When a Genius Teen Snaps

where's the gun s don't do it don't do it honey stuck on the same same thing it's still humans didn't act very funny color scholar my ambulance is already on the way okay they are already coming I need you to take a breath okay so I can tell you what to do to help okay all right I mean what do I need to do do not touch anything else other than what I am telling you to touch I'm sorry to come again please please somebody go unlock the door [Music] the 9-1-1 call you just heard was placed by James Allen brazell just six days before Christmas in 2016 when he heard gunshots coming from somewhere in his family home Allen race through the house to find his stepdaughter Ashley and her 16 year old brother Sonny standing over her with a gun in hand his wife Nicole screaming in the background Alan frantically called for help as haunting as the 9-1-1 call was the interrogation would turn out to be even more chilling sixteen-year-old Sonny proves to be one of the most stoic and emotionless suspects we've ever seen it's hard to reconcile how someone likes Sunny with an IQ of 155 to 160 described as highly to exceptionally intelligent has landed in this seat when police arrived on the scene they found the festively decorated exterior of the house masking a horror scene inside in an exclusive interview Alan and Nicole Brazil recount what they can remember from that terrifying night later we'll hear from Sunny himself yeah she said she was going to go to bed Sonny was going to go to bed he's been awake too all day and at work so everybody was kind of tired Alan was already I think in the bedroom I think he came and told everybody good night I went straight into the room I just heard of my robe and I think Ashley was going to go ahead and eat some soup that I had cooked as soon as I go to sit down on the bed the lights already off in the bedroom I hear what I think is firecrackers it's all my mind pop pop firecrackers Sonny being such a mild kid and actually being they both wear kind of like little professors responsible kids they got great grades in school I know that I bought firecrackers for New Year's Eve and I'm thinking I cannot believe one of them let off firecrackers because I hear as she say Sunny very surprised in shock that's all here through the door and then I hear firecrackers so I throw back on my robe because I don't have clothes I throw back on my robe Alan jumps up and I so I go to go outside I mean I am furious like what who let off firecrackers in the house what I can't even believe they would do this either one I don't even think they either want to do it I was closest to the door going out into the hallway and whenever I heard it you know pretty much immediately I knew what it was you know because I am a country boy I'm a country boy I'm a Hunter and I have guns and I've always had guns so I immediately knew what it was but I didn't put it that it was somebody from in the house like I asked their Sonny I thought somebody had came in the house you know like a break-in so I immediately reached down and grabbed my handgun and started toward the door and something told me don't take your gun out there and of course you know you have these conversations with yourself really really fast like are you crazy I'm not going out there because I knew it was gunfire and I'm like I'm not going out there without some kind of protection you know I heard it again pretty much you know don't take your gun out there put it down so I'll put the gun down and I kind of tossed it on the bed and headed out the door and when I got there I immediately saw Sunny standing there and he had a gun in his hand of course I didn't know where he got the gun because it was a Christmas present that I didn't know about so I yelled at him I said Sonny I said Put the gun down he was immediately obedient as he always was and he leaned down he put the gun down and I kind of grabbed him by his shirt and kind of scooted him or slung him over to the side up against the hallway there and I said you stand right here I said do not move he did he just stood there he didn't say anything but he stood there so we went to check on Ashley that's when she went this is all in a matter of right instant seconds I'm like Ashley Ashley because I see no I don't realize that I'm still looking for like a firecracker damage I know this sounds strange but the mind you know like I'm still stuck on firecrackers it was at this point that Sonny's stepfather rushed back to the bedroom to find his cell phone and call for help that exact minute I guess Sonny bends down picks up that gun again it's on the ground he's a little bit away from it I have pulled Ashley from the couch not being a I'm a tall gal but she was only about five foot five lightweight but I try to get her pull her from the couch and I realized he's so he's grabbed the gun he runs to our bedroom so he starts to come around oh my God don't do it this man runs through the house and runs to the bedroom Sunny you know and he took off to the bedroom and I turned around and I saw him go the bedroom I started toward the door Sonny had ran around our bed to the furthest point away from the doorway he was staring Straight Ahead at the door but he was trying trying to change the clip in the gun to change the magazine in the gun because