(inquisitive music) - Hey guys. Welcome back to my channel. So today's video, right off the bat, I have to say is very intense. I'm sure just by the
thumbnail, you can tell we're gonna be talking about
the death of a child here, and that is always very difficult. Today, we're gonna be talking about the case of Jacob Jeremiah Landin. It's definitely gonna be difficult to talk about and to listen to, I'm sure, but it is very important
that this story is heard. Oftentimes, cases like this don't get the publicity
that other cases do. But even though this video
is gonna be very heavy, I think you guys are really going to enjoy listening to Jacob's brother Eric today. Eric has really been through a lot and I really wanna show him as much support as we can on this video. So I always like to mention,
please keep the comments kind. People that are coming on this
channel to tell their story are being very vulnerable and being blasted to a huge audience that they may not be used to. So I just want you guys
to keep it respectful and remember that Eric is likely
going to read the comments and his mom and other
people in his family, so please keep it as
respectful as you can. Really quickly though, before we jump in, I just wanted to remind you guys of my current campaign with Magic of I. If you missed it, I
have a campaign running for Magic of I that is
supporting Her Justice. Magic of I is a small
company out of Australia. They sell vegan leather journals,
planners, dream journals, moon calendars, and several other things. And they are absolutely stunning. And if you use the code KENDALL2021, 15% of your order will be
donated to Her Justice, 5% will be donated to
wildlife rehabilitation, and 1% will be donated
to 1% for the Planet. So it's an awesome way to give
back and also treat yourself, so check that out. We have already raised over
$8,000 for Her Justice. If you have not heard of Her Justice, it's a very cool organization. They are working with women
in poverty in New York City and then they provide
women living in New York free legal help to address individual and systematic legal barriers. I'll link their website below so you can learn more about what they do, but it's an awesome cause
to support, so check it out. Also, I wanted to let you guys know that if this video is monetized, that Eric and I are gonna
be donating the ad revenue to the New Mexico Coalition
Against Domestic Violence. Eric actually has his own podcast where he talks about several
cases of children in New Mexico who have been failed
by the justice system. His podcast is really awesome,
I'm gonna link it below, and let's help him get up on the charts because he really deserves it. Also, I know there's a lot here, but one more thing before we start. We are going to be making
Eric a website for Jacob, so that way there's one place
where you can stay updated on the case and what he's doing with it and find all the information that he wants to post
there, find the podcast. We're working on it right now, I'll put a link in the description. It may not be live yet, but
if not, it will be live soon. But let's go ahead and
get into Jacob's story. So Eric and his mom,
Brenda, are very close. You can hear her tell her side
of everything on his podcast. She was very excited to be a mom. She loved Eric so much. - My mom and dad had gotten
married really young. My mom was about 17. I think
my dad was 20 years old. They had their first kid in 1978. So Randy was born and died
shortly after his birth. And then I was born in 1980. - Eric's dad was definitely not involved like his mother was. In fact, he was away a lot for work. He worked as a Pentecostal preacher and he was gone a lot for that. He would travel all over the country, sometimes for even months at a time - Which meant that we moved a lot. So before Jacob was born, I think I had lived in four
or five different cities, most of them in Texas. - So most of the time it
was just Eric and his mom, and she didn't work because
she had to take care of Eric and she was alone, but
they really struggled during this time while his
dad was just off preaching. He left them back at home without food, without a lot of money, and they never even knew
when he would be coming home or if he would be coming home. Sometimes Eric and his mom
wouldn't eat for days at a time. They did have a few friends that would help them out, bring them food. His mom specifically
talks about on the podcast how one of their neighbors would leave food for
them on their doorstep and that she was like a
hero to them in many ways. And Eric has said that if it weren't for people helping them out, he wasn't sure if they
would have survived. Eric was very lonely, especially with his
dad being gone so much. He always wanted a sibling. He remembers praying every day that his mom would get pregnant and that he would have a baby brother. And in his podcast, he talked
about how he told his mom he knew he was gonna have a baby brother, that he had dreams of it. And she kinda laughed it off. But of course, soon enough she was pregnant and it was a boy. His name was Jacob Jeremiah Landin. He was born on July 1st, 1986. - And we were in Edinburg,
Texas when Jacob was born. - And of course Eric was thrilled. He finally got his baby brother that he had been praying for. - When I found out I was
gonna be a big brother, I was so excited. It was probably one of the
happiest days of my life. I had just learned how to ride my bike without my training wheels,
and we were at a park. I was feeling elated and
super excited about that. And then my parents kind of
kneeled down in front of me and told me that my mom
was pregnant with Jacob. And I remember running around and yelling and jumping up and down because I had been praying
for him to be born. I was so excited. I think it was probably one of the better moments in my life. - So, Brenda was a very small woman, she was only 5'1" and weighed 120 pounds, and Jacob was a big boy. He weighed 10 pounds when he was born and he grew really quickly. He was a big baby and he had
a big personality to match. Sometimes with babies,
it takes a little while for their personalities to show, but they said they started
to see his personality after only a month or two. Eric said that he remembered him being like a little dare devil. - He was kind of a crazy kid. He had no fear, he loved to laugh, but he loved to do things that
