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00:00Oh, I have mercy.
00:12Ooh, wee, Lord.
00:14The deadly Thanksgiving fire is classified as a homicide.
00:18The lighter fluid was placed into his mouth, and he burned to death.
00:23I've never witnessed something so horrific before.
00:27I ain't got time for these lies, okay?
00:29You think I'm posting damn gas on this night?
00:32Do you want to rule out everything before you charge a personal?
00:35You need to start getting your story straight, and you need to be straight right now.
00:38You're just trying to get me out of here so you can move that bitch in here.
00:40If you get charged with half the murder, they would have killed you.
00:43She is evil, hateful, and lowdown, all of the above.
00:53Every suspect accused of a crime has the right to remain silent.
00:57Many agree to be interrogated anyway, but they can stop the interview at any moment, making
01:03it a race against time.
01:06Justice hangs in the balance.
01:09Oh, I have mercy.
01:21Ooh, wee, Lord.
01:25It was Thanksgiving Day.
01:27I remember Boakland and my son in his car seat, and next thing we know, that house right
01:33across the street from us is smoking a whole lot.
01:36So I immediately called 9-1-1.
01:41Yeah.
01:42We arrived at the fire scene within minutes of 9-1-1 call.
01:48I witnessed two windows that had been breached, smoke coming out of them, smoke coming from
01:53the roof.
01:54The fire has got some air.
01:56It's really burning, and we got our work cut out for us.
01:58My family, they come outside, and I remember hearing that somebody was indeed in the house.
02:06So at this point, a harsh drive.
02:09The most important thing is to get the victims out.
02:12We looked for a point of entry into the house, which on this house was going to obviously be
02:15the front door.
02:16They went in searching for the victim, trying to search thoroughly each room and bedroom
02:21for occupants.
02:22They searched the house until they made it to the bedroom.
02:27They found the victim in the bed.
02:29He was in the room with the fire was breaching out of the windows.
02:31He was within 10 feet of those windows.
02:34The bed was heavily consumed with fire.
02:37It was clear that he had passed away.
02:47Me being from West Point, I just knew William Brownlee to be a respectful person.
02:53He was a church-going guy who was 62 years of age.
02:56He had multiple sclerosis.
02:58William Brownlee Sr., he lived there with his daughter-in-law, Latoya, and his son, William
03:04Brownlee Jr.
03:05William Brownlee Sr. was bedridden, and they both were taking care of him because of some
03:11health issues he had going on at the time.
03:14I just hated that fact that, hey, there was somebody that was in the house.
03:19That was a very difficult moment, and it was horrific.
03:29I had never smelled someone burning.
03:32It is an indescribable smell, like you just couldn't even imagine.
03:37He was bedridden.
03:38He didn't even have a chance to get up or try to escape the room.
03:42He was just there to suffer.
03:45My gut was telling me something's really, really strange here.
03:49The fire was almost completely in William Sr.'s bedroom.
03:52The rest of the house was just heavily smoke-damaged.
03:55From the bed to where Mr. Brownlee laid, and the wall right above his head, all of it was
04:03heavily burned, way worse from how it was on the other side of the room.
04:08And then I saw where the outlet, it was very heavily burned.
04:14That seems very suspicious because it was a very new house.
04:18It was built two years before prior.
04:21They're built with modern wiring.
04:23And to really cause the damage that it did, an electrical fire just alone would not make
04:29this fire angry like it did.
04:31You definitely want to get down to the bottom of what went wrong for this fire to become
04:37fully engulfed in this one particular room.
04:39I remember going to the back porch of the home.
04:43There where I found a lot of fluid bottle, and I took it into evidence.
04:49I believe the fire chief, he was pretty much confident that something went wrong in that
04:53room.
04:54He believed something was started for that fire to get so hot in certain areas that he
04:59wanted to go ahead and call a state fire marshal.
05:01Latoya, she showed up in her vehicle, she gets out of her car, she's crying, she's hysterical.
05:14What we learned from the initial contact with Ms. Latoya Brownlee was she had been visiting
05:19family for Thanksgiving before this incident took place.
05:23Then she left and was shopping with her auntie, Ms. Virgie Gardner.
05:26And that's when she got the call that the house was on fire.
05:31So she came back to the home.
05:37With it being Thanksgiving Day, you would think that everybody would have been together.
05:43And that left me wondering in my mind, okay, something else is going on here.
