn't harm him at all.
26:38I ain't seen no smoke and no fire in this room.
26:41At all.
26:42Okay.
26:43Did you keep any flammable liquids in the house, like paint, thunder, gasoline?
26:49He keep light of fluid and gasoline out there, but this stuff he can keep out there.
26:56Had you used any of it lately?
26:58No.
26:59Well, I don't know exactly what to tell you, but this is not going to go away.
27:08I don't want it to go away.
27:11I wanted to find out what happened because an innocent man lost his life.
27:17That fire did not start because of me.
27:19After I saw that she went bludgeoning, I moved closer because I wanted to establish a report
27:26with her.
27:28And I wanted to see her face.
27:30Why not?
27:31Just go ahead and lay it all out here.
27:33It was worth a shot.
27:35Are you aware the agency logged down the time that whenever somebody come in and they leave
27:42out?
27:43They what?
27:44Are you aware that they logged down whenever the door was open?
27:47Yeah.
27:48Are you aware that nobody else entered the house in between 12, 30 and 4 o'clock?
27:55And I wasn't aware of that.
27:57And you're correct.
27:58You got home around 4.
27:59Mm-hmm.
28:00You went in and, matter of fact, 4 o'clock.
28:03Got the door closed behind you.
28:05I guess that door was in like a minute time frame.
28:07The door closed behind you at 4 o'clock.
28:09The door opens at 4 o'clock.
28:13They got you leaving out at 4 o'clock.
28:16Okay.
28:17You leave the house at 4 o'clock.
28:18Mm-hmm.
28:19We got a video recorded at 4 o'clock, 4 o'clock, 4 o'clock with the house.
28:27Lays to, I'm talking about flames.
28:30I already bust through the window where the old man was playing.
28:33There was two windows right there.
28:35Your phone call that you got on Facebook, that was at 4 o'clock.
28:39You showed it to me yesterday.
28:40Mm-hmm.
28:41Okay.
28:42From 4 o'clock to 4 o'clock, ain't no way a fire is going to build up that much pressure
28:51and, what, four minutes to blow one out and then fire it as soon to the roof?
28:56I'm getting fed up about it because it seems like y'all harassing me.
29:00But you're not answering my question.
29:01Can you see a fire starting that fast from 4 o'clock to 4 o'clock to 4 o'clock?
29:06I don't know.
29:07I don't know if my fires have a fire starting well.
29:09I don't know.
29:10I can't answer that.
29:11I don't know how fast fires are old up, but I know I did not start no fire.
29:15I did not kill no innocent person, a handicapped person.
29:19I did not do that.
29:20And I will say that to the end.
29:22I did not do that.
29:24Well, and I'm going to be honest with you.
29:28We think you did.
29:29When I took him, when I gave him that candy, I was in the room with him.
29:35I didn't see no smoke.
29:37I didn't see no smoke.
29:38I didn't see no sound, no smoke, but I sucked smoke.
29:39I said, well, we'll get Junior to check in when he get here.
29:42He said, okay.
29:43And you closed the door and walked out.
29:46No, I'm closed the door.
29:48I'm closed the door.
29:49You don't close the door?
29:50No.
29:51No.
29:52All right.
29:53Now we got another problem.
29:54What?
29:55Because I know he didn't get out the bed and go and close the door.
29:59That door was not closed.
30:01If I was the last one there, I know I did not close that door.
30:05And I know that he did not get out the bed and walk over and close the door.
30:08So you ought to feel like me.
30:10There's a problem somewhere where someone closed that door.
30:13And that ought to be something you're concerned about.
30:15Who closed the door?
30:17You should also be concerned about who was in the house to set this fire.
30:22And for it to go that fast, there had to have been some kind of accelerant or something
30:26poured to make it just blaze that phase.
30:29I've been doing this a long time.
30:32He's been around this a long time.
30:34This doesn't happen in two minutes.
30:38I just know I didn't do it.
30:40What I'm saying is forget about the fire being set.
30:44Right.
30:45There was a fire in that room at that time.
30:48And you're putting yourself in the room.
30:51You're saying I gave him the candy.
30:53I stood by the bed.
30:54I didn't want no fire in the room.
30:56There was.
30:57I didn't see no fire in the room.
30:58There was.
30:59There was.
31:00I didn't see that.
31:01There's no way you could have.
31:02I didn't see a fire in the room.
31:03And there ain't no way I'd leave a person right there, a handicapped person, see a fire
31:08and can't get out.
31:09I mean, that was her story.
31:12I felt like she was going to stick to it.
31:13So I got to dealing with just her personal life as far as her and her husband.
31:20I think if I could play on that side of her emotions, that she would maybe get upset and actually, like, tell me what it was as to the reason why she did it.
