(soft tense music) - Hey guys, welcome back to my channel. So happy to have you
here for another video. If you're new, welcome. I hope you guys are all
having a great day so far, I know I am. I'm really looking forward
to recording this video. I've been working on it
for over a month now, so I'm excited to be sitting
down and finally doing it. Also, today I found out Nancy
Grace blocked me on Twitter and I'm feeling really good about that. Anyway, today's video is very exciting because I am working with another family. And I really love doing these videos, I love getting to know these families. They're all such amazing,
resilient, strong people, and I'm honored to be
able to work with them and help tell their stories. I actually became aware of this
case back in early December, when I saw this TikTok
posted by Jordan Preston. A lot of you may have seen that. I know it went pretty viral on TikTok. It just ended up on my For You Page, and I was instantly very
curious in this whole situation. In the TikTok, Jordan was
referring to a documentary that was recently put out by
Hulu called "Dead Asleep," and it's about her sister
Brooke Preston's case. And I was really excited to see that Jordan had submitted a
request to be on my channel and tell her side of the story through my Victims Advocate Form, which is always linked
below, if you didn't know. It's always very exciting to
be able to work with a family, especially when they are trying to get their side of the story out there when traditional true crime
media has failed them, in their opinion. So there is quite a bit to go over today when it comes to Brooke's case. This one is very controversial. I know there will be mixed opinions, but as always, I ask that
you guys remain respectful in the comment section,
especially because Jordan's family will likely be reading comments. Of course, 99% of you are just
wonderful in the comments, offering words of
support and encouragement to these family members, but
of course there is that 1%, so I gotta include this reminder. But before I get into today's case, I did wanna let you guys know that my collaboration with
The Sand Witch Shoppe, raising money for Her
Justice, has just restocked. When I first announced this collaboration, you guys sold out the
bracelets in a few hours, so I'm definitely happy that
we have a restock going on 'cause I know a lot of
you were disappointed that you didn't get to
get your hands on one. But if you want one, act fast because yeah, I don't know
how long this stock will last. And just a reminder for this collection, there are five designs that were designed by The Sand Witch Shoppe, which is a small business out of Florida. They have created five new designs inspired by my channel and my podcasts, and also Her Justice and what they do. There's the Mountain High bracelet, which is labradorite, smoky
quartz, and African turquoise, the Sun bracelet, which
is calcite, citrine, jasper, and golden tiger's eye, the Star Alignment
bracelet, which is selenite, hematite, obsidian,
moonstone, and white jade, the Her Justice bracelet,
which is jasper, aventurine, calcite, fossil, white jade, and selenite, and the Universal Investigator bracelet, which is inspired by my
podcast, Mile Higher, and that is lapis lazuli,
fluorite, obsidian, amethyst, onyx, and sandstone. The thing that caught my eye most about The Sand Witch Shoppe and why I wanted to work with them is the way that they
write their descriptions and just how well thought-out each product that they put out is. I don't have time today to read every single description for you. I did wanna read one, the
Mountain High bracelet, which is the one that kinda
resonates with me the most. I'd definitely say it's my favorite. All of the descriptions are on the website and you do get a copy of each
description with your order. So for the Mountain
High bracelet, it says, "High above the many clouds,
you reach the mountain top. The journey here is difficult, with challenges that wouldn't stop. The lessons learned
have made you stronger, with no reasons to fear any longer. Now a scene before you,
envisioned in your dreams. Beautiful landscapes of green trees and mountain tops as
far as the eye can see. You are at peace. Enjoy this moment and hold on to it, for you can return here
whenever you please. When feeling low, climb
back up your mountain high and overcome the obstacles
holding you behind." These bracelets are high-quality. They're sourced ethically. When you purchase one of these
bracelets from my collection, 20% will be donated to Her Justice, which is an amazing organization,
a very small nonprofit that we're really trying
to make a difference in. - At Her Justice, we
provide legal services to low-income women in crisis in the areas of family,
matrimonial, and immigration law. Our clients are incredibly strong and many of them have
survived great hardship. What they don't have is access. Her Justice makes sure that
our clients receive that access by connecting them with private attorneys from around the city so
that our clients have access to the legal tools that give them safety, security, and self-sufficiency. - And if you want more
information on Her Justice, I will have some resources linked below. Also, if you buy all five,
25% will go to Her Justice, which is amazing. Okay, let's go ahead and jump in here. So, this documentary, "Dead
Asleep" came out in December, and it was trending number one on Hulu, I think, for a while, so many of you have probably seen it, especially if you're really
into the true crime space. And you may have no idea
that the Preston family was not involved in it and
isn't comfortable with it, and that's for several different reasons. And when I talked to them, I think the main reason that
they are upset, above all else, is that this documentary
really seems to be focused on Brooke's killer and
it's less about Brooke. And there's also just a lot of misleading information
in the documentary that I'm hoping we can
kind of clear up today. And I really wanna make
sure that this video is more focused on Brooke, and that everyone remembers
at the end of the day that this is her story. So Brooke was born on September 1st, 1995, in Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, and she was the youngest daughter
to Nancy and John Preston. She has two older sisters,
Jordan and Jessica. - Brooke, growing up,
was a very happy child. She was also a very imaginative child. She could make anything
sparkle, and she usually did, because she loved to
play dress-up as a kid. My mother, Linda Lou, as she called her, had a chest full of clothes
and gowns and old-time boas. Brooke would constantly
go through this chest, drag things out, put the high heels on, put the boas around
her neck, and dress up. And of course, she always
had to have a crown, a tiara, because her nickname was Little Princess. And if you didn't address her
as so, she would correct you. - For almost a full year
when she was younger, she would not answer to anyone unless they called her Little Princess. If you said, "Hey, Brooke, come here," she'd go own with her business, go on, just ignore everybody. Say, "Little Princess, come here," she'd be like, "Oh, yes, what
did you need?" (laughing) It was ridiculous. She always wanted to be