were excessively dangerous. At least that's the way I felt. I was always a very cautious child. I didn't like to do
things that were scary. One of Jacob's favorite things to do was, we had this old windup, 1980s baby swing, and it was made out of aluminum and it was sharp for some reason. And I remember he would swing forward and grab the front legs of the baby swing and throw the whole thing backwards so that he would be lying on the ground. The first time it happened, everybody in my family that was there, they gasped really loud and
freaked out a little bit. And then he just laid
there and laughed forever. And so everybody kind of got used to it. We stopped putting him in the baby swing because he couldn't be
trusted not to do that, but he would do other things, like he would pull all of the drawers out of the kitchen cabinets,
and so there would be knives and forks falling all around him. He thought that was hilarious. Anything that was loud or
dangerous was his favorite thing. And I'll never forget his laugh. He had this, it sounded
like a little bit of, almost like a bullfrog laugh. It's hard to explain it, but it basically sounded
like this, like (croaking), which I've never heard anybody
laugh like that to this day, but it still sticks in my mind. - And Eric was just so happy
to have his baby brother. He loved him so much. Meanwhile, their father,
whose name is Gene, I'm not sure if I mentioned that, he's not in our story much, but he kept traveling for work and he was not home to be with
Eric and Jacob often at all. And of course, Brenda
was really struggling to take care of now
two kids with no money. Eric remembers seeing his mom crying a lot and praying that someone would help them, and that just breaks my heart. I mean, that's so hard
to see that as a child, to see your mom in that state. And then to make matters worse, Brenda found out that her
husband had had an affair on her, and it wasn't a physical affair, but it was a strong emotional relationship that had been happening behind her back. And this of course took him
away from his family even more. But that was the last straw for her. She decided to pack the kids up and they moved to New Mexico. And they ended up moving
in with her parents, Merlinda and Dalton Crawford. And it was really helpful because Merlinda was
able to watch the kids while Brenda went to work. She was able to find a job
at a local grocery store, and this period really helped her kind of get back on
her feet a little more. But it did not take long until she reconnected with an old friend. And I'm gonna be referring to this person as D in this video. So D was actually one of
Eric's dad's old friends. He was really close with him. - His father was the pastor of a local church that my family went to. His sister married my mom's brother. His aunt is my godmother. So there are a lot of
connections between our families. We've all known each other forever. - And suddenly he started
just coming around to check on Brenda and the kids. He knew all about them splitting up, and he was kind of able to try to manipulate her emotionally. And he obviously had information from Gene that he was able to bring into things and seemed like he really
understood better than he did. And he came in and just
showered them with attention. And Eric said he really
liked him at first. - He was a lot of fun. He had a very fast car. He loved to watch movies and eat candy and listen to good music really loud. And so as a young boy, that was something that
was very appealing to me. I remember that he was almost like a breath of fresh air for us because my dad had been
fairly neglectful as a father because he was so busy with his career that we were often left alone. You know, we really wanted that
attention and that affection and that male figure in our lives. Anything I wanted at that
point, I was allowed to do. So if I wanted to stay up until two in the morning watching movies, or if I wanted to have candy for dinner, or if I wanted to go as fast
as possible in that race car, then those were things that we did, and it was a lot of fun in the beginning. - One of the hardest things
about dealing with someone who is a manipulator or a narcissist is that they are extremely charming, charismatic, and likable. A lot of manipulators use a
tactic called love bombing. They do everything that
they can to earn your trust, earn your affection,
and earn your loyalty, and it sounds nice, and sometimes it can
seem nice at the time, but it's really just a way
to gain control over someone. - It's a disarming technique
and it's very effective, especially for us at that
time because like I said, we were feeling a little
bit neglected by my dad and really in need of some
kind of attention in that way. And he filled that need
and he did it masterfully. - So of course with Eric, this was easy. He was five years old. He thought that D was really cool. - We just felt that
maybe he was a nice guy and he cared about us and he
was coming to save the day. - And Brenda was actually a little more hesitant about him at first, but eventually he won her over, too. This guy was a master manipulator. He knew exactly what to do to get on and stay on her good side and win Eric over as well. And he was always around, which was something that she
wasn't used to with her ex. He also started turning on his best friend and started telling Brenda
tons of dirt on her ex. Now, I don't know if what
he told her was true, but it doesn't really
matter because it worked and she really started to resent her ex even more than she did before, and it wasn't long until
Brenda started dating D. And that was going well,
so within a few months, they decided to move in together. They lived in a mobile home
in Socorro, New Mexico, which is a very small town. And D actually had his own kids who would sometimes come around because he had visitation
rights with them, but he didn't spend a
lot of time with them. So most of the time it was just them four. And at first everything was fine. D was working as a maintenance
worker for the county, so he was bringing in some money. Things felt a little more stable. Plus, he was around more
than Eric's dad ever was. But it wasn't long before Brenda started noticing that
there were marks on Jacob. - So it was within a couple of weeks that these strange injuries started to happen to Jacob, bruises, bumps. - And she could never