05:49It was almost like you just knew, like something just wasn't right.
05:53Biggest question was, if this fire was actually intentionally set, and the next question was,
06:15if it was, why?
06:16If you give me a rundown of yesterday and what all took place.
06:21My brothers met at my house, and after that, we was going to my mom's house in Pontotoc in
06:28order to have Thanksgiving dinner.
06:30So my wife left home first before I did.
06:33She went to dinner in Yuna over at her family's house.
06:37So I got a call about 426 is when I actually got the call that my house was fully engulfed in flames.
06:45Who gave you the call?
06:47Tony Harris.
06:48He asked me where I was and told me I needed to get to my house as soon as possible, and
06:52my house was on fire.
06:54But did your wife ever call you at any time?
06:56No.
06:57Can you state your wife's name for the record?
06:59Latouria Janae Brownway.
07:01Okay.
07:01How long have y'all been married?
07:0318 years.
07:04Actually, y'all was filing for divorce next week.
07:07Did she know about this?
07:09Yes.
07:09I had an eviction notice for her.
07:12Right.
07:12Still on the same roof.
07:13Right.
07:13I moved on with my life and started, you know, seeing someone else.
07:16And she is pregnant.
07:18I said, now by the time the child is born, yes, my child will be living on the same roof
07:21as me.
07:22The fact that now she was being evicted from the house by him, and there would be an
07:27eviction hearing to have her removed from the house, very important piece in this investigation.
07:32So, uh, when did all the problems and stuff started occurring?
07:37It occurred for many, many, many years.
07:39She tried to actually burn the house down three years ago.
07:43And on one, I stayed in Lake Errol.
07:45Mm-hmm.
07:46I had a trailer there.
07:47I found burn marks on the wall on the sheetrock.
07:51I learned before living with Mr. Brownlee Sr., Junior Brownlee, his wife, Latouria, they
07:59stayed in an old trailer, Junior Brownlee, claims she tried to burn the outlet to start
08:04a fire.
08:05He said she used a plant to put it by an electrical outlet and light it up.
08:11But she said that she didn't.
08:12I didn't actually call the police, but I would go in my grave believing that she done it.
08:18Mm-hmm.
08:21Did her and your dad get along pretty well?
08:23I mean, yes.
08:24Yeah, she used to, but, I mean, since we've been going through our problems, she'll do
08:28anything to hurt me.
08:30Mm-hmm.
08:30So, by hurting him, she knows it hurts me.
08:33If she got that angry before to try to start a house fire, she could have possibly got angry
08:38again to do the same.
08:40Your dad was on that house?
08:42Yes, my dad was on.
08:43Your dad was?
08:44My dad was on.
08:46Nine to ten, or something, what's that happened to your dad?
08:49You was going to get the house?
08:50I was going to get the house.
08:51We are going to go over here to the house.
08:53Fire Marshal's going to be able to tell us where the fire started at.
08:58You're going to know that today?
09:00Hopefully.
09:00Should, hopefully.
09:07The deputy fire marshal's ruled out that it was any kind of electrical problems with
09:12the home.
09:13He basically told me that the fire was started by somewhere.
09:17After going through the scene and examining like he did, he was also adamant that that
09:23fire started in that room.
09:26Now we have an intentional fire, and this is a murder investigation.
09:30So now we have a suspect that we need to find.
09:32We began to look into the insurance claim.
09:37It went even over the $20,000 policy.
09:40I didn't see enough there for that to be a motive coming from William Brindley Jr.
09:47But on Latoya's hand, I looked at the fact of, you got this divorce situation.
09:54Pretty sure she was very upset.
09:58At that moment, she most definitely was a suspect for me.
10:02I have Ms. Bargey Garner.
10:16Garner, yes.
10:18You may run out how you and Janice came in contact yesterday.
10:21We had Thanksgiving dinner, and after the dinner, we left coming to West Point to go to Wawank.
10:30Right.
10:32But when we got in West Point, she said, take me by the house to drop off this food.
10:39We went by the house.
10:41This should have been like, what, around four?
10:45And she got out, went in, and she came back out less than five minutes, and we went to Wal-Mart.
10:55As soon as we got to Wal-Mart, she got a call saying, smoke coming out of your house.
11:02And I'm all upset now.
11:05I said, well, is your father-in-law in the house?
11:08She said, yes.
11:09So I really got nervous then.