the center of attention, and she was. When she walked into a room,
she grabbed the attention. We loved that about her. She made family gatherings like no other, just added some more spark to them. - Brooke and I were fairly close. She was always very lovable. She was caring and loving. She loved life. - She was just a fun person, just was very spontaneous
and fun to be with, Brooke. We would dance, sometimes in the middle of
the road if we wanted to. Had some fun showing her
different ways of cooking. - Brookeie loved to paint. She started with charcoal
and moved herself up into painting, saw blades,
and things like that. - Really enjoyed just being around people, family, friends, anybody. - Brooke, growing up, was
always the life of the party. She had a ton of friends. She loved to go to proms
and dances, dress up. - But as much as Brooke
was our little princess, she was also tough. She could stand up for herself. She was independent. She could take a punch, (laughing) especially from her
sisters, or a hair-pull. So from a very young age,
she learned to defend herself and/or take care of herself. She may be little, but she is fierce. And that's how she attacked everything that she had done in her life. She had dreams. She wanted them accomplished. She didn't stop just 'cause somebody said, "No, you can't do that," or, "I don't think you'd be good at that." She would try anyway,
and she wouldn't give up. If there was something that
she really wanted to do, she would fight to do it. One of the favorite things that Brooke loved to do was tumbling, jumping on her trampoline,
climbing things. She was fearless. She did love any type of
tumbling, which is, I think, why she got involved in
gymnastics and cheerleading. She also loved going to the beach. She loved to be in the ocean. - Brooke was known as an
incredibly sweet person, someone who was very
friendly and outgoing, and therefore she had a lot of
friends throughout her life. Anyone that she talked to would
instantly grow to love her. - I can remember a story
from after she passed away, one of her classmates'
mothers approached me and told me that he wasn't
very popular in school, didn't have a whole lotta friends, but Brooke always made sure
to ask him how he was doing, "How's your day going," made sure that he knew
that he had a friend. She was able to talk to
people and really listen and make an impact on them. She was the life of the party, always center of attention,
but in a great way. She wanted to make everybody laugh. She just wanted to have fun. - In her obituary, they
refer to her as a spitfire, and this is so accurate. She was so just loud and
out there and vivacious, and she just walked into a room, she captured everyone's attention and you just couldn't not
look at her and listen to her and what she had to say. Some days, she would walk in and she'd be wearing a Carhartt sweatshirt or Carhartt jacket and
boots, like Timberland boots, and then other days she'd walk in and she'd be in full
makeup, the hair curled, and the highest heels
that were all glittery. - One of the things that I
always admired about Brooke was that she can be a girly
girl, but at the same time, she wasn't afraid to
go swimming in the pond or ride her bike through a mud puddle, climb trees in the woods and get dirty. So she was truly the best of both worlds. - And Brooke was so much fun to be around, literally never a dull moment. - And of course, they had the
typical sisterly relationship where you love each other so much, but you're at each other's throats a lot of the time as well. I can definitely relate
to that with my sister. - Her and I, sisters growing
up, we would get in arguments. We would throw down. And this girl, I was three
years older than her, and she could almost take me. She was tough. (laughing) - But despite the normal sibling rivalry, they were very, very close and
cared for each other so much. - When it came down to it,
we were there for each other and we would have each
other's backs no matter what. - So after graduating high school in 2013, Brooke ended up moving
to Florida for college. And she lived in Sarasota and attended the State College of Florida, where she studied until
the spring of 2016. And after she graduated college, she very briefly moved
back to Pennsylvania to be with her boyfriend, Brian, who she had been doing long-distance with, but this was kinda short-lived because in July of 2016,
she was ready for a change and decided to move to West Palm Beach, which is another gorgeous area in Florida. And her sister Jordan had
already been living down there, so she wanted to go down
there mainly to be with her. And back home in Pennsylvania, they had a friend named Randy. He was friends with both sisters and he actually met them
in late middle school, so he had been a longtime friend. - Randy was always around,
he was always at her house. We did everything together, all of us did. He was always friendly, in a good mood. - He first moved to
Laceyville, Pennsylvania in eighth grade. And although they didn't
go to the same school, they lived in neighboring towns, so obviously it's common for people to make friends in other districts. And the three of them were
actually really close, so much so that they
decided to move in together. Randy had been kinda
going through a hard time, really wanted a change of scene and a new fresh start at life. So Brooke encouraged him to come down and live with them in
Florida, and he agreed. - When we first all go down
there, it started as a party. We were living in a condo. We didn't have any type
of lease or anything. We lived in a condo for a
month before we found a house that we were able to rent together. - A home that they moved
into on Sarazen Drive. And when they first moved in together, they all spent a lot of time together and they were really enjoying
being in West Palm Beach. I mean, it's a really lively area, there's a ton to do, you can party a lot. It's a great scene for younger people. - Living in a new area together, obviously, the three of
us hung out quite a bit. We went to the beach together,
we would go bowling together, we did a lotta things together. We had game nights, we had family dinners, we went boating together. - But after just a few
months of living together, things started to change a little bit. - As time went on and we
lived together for longer, we all kind of got our own friend groups and we stopped hanging out so much. I mean, we still had the
occasional family dinner or game night or a party
at the house or whatever, but it wasn't like we were
hanging out every night like we were when we first got there. We kind of just did our own thing. We kind of separated a little bit, obviously still tight-knit, but we weren't spending
all of our time together. We kind of had grown apart a little bit. - So, like I mentioned, Randy
was going through a hard time before he moved to Florida, and one of the main reasons for that was what happened with his father. His father, Randy Herman Sr. was actually the prime suspect in the murder of his girlfriend,
whose name is Gail Monahan. He allegedly shot Gail in the
head in their home together in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania,
in February of 2015. Now, I say allegedly
because, unfortunately, police were never able to convict him because Randy Sr.