explain these injuries. She would try to figure out
how he may have gotten them, but it never really made sense. At the time, he was only six months old and he'd only been taken care
of by Brenda, Merlinda, and D, but he kept getting
these mysterious bruises, scratches, marks all over his body. So in March of 1987, there was one day where D was supposed to be
taking care of Eric and Jacob, but he also had his other
two kids with him that day. Brenda was at work and she
was not able to come home in time for him to bring his
kids back to where they live, so he decided to do it anyway and left Jacob and Eric at home alone. Eric was only five years old at this time and he was left to watch Jacob alone. - He does claim that I
was left alone with Jacob, which I feel is bizarre. I don't think any parent
would think it would be okay to leave a six year old and
a seven or eight month old alone together, it's
just not good parenting. If that did happen, I would
have some serious concerns about his parenting ability, because a six-year-old
cannot care for a baby. It's just not possible. - And luckily, he loved his brother and was a responsible kid and did okay. Then a little while later, Brenda noticed a scrape on Jacob's ear. She took him to the doctor. The doctor said it was fine,
it wasn't a serious injury. But that's when D told
her that Eric did it. He said that Jacob was crying in his crib and that Eric just walked over and picked him up and dropped him. Now, Eric does not remember
this happening to this day. - Is it possible that I
picked Jacob out of his crib and dropped him trying to
comfort him while he was crying? If we were left alone, maybe. But the thing you need to consider is that Jacob was a big baby. He was probably 20 pounds by this point, and I'm lucky if I was 40 pounds. The other thing is that
crib was very tall. The bars were probably close to five foot in height, maybe four foot. It still would have been too tall for me to reach in there and
grab him and take him out. Maybe I could have grabbed a
chair, stepped on the chair, picked him up and dropped
him, it's possible. Like I said, I don't remember
any of that happening. I don't think that I would
have the strength, though, at that angle to be able to
lift him out of the crib. - A five-year-old should never
be left alone with a baby. But D started telling Brenda that Eric was jealous of Jacob, that he wanted to hurt him on purpose, which this caught Brenda by surprise because she had not noticed any jealous behavior by Eric herself, and Eric to this day has no memory of being jealous of his brother. But again, he was five. If he was jealous and he just
didn't remember something, that would be understandable, right? There was a lot of changes
for him in just a few months. He has this new man living in the house. Maybe he was emotional. So Brenda thought maybe
it was a possibility. Now around the same time, and this is a little confusing
so try to stay with me, but D's ex-wife ended up calling
Brenda's ex-husband, Gene, Eric's father, and told him that the kids were being left home alone, and she suggested that he
file a child abuse complaint. But Gene had heard that Jacob was fine and never made the complaint. And then around the time that
Jacob kept getting injured, they ended up finding
sunflower seeds in his bed, just piles of the shells in his crib. And of course it turns out that D, not only does he love candy, he loves sunflower seeds
and always has them on him. But of course D finds out
about this and he blames Eric. - He says that they told me not to put sunflower seeds in Jacob's
crib, but I did anyway. - So then a few weeks later, after he had gotten
the scratch on his ear, Jacob's grandmother was watching him and she noticed something even worse. Jacob had a large, soft lump
on the side of his head. And of course babies' heads
are especially fragile and this is something serious that should be dealt with right away, so they took him to the emergency room. And when doctors saw
it, they said that this was definitely caused
by a blow to the head, and he actually had a hematoma. So they had to lance it right away and drain the fluid out around his brain. So he had to be in the
hospital for several days. And this was really scary for Eric, scary for Brenda, scary for Merlinda. - Babies are very resilient. Their bones are meant to
be able to deal with a lot. And it would take a
significant amount of force to cause that type of injury. - And when he was finally
released on March 17th, he had to wear a helmet
to protect his head. And he also had bandages underneath that. And when Eric first saw
him, he was very upset. So of course, while Jacob
was in the hospital, some of the hospital staff noted that this might be a case of child abuse. So they contacted social services and brought them in to review the case. And this is wild, but this case worker already had a complaint
against this household. A neighbor had reported that a man was beating a baby inside. So it's shocking that
nothing was ever done. And I guess someone did come to the house and checked in with D and Brenda, but they said everything
was fine after that. So D really pushed the
story at this point, especially once social
services was involved, that Eric was jealous, that
he wanted to hurt Jacob. He told Brenda that he saw
Eric kick Jacob in the head. That's right. He blamed
this entire injury on Eric. And of course, Eric has no
memory of kicking Jacob. He didn't have that
memory even at the time. - Is it possible that I did? Sure. I think it's possible. Is it possible that I
was jealous of Jacob? Yeah, it's definitely possible
that I was jealous of Jacob. But I don't remember
being jealous of Jacob to the point that I wanted to hurt him. I don't think it's likely that I would have had the strength as a six-year-old boy to
fracture Jacob's skull and to cause him to have a
subdural hematoma by kicking him. - But after this injury, Jacob was really never the same again. Instead of a happy, bubbly baby
that was excited about life, he became very fussy and sad, easily agitated, and he was even sick. He was constantly vomiting. He had ear infections, tonsillitis, and then he had allergic reactions to most medicines that he was prescribed, so it was just a mess. But then there was one day
where Jacob's grandmother lifted him up over her head, you know, as most parents or grandparents will do. Jacob always loved this.