he had shot everything out of the first clip whenever he was in the living room he's holding the gun he's holding both of the magazines in his hand and he's not looking down to see what he's doing and of course he had never handled this gun before you know so by the time I ran over there he pushed the magazine into the gun and he stuck the gun up to my chest from where I was at at this point in time I was up right in front of him you know and I was fixing to grab a hold of him and and he was just kind of staring straight ahead and he just started pulling the trigger he had put the same magazine back in that he started with that was empty if he had gotten the right magazine I wouldn't be here today I'd you know I definitely wouldn't have made it and so I snatched the gun and everything out of his hands and I grabbed him and just kind of walked him into the living room and set him on the little love seat and he was kind of looking over the living room where Nikki was still in there with Ashley on the floor he's still in dad mode he says sit right there and don't move which is shocking to me because of the situation and the most wicked horrible heart trembling terrorizing thing happened I'll I'm doing this and I look up he's he's trying to unlock the door so then the police come and get a towel and I mean I'm frantic his eyes are all the dark suddenly now this is someone I've been with just 30 minutes he's my son right we've all been eating and snacking and on a video chat everything around here has become dark black and that the voice that comes out of the mouth says because I'm Square I'm literally hysterical this point I'm screaming what happened Lee answer me because there is no I mean you would think if a whole clip right she would be there'd be blood right there's none I'm screaming after what happened what happened what happened I hear the most darkest deep voice say she can't talk to you she's dead when police finally arrived to take control of the scene they found bullets behind the couch and in the storage drawer beneath it the gun was found in the master bedroom where Sonny's stepfather had left it after taking it from him police were put in the peculiar predicament of having both a suspect and weapon already established before they arrived as paramedics race to save Ashley's life investigators arrested Sunny Kim and took him to be questioned before he learned his sister's fate please note that throughout the interview police addressed Sonny by his middle name Christopher the following never before seen footage has been analyzed by a qualified team including a licensed professional counselor a licensed clinical psychologist and a licensed attorney spends a good deal of his time waiting to speak with officers conversing with himself while the audio isn't easily discernible he appears to be talking about computers yeah it was their toughness it was supposed to be fine [Music] holidays hey Christopher hey my name's Josh I'm coming Josh I'm investing with Colby County how you doing man in Georgia a minor may be taken into custody during a lawful arrest Georgia law states that a law enforcement officer taking a child or in this case 16 year old Sunny into custody must promptly notify the parent guardian or legal custodian about why the child is being brought into custody once in custody if the police want to question the minor they may do so without the parent present as there doesn't appear to be a definitive law that states parents must consent to interrogation of their minor child while police May interrogate the minor without parental consent the court will still determine if any statements made under a Miranda waiver are admissible with this all in mind the officer is free to get to the heart of the matter he jumps right in and asks about the victim Sonny's sister Ashley tell me about your sister uh actually Kim I refuse Colorado she was she was recently she recently broke up lost a child broke up with episode she came back over here for Christmas okay after attending a concert in Atlanta which he landed three days ago I wish you have something like that that's what was actually got this um that's yeah I think any particular information chillingly Sunny uses the past tense when discussing his sister even though he has no way of knowing her current medical status [Music] the officer switches back to asking about Sunny just like when he was asked about his sister Sonny gives a superficial impersonal answer from one out from what I gather you have a you have a job you work and you've already kind of graduated high school yes can you tell me a little bit about yourself and it's 16 years old male stating that he's 16 years old male is a highly atypical manner of speech and an indication that Sunny may be completely detached from what just happened with his sister since this description of himself seems to be made in third person where did you go to where'd you go to High School uh okay and then you uh finished up and taken some classes at GMC right hey do you have a job yes what do you work uh Computer Exchange do you really yes I've been there a couple times really nice good good service over there quite in pleased with uh awards that I've done on my computers notice how intense his eye contact is normally this can be an indication that someone