11:11And then I could see smoke from Wal-Mart parking lot in the air.
11:13Right.
11:14We just left the house.
11:15The store that she went to was not even a mile if that from the actual home.
11:21She left a 405 cell phone video that shows the fire fully engulfed at 409.
11:28That definitely raises suspicion about what took place at that house.
11:33A house fire does not go from zero to that in that time frame, naturally.
11:38A gas leak would have more of an explosion-type situation.
11:41There's not a real natural cause that's going to allow it to burn that fast, that quick.
11:47Based on what you're telling me, y'all left from the residence around 405, a person called
11:549-1 at 14 saying the house was in flames.
11:58And I got a video showing her the house in flames at that time.
12:01That room was burning before she left.
12:03Really?
12:06She had to sit there and find her.
12:09They're going through this divorce.
12:11And I told her just last week, I said, Tara, I said, don't do nothing stupid.
12:15She said, yeah, because I was going, I thought about going there and putting a knife in her.
12:21So, if I was asked, do I think she capable of doing this?
12:28I would say, yes.
12:31She is evil, hateful, and lowdown, all of their bugs.
12:45The Brownlee family, they live directly across the street from my family.
12:50I've never witnessed something so horrific before.
12:57This is a small community, and the love of each other and the respect of each other pull us together.
13:04You hate to see a community hurt.
13:06You hate to see the families hurt.
13:08My heart just hit me because, just hated that fact that, hey, there was somebody that was in the house.
13:16Oh, I have mercy.
13:17So, after she went to the house and came back out to go to Walmart, what did she say?
13:39She was talking about him, and when you see him, you just go ahead and tell him he's wrong for what he's doing.
13:45Don't really, leave that on you.
13:46I said, you just do what's right.
13:49If an uncle or auntie say something about their niece or nephew, you could take it to the bank and cash it.
13:56The missing situations can cause people to do some crazy things because, you know, hurt people hurt people.
14:02At that point, I was pretty much sold on it being hurt, but I still had to prove it.
14:09I had to get more than just word of mouth.
14:18So, I received a video that was on Facebook Live at the time that the fire started.
14:24At 411, Latoya makes a post on Facebook about the Black Friday sale.
14:37You look at the time span, and it was very odd to me.
14:41I 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.
14:54What's up?
15:07How you doing?
15:08Fine, are you?
15:09Good.
15:14All right, you do understand you're still up on a Miranda, so you're still willing to speak?
15:18Yeah.
15:20Everything's pointing to her.
15:24You know, this house was set on fire.
15:27The situation going on between her and her husband, she's the only one that went in the house.
15:33Now is the time we've got to get her to break and tell us the truth.
15:38As of right now, just tell me your thoughts.
15:41Just let me know what's going on.
15:42I hate it happen, and I love my father-in-law.
15:45I hate it happen, and I just want to know what this stemmed from, what started this fire.
15:52All right, you left you on Thursday around what time again?
15:57Stay around 3.20, 3.30.
16:00You left around 3.20, 3.30.
16:02What time you make it to town?
16:073.55.
16:09All right, and when you got to town, would you, before you left you on, would you head
16:14at home, or would you head at the Walmart?
16:16Head at the Walmart.
16:18All right, what made you go by the house?
16:20Then take my plate, and I had to use the bathroom.
16:22And then I got in the house, took my plate to the kitchen, went to the bedroom to see
16:27him.
16:28He was in the bedroom, and then I was headed out, and then he asked for a piece of candy,
16:32and I gave it to him, and he said, I smell some smoke.
16:36I said, I smell something, too.
16:37And I looked in the chitlerone, and I ain't seen nothing burning, or no smoke.
16:41And I went to the kitchen, make sure never went on the eye, and I didn't see anything.
16:44And I came again, and I said, I don't know what it is.
16:46And that was it, and I left.
16:47You actually smell smoke in the home, and you still left?
16:55Common sense would have been like, I need to call somebody.
16:58I need to get somebody over here and see what's going on.
17:02It didn't sit well with me during that interview with her.
17:07How long was you at Walmart?
17:08We was there in no time.
17:12We pulled her in the parking lot, and we was in the park, and we pulled her back out.
17:16Mm-hmm.
17:18What was the reason for it?
17:20Somebody called.
17:22Did they call on Facebook or on your phone?
17:23Facebook.
17:25It should still be on Facebook.
17:26I ain't got time to take a look and see.