He was this Daredevil kid. He loved to be swung around and picked up. He was always down for that. But as soon as Merlinda did it this time, Jacob freaked out, he
started screaming wildly, he started pulling out her
hair, trying to be lowered down. And as soon as this
happened, she was shocked. I mean, this was not a reaction
she was used to it all. She had done this so many
times with her grandson, she knew something was wrong. So she told Brenda and Brenda
was obviously very concerned. So she went to D and asked if he had been playing
too rough with Jacob. And at first, he flat-out denied it. But then Brenda started to explain what happened with her mom and Jacob and how weird it was and
just kept pushing him, saying, "This doesn't make
any sense. What is going on?" He finally cracked a little and said, "Maybe I've been playing
a little too rough." So he picked up Jacob to show her how he normally plays with him, and Jacob immediately started screaming. According to Brenda, he practically jumped out of
his arms to get back to her. And understandably, Brenda was very upset and she told him to never play
with Jacob in any way again, and he agreed. But once again, he blamed Eric for this. He said that Eric must have
done something to scare Jacob, that it was all going back to
this raging jealousy he had, when meanwhile he was so
excited to have a brother. Now, this is pretty
upsetting, but at this point, Eric was sent to live in
California with his dad. Brenda felt like maybe he was acting out. Maybe he wasn't getting enough attention. Maybe his dad would
give him more attention. So he moved and he had to start a new kindergarten with a new teacher. - I don't remember how I felt about it. I remember being there
and I remember the school. I think I might've been
a little bit relieved that my dad was there just
because I missed him a lot but I don't feel like I fully understood what was happening at that time. - So when he moved to
California with his dad, his dad questioned him. He was concerned about what
it was like living there and he asked him what his
experience was with D. He even asked if D had ever hit Eric. And Eric said no, but
one time D did tell him that if he ever lied again about what he really did to
Jacob, that he would hit him. But even after Eric moved to California, Jacob still kept getting
these strange injuries. - Which caused her to start to question and doubt what her boyfriend
was doing and saying. - Now, Brenda never actually saw anything happen to Jacob herself, and she never saw D treat Jacob badly, but she couldn't shake
this bad feeling she had that maybe he was doing something to him. And eventually she made the decision to stop letting D be around him. And at this point it became
Merlinda's responsibility to watch Jacob while Brenda was at work. - So she started to severely
restrict how much time he was allowed to be alone with Jacob to the point that there
were really no days that he was alone with Jacob. If she was working, Jacob was going to be with my grandmother or one of my aunts. She would even switch
shifts if she needed to, to make sure that Jacob
wasn't alone with him. So I think she just kind of
had a feeling at that point that things just weren't adding up. - So for a while, he didn't
have Jacob alone at all until April 9th, 1987. So, Brenda brought Jacob over to her mom's house around 10:00 am before her shift at the
grocery store started. Jacob was still sick at this time but doing a little better, and he had eaten for the first
time that day in three days, so that was good. So everything was fairly normal that day. Brenda was working, Jacob's
at home with his grandma. But then his grandma decides that she wants to go to church that night, but she didn't want to bring Jacob and the service started
before Brenda got off of work. So she called Brenda to see if there was anything she could do. Now at this point, her shift
ended in about an hour, so she made a decision that is her most regretted decision
in her life to this day: to bend her own rules and allow D to watch Jacob for an hour
until she got off of work. And she even said on the phone, "What's the worst that
could happen in an hour?" So Merlinda dropped Jacob off back at their house with
D at around 6:00 pm. But right after six, Brenda started to get a panicky feeling that
something was wrong. It got so bad that she
started begging her supervisor to let her leave a little early, but the store was getting
busy so he said no. Brenda tried to take her
mind off of the stress by helping other customers, trying to kind of refocus her brain. She told herself everything
was gonna be fine, there was nothing to worry about. But then just a few minutes later, D comes running through
the grocery store doors, absolutely hysterical,
screaming about Jacob. He said something happened to Jacob. He fell off the couch
and he wasn't breathing. And right as he tells her that, Brenda looks outside and
sees that an ambulance is flying down the street, and D says, "Jacob's in that ambulance." So of course she leaves right away. They all drive to the
hospital to meet Jacob. And when they get there, the
hospital just looked at him and said that this injury was
too severe for them to handle. They simply did not have the resources that he was gonna need, so they airlifted him to another hospital. He was moved to the nearest trauma center at University of New Mexico
Hospital in Albuquerque. And obviously everyone can't
ride in the helicopter, so Brenda, D, and her parents all had to drive together
75 miles to Albuquerque. And I'm sure this was one of
the worst drives of her life. In the emergency room, they determined that Jacob was in a coma. He had a massive cerebral
fracture and a brain injury that was causing massive
swelling in his brain. As soon as he was stable,
they took him for a CT scan. After that, he was moved into the ICU and then taken in for emergency surgery. And Brenda barely knew what was going on, it all happened so fast,
she was just signing things, and then he was in surgery
before she knew it. And she just prayed that he would be okay. So of course, while all
of this is going on, the hospital staff went ahead and contacted Child Protective
Services and the police. When they found out that they
had a baby in the hospital with a serious head injury,
they came right away, and they were there
from about 10 that night to 10 the next morning. They interviewed the hospital staff, the social workers, and the family. And they went ahead and made the decision to place Jacob in protective custody, meaning that he could not go home until they cleared him to do so. There had to be an investigation done on potential child abuse. But unfortunately, Jacob never
got the chance to go home. On April 10th, 1987 at about 3:35 am, Jacob was pronounced dead. He tragically died on the operating table. So the doctors had to inform their family, and when they did, Brenda