actually took his own life and was found by police in
a pickup truck in Alabama. And obviously, this was
really hard on Randy Jr. And he did end up getting an
inheritance from his father, not too much, about $10,000,
but that's what he used in order to move down to
Florida with the girls. But that wasn't the only stress in Randy Jr's life at the time. He was also having some
trouble with the law himself, which is very ironic, considering he studied criminal justice at Mansfield University in Pennsylvania. Randy had actually been working part-time as a corrections officer at the local county jail in Pennsylvania until he lost his job after
being charged with drug use and possession in August of 2013. And that same year, Randy also got pulled
over for drunk driving and was arrested and issued his first DUI. But he was able to put up $5,000 for bail while he awaited his court date. And just over one year later, when he was still on probation, he was caught drunk driving again. And this time, it was when he was leaving his sister's wedding. And he was arrested and
issued his second DUI in the state of Pennsylvania. So, things weren't going great for him. So when he finished serving his probation, he decided to move down
to Florida with the girls. When he first moved down there,
he was working for Walmart, actually working for Comcast in Walmart, selling internet and cable service, and he was making decent money. However, Jordan noted and he noted as well in the documentary that
most of his free time was spent drinking and partying, and he went kinda wild down there. He started draining his inheritance money from his father very quickly, and he started to realize
it was gonna be a problem. And eventually, things got
even more stressful for him because he made the
decision to quit his job because the inconsistency
of commission-based pay was too much for him to handle. And then he started solely
living on the inheritance from his father's passing, which obviously made
it drain a lot quicker. He tried to find a new job,
but he wasn't having much luck, and the stress from that
made him drink even more. So, while the three of
them were living together, Brooke was still dating
her boyfriend, Brian, and they had been long-distance
throughout college, and it had been a long time
for them to be living apart. And they were getting more serious, so they decided that they
wanted to live together. So Brooke decided that she
was gonna be making a move up to New York to live with him. So she ended up leaving Florida
around December 3rd, 2016, and started a new chapter of her life living in Buffalo, New York. - Brooke was so excited
to start her new life in New York with Brian. They already had an apartment,
she had decorated it. She was really excited about
meeting new people in New York. She had been there for a short time and had already made friends. - And it wasn't long after
that she got a job offer with the same company
that he was working with. She knew his boss. They all had a good relationship. - She had a lot of goals. One of them, she said, "I'm
not gonna have kids right away, just in case you're waiting on me." But she said, "Oh, I am probably
gonna have a diamond soon and I am gonna be engaged, and Brian and I are gonna get married." - Now, even though Brooke left, Randy and Jordan did remain roommates. However, they lived very separate lives. Jordan honestly didn't see Randy as frequently as you would think. They just had very different lifestyles. And with him drinking and
partying late at night most of the time, they just
had really opposite schedules and really barely saw each other. So, things weren't
necessarily bad in the house. Things had just changed quite a bit. They really only saw
each other in passing, and it was quite different from when they all first moved in together and were doing everything together. I'm sure a lot of you have experienced what it's like to live with a roommate who you are kinda are on
opposite schedules with, and really barely ever see. It's not like it was
the best situation ever, but it's not like it was toxic where they were fighting all the time. So that brings us to March 24th, 2017. Brooke had been living in New York with her boyfriend for
four months at this point. Around this time, she decided
to come back to Florida to visit and pack up
the rest of her things that she wasn't able to move with her initially when she moved. Brooke had also left her
car behind in Florida, so part of this trip was going down there so she could drive the car all
the way back up to New York. - She flew into the
West Palm Beach Airport, and I picked her up before work and we got breakfast together, and then I brought her to
the house and I went to work. And then I had a flight out to Denver. So her and Randy and I,
we went to dinner together because it was the last time the three of us were gonna
be together for a while. We went out to dinner and
they brought me to the airport and dropped me off. We said our goodbyes, and
that was the last time that I had seen both of them. - This was a very short trip. Brooke had her last full day
in Florida on March 24th. And Randy, who claimed to be better about his drinking habits at the time, decided that this trip
was cause for celebration. So the two of them packed up a bag and a bottle of champagne and went down to the beach
together for the last time, and they took this photo of Brooke. After the beach, they went back home and continued drinking for
a little bit on their porch, which is normally kinda their hang spot when they did used to drink together. But Randy ended up drinking a lot more than just a little
champagne and a few beers. So we got a little bit more information about what had actually happened that day from one of their friends
named Kyle McGregor. Now, although Brooke had technically already moved out of the house, she was still fully intending
on sleeping at their place the night of March 24th. But we actually learned from Kyle that Brooke did not sleep
there, as she planned to. Instead, Brooke texted