is watching to see if the other person accepts what they're saying especially in the case of a lie as someone wants to see if they're being believed but Sunny has no reason to be looking for acceptance given what he's saying instead this might indicate that he has some kind of social skills deficit and he's been taught to make eye contact rather than naturally making some eye contact as part of typical conversation he comes across as robotic so far here we see the officer once again attempting to connect with sunny on a personal level by establishing common ground and building rapport just like before though Sunny doesn't appear to care and does not respond as the officer had likely hoped with that technique rendered pointless the officer is forced to ask Sunny more direct questions and his response is disturbing to say the least I wanted to talk to you about the best that happened tonight okay can you walk me through everything that happens tonight Christopher kind of started start at the beginning is yes uh I thought a bit of pretext I suppose uh we had planned to get uh my father under 1911 45 Calvin pistol uh about a week ago we picked up from an academy um I we were hiding in Milo until we could package it and put it into the tree uh basically well this is not history mate yeah but uh earlier yeah a couple hours ago this interaction shows that Sunny may not be oriented a time which could be considered typical given the stress of the situation he may not show any overt signs of distress but the way he described himself a couple of minutes ago plus his lack of awareness of exactly when he shot his sister are indications of emotional distress uh walked out of the room with the unloaded first magazine was do you want the extended grip he crowns in it uh of the Sun Mountain in my left pocket uh and here was something else in it in your left pocket yes front pocket or backpack uh I also had a pair of gloves on uh foreign Sunny is clearly a detail-oriented guy as he describes his gloves sometimes suspects May provide these types of unnecessary details out of nervousness and their desire to cooperate with the interrogation process Sunny must at least be aware that he's in trouble so it makes sense that he wants to be cooperative at the same time his mention of being male and the other details he's provided thus far could also give us a clue as to his personality type possibly very rigid and perfectionistic after that I walked up to the living room and I turned left I saw my sister and I put about eight rounds into a just concentration herself Sunny says ish again this also indicates his high degree of rigidity and precision and the way he thinks and speaks Sunny also maintains his highly formal and rigid manner of speaking as if he was providing step-by-step instructions to someone or telling a story he's markedly detached from the actual event his voice remains even and he still is showing no signs of overt stress after that my both of my parents uh ran from their bedroom door I came upstairs helped us together knives with her hands and then dropped him on the floor while they were watching me after they come out uh mother my mother rushed through my sister's party my father started calling when I was on the 911 the way that Sonny presents being really out of touch with reality and definitely out of touch with emotions and empathy is similar to another case that of Michael Hernandez Michael told investigators that he wasn't angry when he killed his friend Jaime Goff but that he wanted to try murder um and is there any specific reason why you planned this no there's not and once they did that uh yes so the government ground I believe about 10 to 20 seconds after he'd start calling uh he walked away and I went for the gun and grabbed the extra magazines in my pocket however I'm not very skill and Firearms so uh I didn't love the magazine correctly and was able to chamber around attempted to shoot my fire once and then I uh if you can not very good fire himself I didn't I wasn't able to kill him but after that um yes this took me out like I mean I sat back down on a couch uh wait for it and revived basically will cost to them uh turned into sister's rooms uh acting black she was born off of his prayer room yes and then that's when the police arrived I was putting cuts and coming up it was quite high and after that uh for a while after Sunny explains everything in a very distanced way including his own arrest as if he's completely detached from the world around him depersonalization involves feeling detached from oneself as if observing one's thoughts emotions and actions from a distance other symptoms include feeling emotionally numb disconnected from one's surroundings and experiencing memory difficulties Sunny makes no effort to hide his intentions either he references his sister's body instead of calling her by name again at this point in time Sunny doesn't know whether she's dead or alive he also openly admits to trying to shoot his father twice he could have taken the opportunity to claim he had a change of heart in an effort to potentially look better but instead admits that he wanted to and would have shot his father if the gun had not stopped working unfortunately there's no other information about why exactly the gun stopped working chillingly