was absolutely hysterical. She could not believe she had lost Jacob. She literally had to run out
of the room. She was frantic. The doctors explained that Jacob was really sick and near death when he arrived at the hospital. They really did everything
that they could, but they could not save him. It was too severe. Brenda was so upset she ended
up leaving the room again, so doctors were left alone with D. And they noted that he
seemed more nervous than sad. And then he said something
extremely strange. He looks up in a concerned voice and says, "Ugh, this is all gonna
make me look really bad." And of course the doctors were
like, "Uh, what the hell?" They noted it in his chart because they thought it was
such a strange thing to say. So meanwhile, Eric is in
California during all of this and Eric's dad wakes him up
at like four in the morning and he tells him that
something has happened to Jacob and that they've gotta pack and head out to New Mexico immediately. Eric was six years old at the time, so he did not understand
what was happening. He only knew that his dad was very upset and that they had to hurry. So they arrive at the
airport just before noon. When they land, Brenda, D, and her parents are waiting for them, and the state police were also there waiting for them along with Sue DeWalt, who was the lead investigator on the case. - I remember when we got off the plane, just the sadness in my mom's face. She was definitely dealing with a lot of grief and confusion. - And they immediately
took Eric into another room so that he wouldn't have the opportunity to talk with Brenda or D at all. At least that was the idea. But before Eric went in, D
pulls him aside and said, "Don't you lie. Don't you dare lie. You know what happens to people who lie?" And Eric is six years old, he's terrified, so this really scares him. - And I remember being very upset and feeling like I was somehow responsible for what happened to Jacob. And the police questioned me and asked me if I had hurt Jacob, if I had hit Jacob, if I had kicked Jacob. They asked me if my mom's
boyfriend had ever hit me. And my answer was, "No, but he acts like he's
going to all the time." - And then they asked about how Jacob had hurt his head from the first injury. So he started getting really
upset and told the police that he didn't hurt his brother if that's what they were getting at. He said he didn't know who had done it. - When they asked me if I hit Jacob, they said that I got pretty agitated. And I said no. And when they asked me if I knew who had hurt Jacob, I said I don't know. - And at this point,
Eric was really scared. He still did not know that Jacob was dead. He just thought that something
had happened to Jacob and that he was possibly gonna go to jail. I mean, he was really confused. He thought there was a chance
that he would get in trouble. But of course, even if Eric was the one who had hurt Jacob the times before, it did not make sense
for this last injury. Eric was in California when it happened, so someone else was
obviously hurting him now. And then Eric found out that Jacob died. He was beyond devastated. And even worse, he started to think that maybe he did something to him. I mean, he was super confused. It's just so much for a
six year old to process - Being interrogated was
probably one of the most terrifying things that
I've ever gone through. Especially when you're young, you just don't have a lot of cognition to understand everything that's happening. It was pretty intimidating. I was pretty much convinced
that I was going to jail because that's what I
associated the police with. I remember feeling very responsible for what happened to Jacob. I still have a lot of
guilt and a lot of shame related to the whole situation. It has stayed with me even to this day. I know I didn't do anything to hurt Jacob, but it hurts to think
that people thought I did. And it hurts to think
that I could have hurt him because I never would
have wanted to hurt him. - So the police questioned
the rest of the family, too, and they questioned the hospital staff. Investigators asked Brenda if she thought that D was
capable of doing this to her son, and she said, "I don't think so," but this answer would come back
to haunt her in the future. At some point after Jacob died, D did spend one night in jail, but he was never charged with anything. So after all of this happened,
Brenda broke up with D. Her and Eric moved out, and at the time Eric didn't know this, but even after she had left, he basically started stalking her. He would follow her around,
he would call the house trying to figure out where
she was, who she was with. D would send her letters
all the time harassing her. And in one of these letters, he actually asked her to meet
him at Jacob's grave site. This was very strange to her. She thought it was a very odd request for him to wanna meet there of all places. And luckily she never went. - I can't really answer why he wanted my mom to go to the graveyard. I can only speculate. I can tell you that the
graveyard in Socorro is kind of in the middle of nowhere. It's in town still, but there's not a lot
of things around there. There's not a lot of homes around there. And so knowing what I know about him now, it wouldn't surprise me if he
intended to hurt her there. I can't understand why you would want to bring a grieving
mother to her baby's grave and using the lure of telling her what, quote, "really happened"
as a means to get her there. It just seems, I mean, at
the best it's insensitive, and at the worst, it's pretty devious. - She tried ignoring him,
but he just wouldn't let up. He kept contacting her. And one day he followed her back to her parents' house,
where they were living. But when he got there, Eric's
grandfather came storming out and basically chased him off the property. And specifically he yelled at him, "Why don't you hit somebody who can talk?" So that tells you right there
that he, even back then, felt like it was D who had killed Jacob. And that was the moment that
it all clicked for Eric. He realized that D was the
one who killed his brother. Now, this is very hard to understand, and I'm sure there will be comments. I mean, I asked you guys not to, but there are always people who will, and there's always
people who pass judgment, but Brenda did end up going
back to D at some point. And I know it can be
hard to understand this when you've never experienced
an abusive relationship, but this is very common, especially with people who
are as manipulative as D is. - When you're looking
at something like this and you're seeing that there's no action being taken by the justice system, even if all the evidence is there, it makes you start to
doubt that it happened the way that you suspect it happened. And so my mom, my guess
is she probably pushed a lot of those feelings and doubts away and believed initially
that it was an accident. I think we all wanted to