Kyle and let him know that Randy was completely belligerent and really upsetting her. So Kyle actually went over
there to check on her. And when he came in contact with Brooke, she was very upset about Randy's behavior. She said she didn't wanna
be around him that night. She wanted to leave the house and asked if she could
come spend the night at Kyle's instead. And of course, he agreed. And once they left the house
to go over to his house, Brooke told him some incredibly
disturbing information. It turns out that night, while Brooke was just trying to pack up the rest of her things, Randy got naked and hid inside her closet. And when she did find him in the closet, he held up a finger to his
mouth and just said, "Shh." So she was very disturbed. She told Kyle that she just
honestly didn't feel safe being in the same house as Randy alone with the way that he was acting. It's likely that Randy
doesn't even remember Kyle coming over to get Brooke because of how belligerent he was. But that night, Brooke did
spend the night at Kyle's, so that's March 24th, 2017. So the next morning, March 25th, Randy wakes up incredibly
hungover, as you can imagine. He claims he got out of bed, he walks to the kitchen
to get a glass of water, and that's where he sees Brooke, who had come back to the house to finish packing up her things. After getting his water,
Randy goes back to bed and Brooke and Kyle go out for breakfast before she makes the
drive back up to New York. Brooke, being the very
kind person that she was, even texted Randy after
the way he had been acting and asked if he wanted to
join them for breakfast, but Randy said he was
way too hungover for that and wanted to stay home in bed. Brooke returned back to
the home around 8:35 a.m., and this is confirmed with
neighbors' surveillance footage. And the only reason she actually came back was because Randy asked her to. Specifically, he wanted her
to come back to the house so that he could give her a T-shirt. Now, this shirt was
actually a memorial shirt that had been made in honor
of one of their friends who had passed away. He told Brooke that he
wanted to give it to her so she could pass it along
to her boyfriend, Brian, who was also friends with
this person who had passed. Now, I'm gonna play some footage that was taken at the police
station later that night, but I do wanna say that
it's incredibly difficult to hear what Randy is actually saying because his head is kinda hung down and he's really mumbling his words. So, I'm gonna do my best to
summarize what he's saying. (Randy speaking faintly) - [Officer] She stayed somewhere else? (Randy speaking faintly) Okay, she came back. Do you know where she stayed last night? (Randy speaking faintly) At a friend's house. Do you know what her friend's name is? - [Randy] Kyle. - [Officer] Kyle. Where does Kyle live? Does he live around you? Around West Palm somewhere? - [Randy] They went to
breakfast this morning. - [Officer] You went to
breakfast this morning? (Randy speaking faintly) Oh, her and Kyle went to
breakfast this morning? Okay. - We can sort of hear that
Randy was telling the officers that Brooke stayed with
Kyle that night, the 24th, and had come home that morning, which is when he gave her the T-shirt. And he also confirms that
Brooke had been with Kyle and the two of them had gone
out to breakfast that morning. But according to Randy, giving her the T-shirt
and saying goodbye to her is his last memory. And that is when something
absolutely horrific started to play out. It was then, in that home, that Brooke was attacked by Randy. He actually used this hunting
knife that was next to his bed and stabbed Brooke more than 20 times. That's right, Randy, who was
Brooke's friend for years, and she still invited out
that morning for breakfast ended her life in the most
horrific way possible. Now, Randy claims that the
last thing he remembers after he said goodbye to Brooke was standing over her body
with the bloody knife. He was covered in blood, and even he knew that he was
the one who had stabbed Brooke. So there is no question
about who Brooke's killer is. Randy Hermann Jr. killed Brooke that day. - [Randy] She came home this
morning, just saying goodbye, and then I don't know. (Randy speaking faintly) - When Randy attacked Brooke,
he was wearing just his boxers and he was absolutely covered in blood. And that's really all he
remembers is all of the blood and being there, holding
the knife over her body. So he got changed. He took Brooke's car and
drove up to Haverhill Park and called 911. This is less than a mile from their house. And obviously, it would
have been much better if he could have called right away. - [Female Officer] 911 emergency. - [Randy] You need to send police. Someone's been murdered. I'm sorry, it was me. - So the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office was dispatched to the scene of the crime in Haverhill Park where
Randy was anxiously waiting. And as you heard in the 911 call, Randy actually says,
"It was me, I did it." And remember, this is all in the morning. Randy was picked up by
police just after 9:00 a.m. Randy also had a cut on his hand, so they brought in emergency
services to deal with that. By 9:23 a.m., police had
searched Brooke's car, which as a reminder, Randy had taken Brooke's
car to go call 911. And then Randy was brought in for an hour and 49 minutes of questioning. And they provided him
with a change of clothes so that they could take the bloody ones that he was wearing into evidence. His hands, which were of
course covered in blood, were photographed and
then cleaned afterwards. And when police arrived to
their house on Sarazen Drive, they found Brooke lying on the floor covered in a quilted blanket. Like I mentioned earlier, it is very difficult to hear
what Randy is actually saying during the interrogation. And a lot of it he's
just very quiet during. And throughout the interview,
Randy seems very clueless. He keeps saying, "I don't know. I don't remember. I don't know what happened." And considering he had called 911 himself and confessed to killing Brooke, this was incredibly frustrating. The officers end up asking