17:34She called you at 4-11.
17:36Okay.
17:37Y'all stayed on the phone in about a minute and three seconds, right?
17:40I guess.
17:42Okay.
17:43What was your name on Facebook around that time?
17:48Was it our own Facebook?
17:49Mm-hmm.
17:50Yeah, but I was at Walmart, so I'm not.
17:54You are aware that there's a Facebook post on your page that was made at 4-11.
17:58Said you was in Walmart parking lot.
18:01Okay.
18:03Yeah, I guess.
18:05Y'all remember that?
18:06I can't remember the post, but...
18:12You don't remember making that post?
18:14I don't remember.
18:18You can remember what you did inside the house for over five minutes, but all of a sudden,
18:22now you don't remember.
18:23I think she kind of felt like we was closing in on her.
18:27I had to go in a little harder.
18:32From what I'm looking at and from what the fire marshal report is saying,
18:37either you wasn't at home at 4 o'clock or you was there when the fire started.
18:42Well, I wasn't there when the fire started.
18:44Did you go in the room?
18:45I went in his bedroom.
18:47All right.
18:47Did you go in the bedroom when you first got to the house or was it right before you left?
18:50I went to the kitchen, then I went to his bedroom.
18:53Then we talked and he wanted...
18:55Hadn't you used the bathroom yet, like you said?
18:56No, I hadn't used the bathroom.
18:58But you told me you went to the bathroom.
19:01That's the reason why I said you went to the bathroom.
19:03You never said you didn't use the bathroom.
19:04I didn't use it.
19:05I didn't use it.
19:07So you lied to me, like you used the bathroom?
19:10Well, I went to the bathroom and I didn't have to go.
19:12So I didn't go.
19:14But I did.
19:15But I did.
19:16Listen.
19:17You need to start getting your store straight.
19:19You need to be straight right now.
19:20Okay, on this one.
19:20Because I ain't got time for these lies, okay?
19:31I went to the bathroom.
19:32I didn't go.
19:34And I left out there.
19:35I went back to his room.
19:38How about how long was you in the house?
19:40About five minutes.
19:43I did not see no fire, no smoke, no nothing.
19:46So you're not going to make me say that.
19:48I did not see no fire, but I smelled it.
19:51I smelled it in the utility room, right up in the air, on the utility room, in the bedroom.
19:55I smelled it.
19:55I smelled it.
19:56Okay.
19:56We get that.
19:58We get that.
19:58We get that.
20:00The thing of it is, you still left.
20:02I did.
20:03I did.
20:04Even though you smelled smoke or whatever.
20:07I thought it wasn't nothing because I ain't seen nothing.
20:10I did.
20:10I left.
20:11She continued to stick with her story over and over again.
20:16I'm still seeing the crime scene.
20:18I'm still seeing the remains of Mr. Brownlee.
20:20I'm still seeing how hot this room got.
20:23I'm on confessions.
20:24You still want to see if you can get her to go ahead and break.
20:29Now I went to the kitchen to make sure they went on sale.
20:31I feel like you was pretty upset with them.
20:34You got a lot of lying going on.
20:35You better start being straight.
20:39You pretty expert in them outlets, ain't you?
20:42No, I'm not.
20:44You ever fooled around one boy?
20:46No, I did not.
20:47You haven't?
20:48I haven't.
20:49Never?
20:50Never.
20:50You spoke with the hood.
20:55You told me three years ago, back at the trailer, when y'all got into it, you wouldn't
21:00tamper with it to start a fire on the trailer.
21:02It was right there.
21:03I didn't mess with the outlet itself per se.
21:06It was a plant right by the outlet, and I put the plant on fire.
21:10That's what I tamper with.
21:11So I had a plant on fire?
21:12The plant right there by the outlet.
21:14They were made thing right there, but I didn't.
21:16I'd be a fool to go in and mess with this outlet and get shot.
21:18It's crazy.
21:21Like, that's how you set a plant on fire.
21:26It was a mattress.
21:28A plant?
21:29A real live plant?
21:30No, it was an artificial plant.
21:33And you set it to fire with a mattress?
21:35Mm-hmm.
21:35We all had learned that Latoya Brownlee tried to set a previous house on fire because she
21:42got mad at Junior.
21:43And now, you know, the possibility of her doing this again after getting angry with her husband
21:50could be the very thing that started this fire.
21:52I did not mess with stuff, so I'm not messing with a plant.