believe that it was an accident. We didn't wanna believe that this person was capable of killing my brother. And so she started to date him again. And eventually we were living with him and she got married to him. It all happened pretty quickly. - So the police gradually just stopped giving Brenda any
information about the case. It just seemed like
everything came to a halt. Brenda at the time really wanted to know what really happened to her baby, and she felt that at the time, the best way for her to figure it out was to go be with D again and see if she could get it out of him. There was one specific time that she actually drove
him to a polygraph test. Eric went with them,
they went to Santa Fe, and they waited two hours
in the car while he took it. He came out and he had passed. So he wasn't arrested or
even investigated at all, and Brenda continued to stay with him. And after that point,
the family never heard anything more about the case, that was it. They ended up buying a house together, and D had his two children live there partially when they
weren't with their mom. But all other time, it was
just Brenda, D, and Eric. The life was not good for them at all. D got more and more abusive over time. After they were married, it
seemed to make it all worse. That's when he got really
controlling and violent. Eric felt like he was constantly walking on eggshells in his own home. Anything he did could
send D over the edge, even just looking at him the wrong way. - So once we moved back in with him, his behavior changed dramatically. He became very abusive. He was physically abusive to
my mom almost on a daily basis. It was horrifying. There would be days where I
would be sitting on the couch watching television with my mom and him, and I would look up because
he was saying something, and he would accuse me of
giving him dirty looks. And then my mom would come to my defense and say something along the lines of, "He's not giving you dirty looks. He just looked at you
because you said something," and he would immediately
start beating her up. I often felt responsible
for her getting beat up because it was often something that I would do or say
that would set him off. - When his mom went to work, he would lock Eric in his room all day. And at first he didn't mind, actually. He had his TV in there,
he had his Nintendo, he had a little fridge with snacks. But after a while, his room
started to feel like a prison. - If I needed the restroom,
I had to knock on my door. And usually he had the music really loud, so he sometimes would hear
me, sometimes he wouldn't. If he came to the door and
he said, what do I want? I would let him know I needed the restroom or water or whatever. And if he felt like I didn't,
or he didn't want to let me, then I wasn't allowed to leave the room. If I went outside to play, I would be locked out of the
house until my mom came home. I wasn't allowed to go in the house. One day, he got really mad at me because I'd used a a sharp
kitchen knife to make a sandwich. And he got really angry and he shoved me into the clothes dryer and locked me in there
for the rest of the day. Living with him was a nightmare. - And Eric grew up with
this. He got used to it. By the time he was eight years old, he was very used to the abuse from D. He was so scared for
him and his mom's safety that he started sleeping
with a kitchen knife nearby as well as a can of hairspray
and a lighter under his pillow so that he could almost
create a flamethrower effect. And not only that, he had an
aluminum bat under his bed, so he was prepared. Life for him was completely
unpredictable from day to day. They never knew when D
might lose it once again. - It was the worst experience of my life and I think that we're
very lucky to be alive having lived through that. - Eric felt like he always had to prepare for a fight that could be bad enough that he would try to
kill him or kill his mom. And D started becoming more and more physically abusive with
Brenda over the years. One time, they had to
go to this Easter brunch where D's dad was actually the pastor, but Brenda was covered in bruises. So D actually lined up
Eric and his two kids and made them recite a
story over and over again about how Brenda actually got
hurt in case anyone asked, because she was so
badly bruised and beaten that her eye was swollen shut. All of them knew that they
were not allowed to say what was going on in the house, and they were terrified to do so. They knew that if D ever found out, there would be hell to pay. Several times when they had
big blowups at their house, big arguments, they would call the police. But every time this happened,
nothing would ever happen. Brenda would refuse to press charges because she was scared of D. After Jacob died and he
still got Brenda back, he started to feel invincible, like Brenda would never leave him. So their worst fight happened one day when Eric was locked in his room. He could hear his mom
screaming the loudest that he had ever heard her
scream in his whole life. And he was used to yelling and violence and fights happening around
him, but this was worse. This was something he
had never heard before. And there was nothing he can do. He was stuck in his bedroom. So he ended up using a baseball bat to break the window of his
bedroom and climbed out. He ran around the house and started throwing rocks
at their bedroom window. D came out of the house
and he was furious at Eric, so he started chasing him down the street. And Eric found out later that he had wrapped a wire
hanger around his mother's neck. She had stopped screaming at one point because she was losing consciousness, and him throwing the
rocks was a distraction. After D ran outside, she was able to come back
to consciousness and get up. She truly believes that she
would have died that night if it wasn't for Eric throwing
the rocks at the window. He saved her life. Eric believed that if his
mom was killed that night, that he would have been next. But Brenda ended up staying with D. They moved into another place
together and life went on. But when Eric was around 11 years old, the sexual abuse started. - I don't wanna talk too
much about the details of it, but it was something that
was really tough for me because not just the fact
that I was being abused, but the fact that I was told that if I ever said anything to anybody, that he would murder my mom and me and that nobody would ever
be able to find our bodies. And I believed him because at that point, he had proven that he was
capable of extreme violence. And so I didn't say anything at all because I didn't wanna die and
I didn't want my mom to die. - But around this time,
D made a huge mistake. He started to try and groom Eric's cousin, who was only 14 years old. He would leave her creepy notes, he would call their house
and try to talk to her. - And he would tell her things like, "Oh, you're so beautiful.