he shows absolutely no remorse and continues to sound cold detached flat and methodical he might as well be describing how to put a computer together piece by piece when you were putting when you were putting the magazine into into the weapon and shame of the round what were you what was your plan uh initially uh the uh my view was uh kill father mother sister in order of uh so some reason though I didn't go along with that I'm not sure suppose that he might activate I was playing for some reason Sonny ranks his family in order of threat it could be assumed that he means he intended to kill them in order of who was best equipped to disarm and stop him but that isn't necessarily true the officer will have to follow up on this later for now though he lets Sonny maintain his train of thought and it's important that the interrogator doesn't interrupt once they get a suspect talking this is because it allows them to get their full uninfluenced account of what happened and the interrogation only gets stranger the idea was welcome by the recipient arresting so father it's your mother and then walk down to the living room and kill her uh you know so yeah I can get away but uh anything that was the plan however um it's not as humans actually meetings you have stuck on the same same thing that's why what the gloves is because I figured my hands would get sweaty yeah humans um so I want himself you know I would be able to maintain my grip on the weapon and such uh however um so humans didn't act very fun right uh basically it unlooted all the grounds I immediately want to put one or two in here but I don't know I never shot someone before so they seem like blanks I mean basically nothing I didn't couldn't do with and I understandable impact foreign Nicole brazile Sonny's mother ran an embroidery business out of the house teaching textile Arts to students his stepfather Alan had accepted Sonny like his own son y's sister Ashley was known to be outgoing and had been enjoying her time at College in Colorado in the sixth grade Sonny asked his mother if he could drop out of school in large part because he felt bored he was homeschooled for a while and at 13 he started working for a company who his mother had a contract with before working at a computer store at 15 he started at the Georgia Military College where he completed High School classes alongside college classes altogether they appeared to be the picture of a happy family and an exclusive interview Sonny talks about his childhood in more detail and about his relationship with his mother and sister my biological father left the country and went to Seoul Korea and my mother kept us a float tooth and nail and he fought for us prior to my incarceration I was actively working at Computer Exchange and taking classes at TMC and I was I suppose living a good life I was always provided for I was always take care when I had 11 parents every step of the way and she got us out of bed eventually we were you know a stable household she met Allen and you know he's a great guy I I have had a really wonderful set of parents I don't think I could have asked for I owe everything to them every pretty much everything good in my life that they've been responsible for in some way shape or form actually was uh the bigger sister she had the kindness out of all of us actually got a lot of our kindness I'm not sure what I got I lean on her a lot to a lot of things she was between her and my mother they were the only two stable things that I really had my life actually was someone you could always come to and she was always put together I could always trust her judgment I suppose I get my morals from her you know she had real heart I love that part he was her favorite out of everybody and she was his favorite they had the most in common they were both very smart very high IQs yet Sunny manages to erase all of that personality and all of that love in the interrogation room this clinical and detached way of speaking appears to be a symptom of depersonalization which is closely related to dissociative Amnesia and dissociative identity disorder two very serious mental illnesses there's no anger here no emotion at all and no indication that he had major issues with his family it's almost like he was possessed and is now just describing what he saw speaking like the lights are on but nobody's home I suppose I just saw her and I'm not I didn't recognize those stuff but she's not the first person I saw I suppose oh yeah obviously yeah not the way I intended to uh that didn't make enough room or take into account you know the way humans Act Right the mainly meet as far as humans go so with sunny so forthcoming regarding the details of the crime the investigator seeks to confirm what Sonny's stepfather Alan brazile told them about the crime when your father went to chase after you uh in the bedroom that what bedroom was that uh it was the flight schedules the master bedroom to one where they sleep okay so yeah I've had a life king-size bed and you told me that you had at that point in time you hadn't he had dropped the weapon and then you reached down and picked it up about 20 seconds later it was about two three or about a year away from me right so I went and kind of thrived it and then ran off and then what were you trying to do when you ran