him a lot of questions, hoping to learn anything about the events that went down earlier that day, and just trying to get to know Randy and his relationship with Brooke, and try to figure out why he
would do something like this. - [Officer] Where you guys
ever romantically involved? No? - [Randy] They were like my sisters. - [Officer] Okay. - [Randy] I don't know what I did. - [Officer] Okay. - They also asked Randy
about the night before, if they had been partying, if there had been an argument
between the two of them. Randy said that they drank a little, but there was no fighting
between the two of them. But we know from their friend
Kyle and what Brooke told him that Randy had drank a
lot more than he said. During the interrogation
between all of the mumbling and the I don't knows, we do learn that Randy
said he was sleeping when Brooke came back
from breakfast at 8:35. And he also said that
he never got out of bed when she came back. And he only saw her when
she came into his room to grab that T-shirt and to say goodbye. So that means that Randy was
awake and talking to Brooke around this time in his room. So we know that Brooke
got there around 8:35, and then Randy left the
house in Brooke's car covered in blood at 8:57. And this is all according to neighbor's surveillance footage. So that means there was only 22 minutes between Brooke arriving at home and this incident occurring
and Randy leaving. So we know that some of that 22 minutes was spent in Brandy's room, and that the two of
them were talking there. And in this clip from the interrogation, you can see that Randy
nods his head very quickly in response to the officer's
retelling of these events. - [Officer] So you were still in bed? And she came in your bedroom, and you said you never got out of bed? So she came in and did you tell her, "Hey, I want you to have that T-shirt?" Okay. And did you tell her
where the T-shirt was? Yes, okay. So she went inside your
drawer and got the T-shirt? And you said you gave her a hug? She gave you a hug. - [Kendall] But right after the officer goes through Brooke coming home, taking the shirt and
giving him a hug goodbye, he asks Randy if he believed that Brooke was leaving right after this. And it takes him several
seconds to respond. The officer also asked if
Brooke walked out of his room, to which Randy says nothing. - [Officer] Did she walk out of your room? - [Kendall] And that's
followed by him saying that he thought she
walked out of the room, and that he must have gotten up and left his room after she did. - [Officer] You thought
that she walked out. Did you get up and go out of your room? - [Randy] I must have. - [Officer] Okay, you must have. That's right, you must have. So you got up and went out of your room? - And then at one point
in the interrogation, the officer just straight up asks Randy if he thinks he killed her, which it's pretty obvious
to the officer at this point that it was Randy. And it's really hard
to hear, unfortunately, but Randy does say that he
was the only person home, so it must have been him. - [Officer] Do you think
you killed her, Randy? (Randy speaking faintly) - [Officer] Nobody else was there? (Randy speaking faintly) - [Kendall] The police
also start running through the events of what happened
when Randy left the house. - [Officer] When you left the house, you said you just ran out of the house? How'd you get over to the park? - [Randy] In a car. - [Officer] Okay. And whose car, do you remember whose car? - [Randy] Brooke's car. - [Officer] Okay, so you
took Brooke's car over. Randy, where's your phone here? Your cell phone? - [Randy] Brooke's car. - [Officer] It's in Brooke's car, okay. - And at several points
during their questioning, police have to ask Randy the same question over and over again to
get a response from him. And unfortunately, this
is really all we learned from Randy's initial interrogation. It actually took more than
two years after Brooke's death for the trial to take place. But on Tuesday, April 30th, 2019, Randy finally sat before
the judge in court and faced a first degree murder charge for the death of Brooke Preston. Now, despite straight up
confession on the 911 call, Randy did not plead guilty. Instead, Randy pleads not
guilty by reason of insanity. So even though Randy straight up admitted to stabbing Brooke over 20 times, he now was saying that he
was asleep for all of it. He was actually sleepwalking,
according to his defense team. And because of this, the
defense made the argument that he should not be
sentenced to life in prison, or maybe shouldn't be sentenced at all. Yeah, that's right, sleepwalking. This was actually the first time that this was used as a defense
in the state of Florida. There are a couple of other cases where the sleepwalking defense is used. And it turns out Randy didn't even come up with this defense on his own. Sleep walking was first mentioned to him by a psychiatrist during an evaluation, and it instantly struck
a major chord with him because he had actually done
this a few times as a child. And in the documentary,
Randy's mom, Kathy Adams, confirms that this was
something he used to do and shared a few stories
about him sleepwalking, just with mild actions, such as trying to go get a
glass of water from the kitchen and grabbing pancake mix out instead. And she said that she never
thought anything of it, or thought it was anything major. She also said that there was one time when she was working at a bar that Randy actually rode his bike there, sat up at the bar, put his head down, and then got up and got back
on the bike and rode home, all with no memory of it the next day. And of course, with this information, Randy's lawyers knew that this
would be the only real way they could defend what Randy
did to Brooke that day. Like I said, there was no question that Randy was the one who stabbed Brooke. So saying that he had no