I really wanna see you. I want you to come visit me. I can't stop thinking about you." He would say, "You can't tell anybody that we're having this conversation because nobody would understand, so this needs to be between us." - And he was trying to start
a sexual relationship with her so he could abuse her too, but
she was different than Eric and hadn't been so traumatized for a long time the way Eric had been, so she told everyone. - That was what my mom needed to get the strength to leave him, because I think my mom felt like if she was the only victim, if she was the only one being hurt by him, that she could handle it or deal with it. But when she found out he
was targeting my cousin, she wasn't willing to put up with that, so she left him as soon as
she found out about that. - And not only that,
it also made her think, "If he can do this to my niece, he definitely could have killed my son." So she ended up going to a district attorney with several demands. She wanted for Jacob's case to be reopened and for D to be reinvestigated. She also requested an order
of protection from the judge. And she also wanted for their divorce to be handled without D there. And she had actually documented so much of the abuse and
she submitted it all, so they went ahead and just
annulled the marriage for her, which was good. Now this is really
strange, but Eric remembers that he and his mom were granted a lifetime order of protection from D, but there's no court record
of this, so I'm not sure. But unfortunately, after reviewing it, they decided that they were
not going to reopen the case. The DA claims that because
Brenda had told them that she didn't think he
was capable of doing this, that they just dismissed him. They claimed that maybe
she was only presenting all of this now because
she was mad at him. So they decided that they would
not be reopening this case. But this is so unfair because at the time, Brenda really thought that, and she was a victim of abuse herself. She's clearly learned a
lot of new information and seen that he is in fact capable of having done this to Jacob
after years of being with him. But they still refused. So in 1990, Brenda
requested to have the files on Jacob's case released to her. And oftentimes they won't, but luckily in this case they decided to. They gave the family everything they had and they learned a lot. First of all, they found out that D had actually failed that polygraph test. He just told them when
he got out of the car that he passed it, but they
never saw the documentation. And one of the questions
that really stuck out to them is that he was asked if
he had ever hurt Jacob. He said no, and that was
determined to be a lie. Now of course, a polygraph test is really never enough
evidence to indict someone, but it definitely is enough to consider someone a person of interest. - So, I know that polygraphs
can be controversial. Sometimes they've been proven to not be very accurate,
not be very effective. I know that there's a lot of factors that can change the
outcome of a polygraph. But when you look at all
of the other information, I'm not surprised that he
failed the polygraph test. When you look at his behavior after the funeral, after Jacob died, when you look at just the whole picture, the polygraph becomes pretty compelling. - Plus, he continued to intimidate and stalk Brenda and Eric. He follows them all around town. He has stood outside
of Eric's window before saying that he's going to kill him. He has thrown things at their house in the middle of the night. And Brenda was hoping that if they just dropped everything they were trying to do, that maybe he would stop, and
she couldn't take it anymore. She was being harassed by him and the police weren't
doing anything to help. It wasn't until 2005 that
she felt ready to try again. Eric was older now, and he worked with her
to go over everything. She and Eric requested
a review of Jacob's case from a cold case investigator, and they said he was very thorough and the family has no complaints. They think he did a
really good job with it. - He summarized everything
and said that it was clear that there was sufficient
evidence at the time to prosecute my mom's ex-husband. He didn't understand
why that didn't happen. And so he emailed the
district attorney at the time and asked him to reopen the investigation and to look at possibly bringing charges against him for what he did. The DA responded saying that not only would he not look at this case, and his reasons for
not looking at the case were that there wasn't enough evidence and also that there was a statute of limitations on the charge. And so the DA closed the case. - D has changed his story of what happened that day several times. At first, he said that he
was dubbing cassette tapes when Jacob fell. And then in another version, he said Jacob was on the couch and fell off and hit the coffee table. Another time, he was on D's chest and he stood up too fast and hit his head. Another time, he said that
he was taking Jacob to bed and he hit his head on an
armchair as they were walking. So he changed his story constantly. - None of these stories, though, line up with the medical
examiner's report. All of those are sharp force trauma, and it just doesn't line up
or match up with anything, with any of the evidence that we have. So I don't really put a lot of credibility into anything that he says. The medical examiner's report
is pretty clear, I think. The fact that it calls
out blunt force trauma which led to a subdural hematoma, on the MRI showed to be
about the size of the hand, of the open hand of an adult male. I feel like that says a lot. It talks about the fact
that Jacob had a broken rib and a previously healed skull fracture, and that those two injuries probably happened at the same time. It talks about slight
trauma to the buttocks area. It really shows that Jacob suffered a lot at the hands of this person,
and he couldn't tell anybody, and he couldn't do anything to stop it. - But they also had that
note from Jacob's doctor that talked about how D seemed not concerned at all about Jacob's death, that he seemed more concerned for himself. And then there was a
bombshell: D confessed. During the initial investigation, police had planned to
give him a polygraph test the day that Jacob died. And when they were taking him
in for the polygraph test, the captain came in and said, "No need. We already
obtained a confession." According to the report, he confessed to two different officers. But other than that note, there was no other information