away uh my plan was to grab the weapon and load the magazine and shoot my father and then shoot my mother okay and your father ran after you and caught you in the bedroom yes and you did not have a chance to load the magazine at that point in time or what happened I slide back all the way uh the second time after I faint uh putting gun down after you told me you know don't do it Etc uh after I put it back I tried to uh send the magazine back in with the back of my wrist about here right uh and then pull signed back however that didn't uh solve it either so yeah uh taking time away from me and walked back to the electro did uh did you attempt to pull the trigger while he was coming at you yes okay both times both times and both time it failed to fire yeah right okay and that's when your father caught up with you and entered the weapon for me did you say anything to them after that or or what happened after uh after he got the weapon from you uh after that uh I basically uh see while he ran back into the living room uh Put the gun down on the ground uh across the living room boyfriend however I didn't act on either so I figured my chances were low of getting either going so I didn't think it was worth it with Sonny's confession recorded in more than sufficient detail we can now tackle the question of why Sunny decided to undertake such unprovoked violence what were you thinking about what made you want to kill your sister and your parents tonight what's been going on um honestly good actually uh I've got a job I have classes going pretty well uh yeah I mean nothing really is bad been happening to me nothing's a pretty good thoughts nothing bad you just wanted to do it uh not even want it I just did right just back up excuse me a few minutes ago we were talking about when you're loading the uh the putting the rounds in the magazine and then loading that magazine into your weapon and you said that the initial plan was to go to your parents room and then shoot them first and then go into your living room where your sister wasn't that you heard what made you deviate from that plan I don't know I my I first saw my sister and I first come out I suppose was I don't know uh are you are you supposed to go to my parents building until uh father and mother but I saw my sister and for some reason I don't know why I I'm at a nice little closer is there any reason why you'd wanna why you want to kill everybody I mean do they have that hurt you and they made like miserable for you they abusive to you physically none whatsoever there was no reason for it it just uh woman I could think of but in two words Sonny provides what could be very important information if he had been abused as a child this may give some insight into his detached Behavior as ongoing physical abuse is often the accepted explanation behind pathological dissociative Behavior or disorders this could be in reference to Sunny's biological father who was allegedly neglectful but Sunny doesn't elaborate so the officer tries honing in on a different part of the crime what made you want to kill your mother and father still wasn't really any motivation for it oh yeah I told you about uh trying to shoot my father and then Phil I'm gonna try and get him up as far as motivational exploring my parents are none only existed uh my father did a lot of the chores my mother worked quite hard at a job father existed uh my mother had her job I didn't mean they we all had a relatively good life did you get a sense of satisfaction when when this was going on uh no I didn't really feel anything and your mother what was tending to your sister's wounds like you said and you were considering when she was asking me why did you do it did that a number of times yeah I'm sure um what was running through your mind when she said that at the moment hey the only thing that I was thinking of really was I had begun in that and the impacted you know I I kind of shotgun in my room passed through my mind I didn't really think of much but it's just sort of you were you were still in your plan motive can I get a weapon and kill mom and dad is that what you were thinking did that make you happy uh no I I didn't make it sad no I didn't really feel much it just sort of happened do you have any idea why it just happened uh not really Sonny's answer of not really here is interesting he actually seems to not understand it himself no I was going to say that in October my family I just did Frozen but having had weapons in my room for basically one or two years now that's you know I've had the opportunity for a while why did you decide tonight uh tonight was I suppose it was a bit spontaneous yeah I thought there's six days till Christmas or something like that but uh that might have my in fact my mother would come in and you know I had stuff together the next day or something all the signs so I figured the likelihood of her backing again next day is fairly high so right now I still have access to the firearm even though Sunny's rationale for committing the crime tonight is disturbing it still doesn't entirely make sense even if the gun had been wrapped and placed under the Christmas tree Sunny would have still had access to it and multiple other Firearms he could have used in the attack is there something you thought about doing for a while or