21:54I did not mess with no outlet at this new house.
21:58I did not do nothing.
21:59You ain't gonna make me say I did something.
22:01I did not do nothing.
22:03You did if I did with the outlet and the trailer, though.
22:05Is that what you're telling me?
22:06I started right there by the outlet.
22:08The outlet probably caught on fire, but I'm not gonna put no fire to this outlet like this.
22:12At that point, I was just like, all right, we're done.
22:17She didn't admit, yes, I set the house fire.
22:22But she attached herself to the timeline that we had.
22:27So after that interview, I could have arrested her, but I didn't want to do it just yet because
22:33I knew I needed more evidence for it to stick.
22:37It was just like a lemon.
22:38And we was just trying to get all the juice as we, you know, we could get out of that lemon.
22:43And so that's why we opted to continue this investigation.
22:53When you, the fire was intentionally set.
22:56So you start looking for accelerants that may have been poured there.
23:00What he saw was something was poured on the glove seat, the flooring, and the bed.
23:06He had a hydrocarbon detector.
23:10The hydrocarbon detector is going to pick up a petroleum product of some type.
23:14That detected some type of petroleum product was poured.
23:18It could have been lighter fluid.
23:20It could have been gasoline.
23:21He added an interesting fact that there was also an accelerant on a outlet across the room
23:28from the bed.
23:29There was no accident at the electrical outlet.
23:33There was no faulty electrical outlet.
23:35There was an accelerant.
23:37Somebody poured liquid on the outlet, trying to make it look like the outlet had started
23:41the fire.
23:42But it doesn't go from her being in the house at 4.07, closing door, walking out, to what
23:47you had two minutes later from a naturally occurring electrical fire in a wall.
23:52It doesn't happen.
23:52Another specific detail that he gave us that was important, that there was charring on the
23:58inside of the door of the room, but there were none on the outside.
24:02We determined that the door had been closed during the fire.
24:05And at some point in time, it was opened by my guys when they were fighting the fire.
24:09When I looked over the log, we found out there was entry at 4.02 p.m. of that day, and then
24:22there was an exit at 4.07 p.m.
24:26Victoria had already told us she went in the house alone within that time span.
24:32You got a Facebook video at 4.09 of the fire already coming out of the home.
24:39It was on a two-minute window there.
24:42No one else could have went in this house but Ms. Brownlee to start this fire.
24:48Everything's pointing to her.
24:49Even though we had all the evidence that we had, I still wanted to talk to her because I still
25:08wanted that confession from her as to why she done what she done.
25:11This is a murder investigation.
25:15Somebody lost their life.
25:17So as much as we possibly can get from her, if she was willing to talk, it's what we were
25:23going to continue to get.
25:29Fire Marshal Mike Ivey and Detective Johnson were interviewing her.
25:33Of course, Mike, he would take the lead.
25:39This is a tragedy.
25:41And it's up to us to figure out what happened.
25:46And when the investigators looked at the scene yesterday, they determined that somebody purposely
25:55set the fire.
25:55So where we're at right now is to try to figure out what happened.
26:03When did he fire him?
26:05Where?
26:05Yes.
26:06In the bedroom where he was.
26:09The problem we've got is somebody set the fire.
26:15And we can't find anybody that was in that house other than you.
26:20I didn't set no fire.
26:38I wouldn't harm that man.
26:39I seen him just like my dad.
26:42And I wouldn't harm him at all.
26:44I ain't seen no smoke and no fire in this room.
26:47At all.
26:48OK.
26:48Did you keep any flammable liquids in the house, like paint, thunder, gasoline?
26:55He keep light of fluid and gasoline out there, but this stuff he can keep out there.
27:01Had you used any of it lately?
27:04No.
27:05Well, I don't know exactly what to tell you, but this is not going to go away.
27:13I don't want to go away.
27:16I want to find out what happened because an innocent man lost his life.
27:22That fire did not start because of me.
27:24After I saw that she went bludgeoning, I moved closer because I wanted to establish a report with her.
27:31And I wanted to see her face.
27:35Why not?
27:36Just go ahead and lay it all out here.
27:38It was worth a shot.
27:39Are you aware that AT&T logged down the time that whenever somebody come in, they leave out?
27:47They what?
27:48Are you aware that they logged down whenever the door was open?
27:52Yeah.
27:52Are you aware that nobody else entered the house in between 12, 30, and 4 o'clock?