idea what was going on, and he was innocently sleepwalking was really the only defense
that they could use. Like I said, there have been other cases where sleepwalking was
used, and used successfully as a defense to acquit
someone of a murder, but never in the state of Florida. - The trial was very hard to sit through. I remember there were so many people in Florida from Pennsylvania
to support Brooke. Between Brookes, parents,
siblings, cousins, aunts, and then a ton of friends, we filled at least half of the courtroom showing support for Brooke. And I remember the prosecuting
attorney saying to us that she goes to trial for
homicides all the time. And even someone who is in Florida doesn't get as much support as Brooke did from people that were over
a thousand miles away. So that tells a lot about how people felt about Brooke as a person and
how amazing she really was. I remember sitting with the family and seeing the killer come in
shackled with the sheriffs, and the feelings that you
can't even describe it. - So the prosecuting
attorneys obviously argued that Randy Herman Jr. could
not have been sleepwalking while he viciously attacked
and killed Brooke Preston. And they argued that he
deliberately killed Brooke. So for nine days, the
prosecution and defense made their arguments
and brought in experts to help back up their side. Of course, the defense tried to prove that sleepwalking was a feasible option. The defense brought in
a forensic pathologist and laid out extensive testimony, backed by scientific studies and said that it would absolutely
be possible and probable that Randy was asleep during the attack. So one of the studies that
the defense presented in court to try to back up their claim
of sleepwalking being possible and probable was done by
Dr. Bond Coolo in 1974, and he studied sleepwalking
and violence in adults. And through his studies, he came up with 13 criteria
that a person must meet in order to prove that
sleepwalking occurred. Some of these criteria include
complex motor behavior, victim being loved by attacker, attack followed by confusion, history of childhood parasomnia,
which is sleepwalking. Another one is no attempt
to cover up the crime scene, feelings of remorse and a few more. And of course, Randy
does meet the criteria. So this study was relied on heavily by the defense throughout the trial. Randy did care for Brooke. He did call 911 and confess that he was the one to kill her. He claimed to have no
memory of what happened. He also clearly didn't try
to clean up the crime scene, and we know that he claims to have been a sleep walker as a kid, and this is backed up by his family. The defense also relied
heavily on their claim that there was no motive
for Randy to kill Brooke. They argued that they were
incredibly good friends. Why would he want to kill
one of his closest friends who he cared about very much? Having no motive was
something that the defense went back to over and over
again throughout the trial. That's really what their
whole defense was based on, no motive, and also the fact that Randy was known to sleep walk in the past. And surprisingly, Randy actually did
testify in his own trial, which isn't very common, but
it does happen obviously. - So the killer testified
on his own behalf and explained that he remembered Brooke coming back to the house and coming into his room, talking to her. He remembered telling her where
the shirt was in the drawer. He remembers her getting
it, hugging him goodbye, and he remembers her
walking out of his room. And then he said after that,
he doesn't remember anything until he was standing over
top of her in the hallway with the knife in his hand
and he was covered in blood. - But the prosecution brought
in a forensic psychiatrist who was able to poke a lot
of holes in their defense. Randy killed Brooke in such
an incredibly violent way. And the forensic psychiatrist argued that it would have been impossible for Randy to have done all of that, stabbing through skin and bone, and cutting his own hand
while he was asleep. It just does not make sense. Now Brooke's sister,
Jordan, was subpoenaed to testify for the defense. And this is something that was definitely not portrayed correctly in the
documentary, "Dead Asleep." It made it seem like Jordan
was voluntarily doing this, and she certainly was not. But Jordan was brought up on the stand and she testified that in the six months that she lived with him, she never heard of, or saw
him sleepwalking one time. She never knew that this
was something that he did. They also asked her a lot about Brooke and Randy's relationship. Were they just friends? Was there something more to it? Did Randy like Brooke in
a way that was romantic? And Jordan was honest on the stand. She said that there was
no romantic interest between Randy and Brooke that she knew of. And asking her this line of questioning actually helped the defense
solidify their argument, that there was no motive
for Randy to kill Brooke. - I was subpoenaed to speak at the trial. So I did, and I told the truth. And obviously before any of this happened, he was my roommate, he was my best friend, he was like a brother. So yeah, I told the truth. I said just that. But obviously, after he did what he did, my feelings changed. I no longer feel that way about him. He ruined our family, he ruined one of the
best parts of our lives. And there's nothing he
can do to change that now. - And a lot of people in Randy's life said that they felt like
there was no romantic interest between Randy and Brooke. Many of Randy's close friends also said that they don't think that Randy ever had any
romantic interest in her. However, the prosecution
believed differently. And they used some
information that they got to make the argument that maybe Randy did have feelings for Brooke. - Randy never showed
jealousy towards Brooke and Brian's relationship
that I'm aware of. I hadn't really had any contacts with him since he moved down to Florida. We weren't that close. I mean, there was times where
we hung out or whatever, but I didn't have that kind