is this something that you've been thinking about for the past couple minutes it was sort of impulsive and not really something I've been sitting before here Sunny Express is an impulsive element to his actions which supports the fact that he may struggle to differentiate between his thoughts and the reality of acting out his thoughts what ultimately made you decide to shoot your sister in the chest I don't know something in my I came out what was something in my mind basically led to me uh loading the gun and that what was it something interesting happens when Sonny tries to talk about what was going through his mind in the moments before the shooting well spoken up to this point Sunny starts to stumble over his words giving only partial thoughts and attempting to start a sentence over something in my I came out what was something in my mind basically that to me when he isn't able to describe what he thought or felt he reverts to talking about the physical details uh but basically end up blowing the gun and after guns in my bedroom I walked out and I suppose at that point I I don't know a lot I was thinking but uh suppose I just shot her I don't really have much of an explanation okay but what emotions are running through you when this was going on we're happy were you sad well hi did you care kind of stood there I suppose okay the stuttering and stumbling over emotional words is likely a sign of anxiety so he Retreats back into the world of dissociated details this could be due to a lack of comfort or understanding of emotions to begin with it's wrong uh yes it is socially immorally wrong and didn't you think you were going to get in trouble if that was to happen yes I was certainly going to be apprehended by this noise okay but you still went through with it anyways yes why I don't know uh either was proud of curiosity boredom or something else chillingly curiosity or boredom could have very well been the case as Sunny admits although he seems to lack empathy there's a degree of self-awareness here when a person lacks empathy there is little to no attention placed on how another person would feel the presence of empathy is critical because it is in large part what directs moral decision making without it someone like Sunny may just act on impulse or out of sheer curiosity or boredom Sunny identifies over and over that he doesn't understand why he did this it's just sort of happening I don't really either it's either I don't remember or I'm suppressing memory or there is no reason in Plano getting towards this there's not really much of a reason you knew you were going to get in trouble yeah you knew it was wrong yes you knew you were going to get caught but you didn't care uh yes altogether the detective interviewing Sonny has acquired a significant amount of evidence the only remaining missing puzzle piece is the motive with enough material to charge Sunny the question of his motive will be left to be uncovered during trial all right well give me just a minute I'll be right back okay after the officer leaves Sonny immediately goes back to talking to himself well no see the 1060 would be yeah in his new am4 ddo4 exceptional architecture settings another switch you know where it was yes so ddr4 I don't know it only takes three minutes for the officer to return until Sonny What charges he will officially be facing all right Christopher you all will be arrested okay you'll be arrested for murder yes murder free sister uh aggravator sold on your father for trying to shoot him as well and then possession of a weapon here in the commission of the felony okay do you expected all that though correct yes okay well we're gonna move forward with the charges I want to let you know that that's as of right now what you're going to be charged with okay okay so just hang tight some of you with you shortly and we'll get this underway as far as getting you transported to the jail and books and everything like that okay okay fine tragically Ashley Kim succumbed to her injuries before the paramedics arrived Emergency Services attempted to resuscitate her but they were unsuccessful she was declared dead on the scene shortly after Sunny was arrested in our conversation with Sonny's parents they remembered their daughter fondly she was the pretty girl that was nice unmistakably not a mean girl yeah she wasn't a mean girl um there's a lot of people that spoke at her funeral that said you know Ashley didn't have to be nice to me but she did she didn't hold grudges she was a free bird free spirit she was a free spirit she was full of love you know love is the greatest power and she was full of love she was she was very she was very kind very loving like I said everybody loved it she loved absurd things always she had she did shitty terrible sense of humor about like what is it called a dark sense of humor she had the darkest sense of humor just like the most morbid things her and a sister of mine too she loved morbid that's the thing I miss most about like her laughing because she would giggle about like things that she's somebody you couldn't sit next to at a funeral you could not he said over there because you had me laughing everyone's gonna be looking at me Ashley loved people she saw the goodness in people she really really did so many times perfect she's who helped