27:59And I wasn't aware of it.
28:02And you're correct.
28:04You got home around 4.
28:05Mm-hmm.
28:06You went in and, matter of fact, 4 o'clock.
28:09Got the door closed behind you.
28:10I guess that door was in like a minute time frame.
28:13The door closed behind you at 4 o'clock.
28:14The door opens at 4 o'clock.
28:18They got you leaving out at 4 o'clock.
28:20Okay.
28:21You leave the house at 4 o'clock.
28:22Mm-hmm.
28:23We got a video recorder at 4 o'clock, 4 o'clock, 4 o'clock, with the house.
28:32Lays to, I'm talking about flames.
28:34I already bust through the window where the old man's flame lives.
28:38Two windows right there.
28:39And your phone call that you got on Facebook, that was at 4 o'clock.
28:44You showed it to me yesterday.
28:45Mm-hmm.
28:46Okay.
28:47From 4 o'clock to 4 o'clock.
28:51Ain't no way of fire.
28:53It's going to build up that much pressure.
28:56And what, four minutes?
28:57To blow one out and then fire it as soon as you go to the roof.
29:01I'm getting fed up about it because it seems like y'all harassing me.
29:05But you're not answering my question.
29:06Can you see a five-star net fast from 4 o'clock to 4 o'clock to 4 o'clock?
29:11I don't know if my fives have fives that start or whatever.
29:14I don't know.
29:15I can't answer this.
29:16I don't know how fast fives start.
29:18Oh, no.
29:18But I know I did not start no fire.
29:20I did not kill no innocent person.
29:22A handicapped person, I did not do that.
29:25And I will say that to the end.
29:27I did not do that.
29:28Well, and I'm going to be honest with you.
29:32Mm-hmm.
29:33We think you did.
29:34When I took him, when I gave him that candy, I was in the room with him.
29:40I didn't see no smoke.
29:41I didn't see no sound, no smoke.
29:43But I sucked smoke.
29:44I said, well, we'll get Johnny to check in when he get here.
29:46He said, okay.
29:48All right.
29:48And you closed the door and walked out.
29:51No, I'm closed the door.
29:53I'm closed the door.
29:54You don't close the door?
29:55No.
29:56All right.
29:58Now, we got another problem.
29:59What?
30:00Because I know he didn't get out the bed and go and close the door.
30:04That door was not closed.
30:07If I was the last one there, I know I did not close that door.
30:10And I know that he did not get out the bed and walk away from that closed door.
30:13So, so you ought to feel like me.
30:15There's a problem somewhere where someone closed that door.
30:18And that ought to be something you're concerned about.
30:21Who closed the door?
30:23You should also be concerned about who was in the house to set this fire.
30:28And for it to go that fast, there had to have been some kind of accelerant or something
30:31pour to make it just blaze that face.
30:35I've been doing this a long time.
30:37He's been around this a long time.
30:40This, this doesn't happen in two minutes.
30:43I just know I didn't do it.
30:45What, what I'm saying is forget about the fire being set.
30:49Right.
30:50There was a fire in that room at that time.
30:54And you're putting yourself in the room.
30:56You're saying I gave him the candy.
30:58I stood by the bed.
31:00I didn't want no fire.
31:00There wasn't no fire in the room.
31:02There was.
31:02I didn't see no fire in the room.
31:03There was.
31:04There was.
31:05I didn't see that.
31:05There's no way you could have.
31:07I didn't see a fire in the room.
31:08And there ain't no way I leave a person right there, a handicapped person, see a fire and
31:13can't get out.
31:15I mean, that was her story.
31:17I felt like she was going to stick to it.
31:18So I got to dealing with just her personal life as far as her and her husband.
31:25I figured if I could play on that side of her emotions, that she would maybe get upset and
31:31actually, like, tell me what it was to ask to the reason why she did it.
31:36Well, listen to me.
31:39I understand what you're going through.
31:43I understand your husband made you mad.
31:48Past month or so, I understand there's a lot going on.
31:52It's a lot you're dealing with.
31:53It's a lot on you.
31:54It ain't got nothing to do with the situation at hand.
31:56You knew this divorce was coming up.
31:58You knew all of this.
31:59I understand that.
32:00Me and his situation ain't got nothing to do with this situation at hand.
32:03I wouldn't have took no innocent life over my situation.
32:07Listen, I understand that you wanted to hurt you.