about what that meant. There's no recording, no transcript, no signed confession, absolutely nothing. There were no details
about his confession, what he confessed to or the
circumstances of his confession - When you add in the fact that he confessed to killing Jacob, it just adds another layer of evidence that's showing that what
he says is happening isn't what really happened. - So, the cold case investigator ended up sending a letter to the DA and recommending that they press charges against D for Jacob's death. And he actually thought
they had plenty of evidence, that this would be a strong case. But the DA, for some reason,
still refused to press charges. They said that the statute
of limitations was up and they also cited the
right to a speedy trial. But in New Mexico, the
right to a speedy trial does not actually kick in
until the person is charged. And Brenda was also told
that they were afraid that if they did press charges,
that D would sue the county. So this was very painful and beyond frustrating for the family. I mean, they're being told
that they have plenty here, there seems to be enough to charge him, but nothing is being done. Something is being blocked. The system was failing them,
the system was failing Jacob, and it was heartbreaking
to watch it play out. So to this day, D does
still not have a record even though I'm sure he has
been abusive to many others, and Eric and Brenda feel the same. They think there's no
way it stopped with them. And of course they are
more convinced than ever that Jacob was murdered that day by D. So for a long time, Eric
didn't talk much about Jacob. It was too upsetting and he felt like it would confuse people or upset them. Even his close friends,
he didn't tell them what had happened in his life growing up. For a long time, he just wasn't
ready to be open about it and for people to know certain details. But that doesn't bother him anymore, and he believes that now is the time to get his story out more than ever. And Eric says that he's not
gonna be silent anymore. He has started a mission to raise as much awareness as he can
about his brother's case. He has a podcast, like I said. I will link the episodes on Jacob so you can hear more details below. And he also covers a lot of other cases, some being cases of children who have been let down by
the system in New Mexico. - In New Mexico, we have a lot
of issues working against us. The poverty level is pretty high. The education level can be low at times. And so when you couple that with trauma that isn't healed, that isn't dealt with, that isn't addressed because
there are not enough resources, it creates a cycle of abuse
and generational abuse, which is a huge problem here. On top of that, we have an underfunded Child Protective Services, and then we have a criminal justice system that is very defendant friendly that considers the defendant's rights even at the expense of a victim's rights, which is not right in my opinion. - So as of right now, Eric has asked them to
reopen the case once again, and he is waiting for
a response from the DA. He has said, he, at this
moment, doesn't wanna push them, he doesn't wanna send people to them, or he doesn't want any
of you to write letters or try to do anything beyond
just signing the petition, which is linked below,
to reopen Jacob's case. But he may need more help for things like that in the future, so that's why I'm asking
you guys to follow Eric, follow what he's doing, and stay updated on justice for Jacob. He's got all the social
media. I'll link it all below. He's got his podcast. And we are in the process
of creating a website and it should be done soon. Guys, it would mean a lot to me if you would go listen to Eric's podcast. I'm really inspired by him, and I think you'll really enjoy it. It's called True Consequences. If you could check it out
or maybe give it a review, that would be awesome. If you don't have time for that, a quick follow on social
media would go a long way. I think words of encouragement
make a huge difference for families that are going
through these situations. Eric says that the best way
that you can help right now is to spread awareness about Jacob. So if you can share this video, share the podcast, share an
article, anything you can. - I need Jacob's story to be told. It's not a well-known
case and I need it to be. Media pressure works. We see it time after time
and every little bit helps. So if anybody wants to reach out to me, you can find me at trueconsequences.com. - Jacob's voice has gotta be heard. He was so young, he
never even got a chance. And that's why we've gotta
fight for justice for Jacob. - If Jacob was alive today,
he would be in his thirties. He would definitely be
old enough to be married and if he wanted children,
he'd probably have children. I would love to have him in my life to talk to, to hang out with. His legacy is his story can be amplified in a way that brings attention to these problems that we have here. And if his story helps one person, if it helps one baby from
having to deal with this, then I'm glad I'm speaking out. It's my hope that his story
gives someone strength that they need to protect
themselves, to protect their kids. I hope that his story inspires
lawmakers in New Mexico to change what's happening here, because it's not enough to
say something needs to change. We have to actually do something about it. And we can't ignore this problem away. - So all of that info
will be linked below. That is it for me today, guys. Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this video, be sure to give it a
thumbs up on your way out, make sure you are subscribed
with your notifications on, and I will see you guys next week. (inquisitive music)
I love Kendall but be aware, in her podcasts, sometimes she talks out of her butt and gives inaccurate information. This normally happens when they go off track and she wings it. I’ve noticed it’s happening more and more lately. Kinda disappointing because she’s the first true crime YouTuber I got into.
I listen to her podcast regularly :)
It's called Mile Higher
i used to really enjoy her, but over time.. i just feel like its become hard to really listen to her.
i do always recommend stephanie harlowe though!
I love her husbands podcast Lights Out
Mile Higher Episode 67: Unsolved Disappearance of Alissa Turney ft. Sarah Turney is one of the best podcast episodes I have ever listened to. I thought it was amazing to give Sarah another platform (she has her own pod, Voices for Justice) to get her story of Alissa out there.