of relationship with him to be around them that often and notice if there was any
kind of jealousy or anything. - And the prosecution
also made the argument that based off Randy's actions that day, that Randy's motive was sexual in nature. - I do have my opinions
on why this happened. And I think that the
night before her murder tells a lot about his mental
stability at that time, and what he was showing
that he was capable of with him being naked in her closet, laying in wait for her. I think that was a big red flag. I think that it was one of the key factors in what led up to her murder. I think she kind of brushed it off, obviously didn't think too much of it. But in my eyes, it was a huge deal. - They argued that
someone doesn't just hide in someone else's closet naked, unless they are hoping for
some type of sexual experience. Obviously, he was belligerent and this cannot be proven 100%. Now, the timeline is obviously
a huge part of this case, like many cases, and it was
a huge part of the trial, especially because there
was only 22 minutes where all of this would have happened. Revisiting the timeline
was a huge strategy for the prosecution to prove that it just would have been impossible for Randy to have been asleep during this. So let's revisit the timeline and break it down a little further. - They showed video from the
neighbors' security cameras showing Brooke pulling up to
the house and going inside. And then 22 minutes later,
the killer was coming out and trying to get into his vehicle. He couldn't get it started
because he had an interlock, and he must've been blowing over 0.08, so the car wouldn't start. He goes back into the house, comes out, gets in Brooke's car and drives away. So they really emphasize
that within 22 minutes, whatever happened in the house
had happened in 22 minutes. - So in that 22 minutes, we know that the first couple of minutes were spent in Randy's bedroom. In his bedroom, Brooke and
Randy chat for a few minutes, she grabs the T-shirt and
they say their goodbyes. And at 8:49 a.m., which is just 14 minutes after Brooke had arrived home, a witness, a man who's
just walking by the house claims to have heard screaming. This is frustrating because
this man didn't do anything. He didn't call police. And why that is, we have no idea. So between 8:35, when Brooke
comes back to the house, and 8:49, when this man hears Brooke screaming inside the house, if we guesstimate that they chatted for about five to six minutes
to say their goodbyes, for Brooke to get that shirt, that leaves only five minutes after Brooke had left Randy's room for Randy to have fallen
back into such a deep sleep that he ends up
sleepwalking and kills her. So the prosecution brought in an expert named Dr. Myers to explain on the stand that it would have been impossible for Randy to have fallen
into that deep of a sleep in only five minutes. Even though he was super
hungover and very tired, five minutes is not enough for him to have entered the
stage of the sleep cycle where you can start to sleepwalk. And they also pointed out that even though Randy drank all the time and was hungover all the time, he never, not once, was found
sleepwalking in their house. So the prosecution and defense went back and forth on the timeline, and if it was possible many times. I'm very curious to hear your opinions on if you think it would be possible. So after nine days of all
of this back and forth, it was time for the jury
to make up their minds. And it took the jury only five hours to come back with their verdict. And in the end, the jury
found Randy Herman Jr. guilty of the first degree
murder of Brooke Preston. And shortly after, Randy was
sentenced to life in prison. - So the verdict ended up being read. And, of course, it was guilty of first degree premeditated murder. And I just remember
getting complete chills, and I just wanted to sob. I think Papa John said it best
when we left the courtroom. The media was all over the
place, and he said to the media, "No one wins in this situation." And that's completely true. On that day that Brooke was
killed, we lost two people. Obviously, Brooke, we lost her, but we also lost Randy in that too, he'll spend the rest of his life in prison and none of us want
anything to do with him or to hear about him. I don't even like to say his name. - One jury member
explained that a big part of their deliberation and the reason that they
came to this verdict was the 22 minutes
between Brooke coming home and Randy leaving the home, just saying that it would
have been impossible for him to have fallen into
a deep sleep that quickly. Some argue that Randy was asleep when he said goodbye to Brooke
and she got the T-shirt. However, there is no way to prove that. And obviously, the
Preston family was happy with this verdict, happy
that Randy was found guilty. However, it didn't change the
fact that Brooke was gone, and they just couldn't
even wrap their minds around why or what really happened. Losing Brooke was
devastating for all of them, and this verdict was not
going to bring her back. - Even though we had the
best possible outcome we could have at a trial, it just still didn't feel
like a lot of closure or it didn't make anybody feel any better about the situation. - This was a big win for them, but their sadness and anger
towards Randy remained. And it only got worse when
Randy decided to appeal his conviction in April of 2021. Randy actually cited two
errors from his trial that he and his lawyers believed
were grounds for appeal. The first was that the
court had aired in admitting the state expert's testimony regarding sexually motivated homicide. The second was that the
court had denied his request for special jury instruction. So let's first talk about
this error that Randy cites. Before the trial had started, Randy and his lawyers wanted
to exclude the state expert, Dr. Myers, that was brought in. They did not want him to testify that this case was a
relatively typical example of sexual homicide. Randy and his team believed