me forgive my ex-husband because I felt like he had really bailed on us she was like he wasn't ready to be a dad mom she had such a forgiving spirit in her giggle I always will never forget her giggle I thought I would at one point I was grieving she had a funny Giggle and she had love and to honor the memory I I Choose Love I choose to forgive everyone who's made a mistake not just sunny I choose to live Ashley's Joy because she enjoy because she chose forgiveness because you know that's weighty an autopsy confirms Sonny's claim that he had shot Ashley eight times she had wounds on most parts of her body except for her head including her arms legs and chest despite the extent of her injuries her death was not immediate it was determined that Ashley's lungs had filled with blood and she'd perished while her parents attempted to administer CPR before the ambulance arrived however her injuries were so severe that it was unlikely Ashley could have survived even if help had arrived sooner while their parents were likely grieving the massively traumatic death of one child at the hands of another Sunny remains unbothered as ever after learning of his sister's demise Sunny simply checks his watch and goes back to talking with himself um we've seen some even when officers arrived to take him to jail he remains stoic I'm still small wrist huh Christopher these Deputy that's right behind it he's going to take you up to our jail get your finger prayer and processed and get the uh get the job paperwork started on your charges okay we'll see in your stuff all right with sunny detained experts were left to ponder his blatantly absent motive there seemed to be no reason for him to shoot and kill Ashley and then attempt to kill his stepfather Allen so yeah she was uh my moral compass and my my second net and big sister all of that experts could not come up with a full explanation for his actions but they did develop a theory it was possible that Sonny's abrupt out of character violence was possibly caused by a psychotic episode he didn't realize for a long time it was probably eight months maybe before he even realized it most people will not like my answer but the sunny that night when this happened was my son's body but it was not his Spirit Sonny was not there was there ever any kind of emotion on his face not for a year and a half and it was bad enough that he basically while he was in uh juvenile hall you know waiting trial he had no taste everything tasted like burning plastic yeah that's psychological snap something happened they took explained to us later that everyone tasted like burning plastic all the food he was eating the only thing he could eat was plain Dry Cereal that's what he lived on Sonny apparently told a psychologist that his memory of the murder felt like watching someone else or looking into a parallel Dimension I felt like the strings had been cut black people go to word this is the textbook definition of a depersonalization episode although a psychotic episode is a possibility Sunny isn't showing any indications of psychosis in the interrogation room he may be talking to himself but this could be due to stress or nervousness it's not sufficient to conclude that he's psychotic Sunny shows no signs of delusional thinking and he doesn't seem to be responding to hallucinations his thought process is logical and coherent overall though he demonstrated indications of a developmental delay like autism spectrum disorder typically psychotic episodes are preceded by changes in behavior that would have been evident to his parents or other adults though this is not always the case sunny and Ashley's parents once again weigh in on this incredibly complicated aspect of the case the thing I want people most to know is I know a lot of people have said since this has happened you know well what about Ashley and and you know why can you still be loyal to your son I'm loyal to my son because like I said he was not there it was not done in some kind of malicious intent there was no fight there was no argument there was no fuss there was only love between him and his sister there was nothing crazy going on nothing funny going on it was just unbelievable that it happened and it's hard for me to even believe it now even though I was probably the best witness that was there the whole night that actually saw I actually saw the most heard the most pretty much knew the most because I knew what was going on from the sounds I knew what it was and I was stuck by Sunny me and his his mom have stuck by Sonny first off because we love him and he's our son and we'd stick by him anyway this was not something that you know was like in a fit of anger or it was not a planned out thing that you know that he hated her or he was jealous of her or any of the stuff that they tried to say they tried to say that he was jealous because she was outgoing and he wasn't I was a single mom and my ex-husband I didn't have money and he this wonderful man wasn't in my life yet and I think back about the time she had to babysit because I couldn't afford a babysitter and be at my shop because she babysat him he holds so many character traits of her and I know other people want him destroyed but he's all I have left of her finally while awaiting trial at Regional Youth Detention Center Sunny