31:31But listen to me.
31:32I understand what you're going through.
31:34I understand your husband made you mad past month or so.
31:44I understand there's a lot going on.
31:46No.
31:47It's a lot you're dealing with.
31:48It's a lot on you.
31:49It's got nothing to do with the situation at hand.
31:51You knew this divorce was coming up.
31:53You knew all of this.
31:54I understand that.
31:55Me and his situation ain't got nothing to do with this situation at hand.
31:58I want to took no innocent life.
32:00Listen.
32:01Over my situation.
32:02I understand that you want to hurt him.
32:04Don't hurt that situation.
32:05I understand that.
32:06You want to hurt him.
32:07I want to hurt him.
32:08I want to hurt him.
32:09I hurt him.
32:10Not hurt his dad.
32:12I understand that.
32:13You already said you wanted to hurt him before.
32:16I understand all of that.
32:18But why?
32:19Just tell me why.
32:20I know they want to arrest me.
32:22Tell me why you didn't let the trailer and he made you so mad that you wanted to burn the trailer down there.
32:27Why?
32:28Why did you do it?
32:29Just tell me why.
32:30That's all I want to know.
32:45When we let the trailer, I had to set that plank on.
32:48It wasn't a plank.
32:49It was a, it was a, it was a, it was a socket at the wall.
32:51It was a plank right by the socket on the wall.
32:54Exactly.
32:55Okay.
32:56Don't tell me, don't tell me what I did.
32:57I know what I did.
32:58You did it with that socket.
32:59No, I know what I did.
33:00And you did it with this socket.
33:01I know what I did.
33:02I know, I know, I know.
33:04Okay, well arrest me.
33:05I know what I did.
33:06Listen.
33:07And I know I didn't, I didn't harm no innocent man.
33:10Crippled man.
33:11They can't do nothing for they self.
33:12I will never do nothing like this.
33:14Young or old.
33:15Oh, the only thing I can say is what you're saying.
33:22This is your last opportunity.
33:25If you want to make this right and talk about, I mean, there was a fire.
33:32Well, forget about being.
33:33I didn't see no fire.
33:34No.
33:35No.
33:36No.
33:37No.
33:38No.
33:39No.
33:40No.
33:41No.
33:42No.
33:43No.
33:44No.
33:45No.
33:46No.
33:47No.
33:48No.
33:49No.
33:50No.
33:51No.
33:52No.
33:53No.
33:54Right.
34:17At the end of that interview, she looked back at us, and it was like, dang, y'all
34:22Dang, y'all still ain't gonna risk me, and just walked on out like it was nothing.
34:27I felt like it was just a waiting game.
34:30Like, I knew next time I see you, I'm gonna have you in handcuffs.
34:35It was lighter fluid that was used on the bed, the love seat, and to the wall outlet in the house.
34:56We also get the preliminary optopsy report from the Medicare examiner's office.
35:01Mr. Brownlee died of thermal injuries, meaning he burned to death.
35:06The manner of death was a homicide.
35:10Accelerant was poured all over his body, as well as in his mouth.
35:15And I thought back to my conversation with Latoya about how I gave him a piece of candy.
35:23I'm gonna ask for a piece of candy, and I gave it to him.
35:26There's something about this piece of candy that she claims she gave him that's not registering.
35:31And that left me wondering in my mind, okay, something else is going on here.
35:36Could it be a lot of fluid that she had put in his mouth?
35:39And he said, I smell some smoke.
35:40I said, I smell something, too.
35:42It's one thing to burn, but to burn from your mouth and your body, like, that was just, what I would say, just lowdown.
35:52Exactly what the words that her aunt said about her in that interview.
35:57So she is evil, hateful, and lowdown, all of the above.
36:01She was just a lowdown individual that'll do anything she had to do to get back at her husband.
36:08She didn't put up a fight, didn't argue, didn't fuss.
36:19She just put the handcuffs on and got in the car.
36:22Capital murder is a very serious charge in the state of Mississippi.
36:26Capital murder means that, you know, you can be sentenced to death.
36:30And she was facing that.
36:31She was facing those consequences for her actions.
36:42We was working hand-in-hand with the district attorney's office.
36:45This case was potentially going to trial, but I still wanted her to go ahead and give the confession.
36:51The family deserved it.
36:53You know, the family deserved the truth about what happened to their father.
37:01So we do got the camera on.
37:14Okay.
37:16Your name is Latoya Browning.
37:17Yes, it is.
37:18All right.
37:19Do you understand the charge that you have right now?
37:20Yes.
37:21What you're charged with right now?
37:22Capital.
37:23Capital murder.