that this expert's opinion was not actually backed by evidence. They also argued that it wasn't based on any recognized literature. And while he was testifying
during the trial, the defense did try to
object to some of his claims. However, they were all
dismissed by the judge. And to explain the second error
in his appeal a little more, which was a failure to give him a specially requested jury instruction when Randy was precluded from admitting his record statement to
police into evidence. Jury instructions, for
those of you who don't know, are instructions given
to a jury by a judge at the end of a trial before
they start deliberating. These rules are basically
supposed to tell the jury what laws apply in this trial. It explains to them a little
bit more what should be met in order to have a fair
and accurate verdict. So Randy's defense team argued that the standard jury instructions
that the judge gave them didn't explicitly tell the jury that the statements he made out of court were not admitted into evidence. And I know that's very confusing. It's a lot of legal shit
to try to break down. But basically, Randy and his team wanted his out-of-court statements
to be entered in as evidence because they showed remorse. Of course, they wanted the
jury to hear these statements so that they could understand
more how sorry Randy was for what he did to Brooke. Remorse is one of the key elements that they need in order to
make their defense make sense. And they want this because
one of the criteria that was listed by the expert that was brought in on
sleepwalking is remorse felt by the sleepwalker to the victim. So these out-of-court statements
that expressed remorse were not admitted as evidence because according to the
Florida Evidence Code, they would generally
be considered hearsay. So they submitted this appeal and it was looked over
by the court, of course, and was denied. So as of now, Randy is still
set to face life in prison. Obviously, there is nothing
that can be said or done to bring Brooke back, and the pain that this
family feels every single day is just insurmountable. I did ask her friends and family who have joined me in today's video, which to all of them, thank you so much. It really does help people understand more when it's coming from the victim's family. I asked them to share a few
final thoughts about Brooke and about how she can be
remembered and honored, and also to share their
thoughts a little more in depth about the Hulu documentary
and how you can help them. - I hope that after watching this and hearing what my family has to say that everyone can see
like how amazing, and fun, and crazy, awesome, how great my sister was. And I hope that you take
something from this. You can't always trust the people that you think you can trust. You just have to be careful out there. - I know that by making this video, I can't undo what happened
to Brooke that day, and I can't take away the pain that the Preston family feels. However, the Preston
family and I really hope that everyone watching
this video has the chance to get to know what a kind, fun, and good-spirited person that Brooke was, and that she did not deserve
what happened to her. She had a wonderful life ahead of her that she should have had
the opportunity to live. I can't change the fact that
Hulu released this documentary. I can't change the fact that Brooke's family wasn't
involved with it at all. Although, I do wanna clarify
that they made the decision not to partake in the documentary because they didn't
wanna relive the trauma. I mean, it's incredibly difficult to have to go through this again. And when they were first approached, it was by a production company, and they had no idea that this
was going to be blasted out on one of the largest
streaming platforms ever. So I hope that today I was really able to give them a platform to really share their side of things. The Preston family does have a petition to get that documentary taken down. And I'm going to link that below if you feel that it should be. - If everyone could take
a second to sign that, it's got about 100,000
signatures on it right now. We're hoping to get the
documentary removed from Hulu. - It was making us relive something that was the
worst things in our lives. I felt personally, and I've
heard from other people that I was in this. And I said, "How can that happen?" The only thing that I remembered
saying with the detective should have been personal, should have not been aired
for the whole world to see the worst moment of my life, but we have to go on. We have to live now. We have to live for Brooke. She would want us to keep going on. - Remember Brooke. Remember her for the lively, friendly, fun,
authentic person that she was. - I just wanna say before I go that I think Jordan is
such an incredible human. I think she's very brave taking
on a huge company like Hulu and standing up for her sister. She would be so proud. And again, I wanna thank all
of Brooke's family and friends who participated in today's video. I know it's not easy to get on camera and talk about the worst thing
that's ever happened to you. I can't imagine the pain
that you guys feel every day. And I wanna thank all of you
for watching until the end and giving the Prestons an opportunity to tell their side of the story. If you'd like to stay
up to date on this case and support Jordan, she does have a TikTok account
that I will link below. And she also shares a little bit of her personal
life here and there. She's such a cool person and I definitely recommend following her. And that's all I have for you guys today. I really wanna know your
thoughts on this one in the most kind way that
you can possibly word it. I'm definitely wanting
to hear your opinions. Do you think the sleepwalking
defense makes any sense? Do you think it's feasible, or do you think it's just a defense? Do you believe that there was possibly a motive for Randy to kill Brooke? What do you think about the timeline? Let me know in the comments below. As always, and until next
time, stay safe out there. (soft tense music)