32:09Don't put it over to that situation.
32:10I understand that.
32:11You wanted to hurt him.
32:12I don't want to need him to be dead.
32:13I understand.
32:14I want to hurt him.
32:16I hurt him, not hurt his dad.
32:18I understand that.
32:18You already said you wanted to hurt him before.
32:22I understand all of that.
32:24But why?
32:25Just tell me why.
32:26I know.
32:27Oh, they want to arrest me.
32:28Tell me why you didn't let the trailer and he made you so mad that you wanted to burn
32:31the trailer down there.
32:32Why?
32:33Why did you do it?
32:35Just tell me why.
32:36That's all I want to know.
32:51When was it the trailer?
32:52I had to sit there a plant on mine.
32:53There wasn't a plant.
32:54It was a, it was a, it was a, it was a socket in the wall.
32:57It was a plant right by the socket on the wall.
32:59Exactly.
33:00Okay.
33:01Exactly.
33:01Don't tell me.
33:02Don't tell me what I did.
33:03I know what I did.
33:03I know what I did.
33:05And you did it with this socket.
33:06I know what I did.
33:07I ain't messing with you.
33:08I know.
33:08I know.
33:09I know.
33:09Okay.
33:09Well, arrest me.
33:11I know what I did.
33:12Listen.
33:12And I know I didn't, I didn't harm no innocent man, crippled man.
33:17They can't do nothing for theyself.
33:18I will never do nothing like this.
33:19Young or old.
33:20Well, the only thing I can say is what you're saying.
33:27This is your last opportunity.
33:30If you want to make this right and talk about, I mean, there was a fire.
33:38Forget about being.
33:39I didn't see no fire.
33:41No.
33:41I didn't want to practice right here.
33:42Because I did not do it.
33:45Let me and him go ahead and speak for a second.
33:47We're going to let you go.
33:48We wanted to arrest her, but that would become risky, because then she would probably lower
33:53you up.
33:55We were still waiting on an autopsy and a lab report.
33:57We wanted to make sure that when it was time to make that arrest, we had everything set
34:02in stone to move forward.
34:04At the end of that interview, she looked back at us and it was like, dang, y'all still ain't
34:28going to arrest me and just walked on out like it was nothing.
34:32I felt like it was just a waiting game.
34:35Like I knew next time I see you, I'm going to have you on handcuffs.
34:40It was lighter fluid that was used on the bed, the love seat, and to the wall outlet in
35:00the house.
35:01We also get the preliminary optopsy report from the Medicare examiner's office.
35:06Mr. Brownlee died of thermal injuries, meaning he burned to death.
35:12The manner of death was a homicide.
35:15Accelerant was poured all over his body, as well as in his mouth.
35:20And I thought back to my conversation with Latoya about how I gave him a piece of candy.
35:28I'm going to ask for a piece of candy, and I gave it to him.
35:31There's something about this piece of candy that she claims she gave him that's not registering.
35:36And that left me wondering in my mind, okay, something else is going on here.
35:41Could it be a lot of fluid that she had put in his mouth?
35:44And he said, I smell some smoke.
35:45I said, I smell something too.
35:47It's one thing to burn, but to burn from your mouth and your body, like that was just,
35:54what I would say, just low down.
35:57Exactly what the words that her aunt said about her in that interview.
36:02So she is evil, hateful, and low down, all of the above.
36:06She was just a low down individual that'll do anything she had to do to get back at her husband.
36:13She didn't put up a fight, didn't argue, didn't fuss.
36:24She just put the handcuffs on and got in the car.
36:27Capital murder is a very serious charge in the state of Mississippi.
36:31Capital murder means that, you know, you can be sentenced to death.
36:35And she was facing that.
36:36She was facing those consequences for her actions.
36:47We was working hand-in-hand with the district attorney's office.
36:50This case was potentially going to trial, but I still wanted her to go ahead and give the confession.
36:56The family deserved it.
36:58You know, the family deserved the truth about what happened to their father.
37:06So we do got the camera on.
37:19Okay.
37:21Your name is Latoya Brownlee.
37:22Yes, it is.
37:23All right.
37:24Do you understand the charge that you have right now?
37:25Yes.
37:26What you charged with right now?
37:27Capital.
37:28Capital murder.
37:29I know I'm not your lawyer to tell you, if there's anything that might help you, it's
37:38better for you to say it now than to wait on to go to court.