37:24I know I'm not a lawyer to tell you, if there's anything that might help you, it's better for you to say it now than to wait on to go to court.
37:37But if you get charged with capital murder, and that's the only statute in the state of Mississippi, where they will kill you, it might be five years after you go to jail, it might be ten, but they will kill you.
37:48What did I have to gain by killing him?
38:06That's what I want to know.
38:08I don't know what you tell me.
38:10That's the reason why my parents got a lawyer.
38:13You want to know something about this?
38:15About the lawyer?
38:16They ain't get me just one.
38:18They got me five paid lawyers.
38:21You feel me?
38:22Put that on your court.
38:24You can go and get ten different lawyers.
38:27Okay.
38:29But it don't change facts of a case.
38:32And I'm telling you, Tori, I'm telling you, it ain't looking good on your end.
38:38I would tell you something else regarding that situation, but I'm going to let it all be a surprise.
38:43When I go to court, the world don't know.
38:48And I'm telling you, you don't want to wait on court to decide to.
38:54Why?
38:54Because at that point, it's going to be pretty much too late.
38:57No, I'm not.
38:58I'm telling you.
38:59What do you think will happen?
39:00I'm just telling you, Tori, you got a long road to travel.
39:04You feel better getting it off your chest.
39:07You really, really, really, really want to get this off your chest.
39:11Okay, first of all, first and foremost, when I first entered that house, I didn't smell no smoke.
39:18That's the first thing.
39:19I didn't smell no smoke until he told me to go and get his towel, which was by the chair, by the window.
39:24That's when I noticed some smoke.
39:26And then I went and checked the stove.
39:28I came back.
39:29There wasn't no smoke back there.
39:30It was over by his window.
39:32So whatever started, it was on the outside of that house.
39:35It wasn't nothing in that house burning.
39:36You never told us about a fire or smoke outside of the window, but here we are now.
39:43Why are you just not telling me about this window?
39:46I said that before.
39:48Well, I thought I did.
39:52If I knew who did this, I would say who did it.
39:56I'm not going to go down for somebody.
39:58You know what I'm saying?
39:59I don't have no idea.
40:01I went and checked the kitchen, my bedroom, kids' bedroom, the bathroom, nothing.
40:05You think I'd pour some damn gas on this man?
40:08I'd be a crazy damn fool to do some stuff like that.
40:10And furthermore, this man ain't never did nothing to me for me to take his life.
40:18Tory, I wish you the best outcome.
40:25Life itself is too short.
40:27Like I said, I didn't commit this crime, so I already know I'm not going to go down for something I didn't do.
40:54One thing about it, God didn't already show me, I'm lined up with God.
40:58He didn't already show me, I'm going to walk.
41:01I'm going to walk.
41:02And when I get through, please my case.
41:03I'm going to walk.
41:04Believe it.
41:05And you said you're a Christian, so I believe I can go down.
41:08Mm-hmm.
41:08God always give you.
41:12But you can keep living in the night.
41:15That's between the right, but you and God.
41:19But I can tell you, on that day, when you go to court, I hope God is with you that day.
41:26Because it's not going to work out the way you think of it.
41:28It's going to work out.
41:28We gave her so many chances to go ahead and present the facts, but then she went back to the snoring.
41:37And so after the final interview with her, we were prepared to go to court with her and the five lawyers that she had.
41:44I remember when the judge, he asked her, why are you pleading guilty?
42:07And she finally said, because I did it.
42:10It wasn't a confession we dreamed of, but we got our confession.
42:14And it took going in front of the judge for her to finally admit what she had to do.
42:20And that was the confession that we were wanting.
42:33I feel like her motive was to get back at her husband.
42:37And she done that by taking his dad from him.
42:42It was such a hard situation.
42:44That affected so many different people.
42:47So many different lives were changed behind this.
42:52He was a great guy.
42:54He was a church-going man and a great family man.
42:56So that's how the city of West Point can remember Mr. William Brownlee Sr.
43:01And the city of West Point is a great deal.
43:02And the city of West Point is a great deal.
43:02And the city of West Point is a great deal.
43:03And the city of West Point is a great deal.
43:04And the city of West Point is a great deal.
43:05And the city of West Point is a great deal.
43:06And the city of West Point is a great deal.
43:07And the city of West Point is a great deal.
43:08And the city of West Point is a great deal.
43:09And the city of West Point is a great deal.
43:10And the city of West Point is a great deal.
43:10And the city of West Point is a great deal.
43:11And the city of West Point is a great deal.
43:12And the city of West Point is a great deal.
43:13And the city of West Point is a great deal.
43:13And the city of West Point is a great deal.
43:14And the city of West Point is a great deal.
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