37:42But if you get charged with capital murder, and that's the only statute in the state of
37:46Mississippi, where they will kill you, it might be five years after you go to jail, it
37:51might be ten, but they will kill you.
37:53What do I have to gain by killing him?
38:11That's what I want to know.
38:13I don't know what you tell me.
38:15That's the reason why my parents got a lawyer.
38:18You want to know something about this?
38:20About the lawyer?
38:21They ain't get me just one.
38:23They got me five paid lawyers.
38:26You feel me?
38:27Put that on your court.
38:29You can go and get ten different lawyers.
38:32Okay.
38:34But it don't change facts of a case.
38:37And I'm telling you, Tori, I'm telling you, it ain't looking good on your end.
38:43And I would tell you something else regarding that situation, but I'm going to let it all
38:47be a surprise.
38:48When I go to court.
38:49The world don't know.
38:53And I'm telling you, you don't want to wait on court to decide to.
38:59Why?
38:59Because at that point, it's going to be pretty much too late.
39:02No, I'm not.
39:03I'm telling you.
39:04What do you think will happen?
39:06I'm just telling you, Tori, you got a long road to travel.
39:09You feel better getting it off your chest.
39:11You really, really, really, really, really want to get this off your chest.
39:16Okay.
39:18First of all, first and foremost, when I first entered that house, I didn't smell no smoke.
39:23That's the first thing.
39:24I didn't smell no smoke until he told me to go and get his towel, which was by the chair
39:28by the window.
39:29That's when I noticed some smoke.
39:31And then I went and checked the stove.
39:33I came back.
39:34It wasn't no smoke back there.
39:35It was over by his window.
39:37So whatever it started, it was on the outside of that house.
39:40It wasn't nothing in that house burning.
39:43You never told us about a fire or smoke outside of the window, but here we are now.
39:48Now, why are you just not telling me about this window?
39:51I said that before.
39:53Well, I thought I did.
39:57If I knew who did this, I would say who did it.
40:01I'm not going to go down for somebody, you know what I'm saying?
40:04I don't have no idea.
40:06I went and checked the kitchen, my bedroom, kids' bedroom, the bathroom, nothing.
40:10You think I'd post some damn gas on this man?
40:13I'd be a crazy damn fool to do some stuff like that.
40:15And furthermore, this man ain't never did nothing to me.
40:18For me to take his life.
40:23Tory, I wish you the best outcome.
40:30Life itself is too short.
40:34You might not tell me today.
40:36You might not tell me.
40:38I'm going to come down to your court today.
40:41And I might be old and great by the time you decide to tell what really happened that day.
40:45But like I told you, whether he got one lawyer or five lawyers, he don't change facts of a case.
40:53Okay?
40:53Like I said, I didn't commit this crime.
40:56So I already know I'm not going to go down for something I didn't do.
40:59One thing about it, God done already showed me.
41:02I'm lined up with God.
41:03He done already showed me.
41:04I'm going to walk.
41:06I'm going to walk.
41:06And when I get through, please my case.
41:08I'm going to walk.
41:09Believe that.
41:10And you said you're a Christian.
41:12So I believe I can go to this.
41:13Mm-hmm.
41:15God always gives you.
41:17But you can keep living in the night.
41:20That's between the light.
41:21But you and God.
41:22But I can tell you, on that day, when you go to court, I hope God is with you that day.
41:31Because it's not going to work out the way you think it's going to work out.
41:33We gave her so many chances to go ahead and present the facts.
41:39But then she went back to the snoring.
41:42And so after the final interview with her, we were prepared to go to court with her and
41:48the five lawyers that she had.
41:49I remember when the judge, he asked her, why are you pleading guilty?
42:12And she finally said, because I did it.
42:15It wasn't a confession we dreamed of, but we got our confession.
42:19And it took going in front of the judge for her to finally admit what she had did.
42:25And that was the confession that we were wanting.
42:38I feel like her motive was to get back at her husband.
42:42And she done that by taking his dad from him.
42:47It was such a hard situation.
42:49That affected so many different people.
42:52So many different lives were changed behind this.
42:57He was a great guy.
42:59He was a church-going man and a great family man.
43:01So that's how the city of West Point, you can remember Mr. William Brownlee Sr.
43:06Jr.
43:14Thank you, supersons of all women.
43:16Thank you, fuelsions ofolt.
43:30аковography.
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