reportedly harmed himself multiple times by slamming his head into the wall and biting himself so hard that he broke a tooth eventually he was diagnosed by several doctors with Asperger's along with undisclosed disorders that are similar to schizophrenia as a result of this potential diagnosis Sonny's defense team attempted to have his confession dismissed claiming that it was not given when he was of sound mind the judge ruled that while the diagnosis could be valid a psychotic episode or any of Sonny's other diagnoses would not impede his intelligence he allowed the video of Sonny's interrogation to be played in full the brazils were not pleased by this decision and maintained that some aspects of the case were mishandled from the beginning a few minutes later an investigator showed up and he was explaining the situation to me he said you know we're going to take him down he said but we can't speak to him until his parents get their you and your wife get there it's crazy they put him in the car I never saw that but I was in the front yard right so they had already put him in the car by this time they said you know they explained that they had to take him you know to I guess Columbia County jail or whatever it was so they took him to jail and uh said as soon as we finish up here and said you know we're going to call you and you'll have to come down so we can interview him your son but as you saw in the earlier footage neither parent was present for Sonny's interrogation yeah but by eight o'clock we we realized they're not going to talk to us at all and so it's weeks before we can get any conversation with them they they even to get Sonny a public defender because he had he went into the indictment with no attorney it was no parental support nothing he was in there on his own but we were begging to try to go but they wouldn't let us it was probably what a year later before we actually saw the video the first court session that we went to we immediately started calling the police department and pretty much you know got no answers they wouldn't really tell us anything they told us that we couldn't talk to them because they charged him as an adult and do you know that they didn't even give him a public defender for four weeks ultimately in July of 2019 Sunny pleaded guilty by reason of mental illness to murder aggravated assault and two counts of possession of a firearm he was sentenced to life in prison plus 25 years but will be eligible for parole in 30 years because he was convicted by reason of mental illness he will continue to receive psychological counseling during that time Sunny's parents continue to stand by him and despite the terrible tragedy the family has remained close and he tells us all the time that he is very aware and very grateful that we're still his parents and that we love him and supporting because he knows that there are a lot of people in there that lost all of their family ties and everything whenever whatever they did happened he Treasures it he said I want you all to know he said you can't ever know he said how much did I appreciate it and everything he said of that you're still my mom and dad you still support me you never threw me away you know you never he says he works so hard in there every day to be worthy of that right in our exclusive interview we asked Sonny if he remembered the day of his sister's death I do yes it was terrifying for me it's the stranger just chilling it probably sounds ridiculous I know it will but when I walked into my room the second I walked through my door frame there was a shift there's something different I couldn't really think my body was moving but I wasn't able to think we asked how long it took for him to start processing what happened I think I'm still struggling with it to this day I suppose for the vast majority of it I didn't speak for those first three or four months when I was at the Juvenile Detention Center I still don't really know what to think there's these times when I've broken down about it but my brains like won't let me process it like every time I try and think about it I still don't really process what's happened I know empirically what's happened but to this day I don't understand why it happened with this response in mind we asked Sonny if he worried that a similar incident could happen again if he was released yes absolutely okay it's always there right I was kind of eager to accept a plea deal already kind of consoled myself the thought that I'll be spending the rest of my life in prison and I'm okay with that and I I don't really know if I want to be around my loved ones knowing that something like this could happen on a lighter topic we asked Sonny to tell us a bit about his life now and what his days look like we normally work first at about seven o'clock in the morning and for me that's when I wake up my activities used to be different I used to teach a math class but nowadays mostly I just have self-studies uh write a few stories I like to read where I used to be really active going to the library you know I've lost a lot of that energy now and uh most of my days are just spent idling I suppose we asked Sonny what people could learn turn from his circumstances and he offered us some remarkable Insight if you do have a family member a friend son daughter child whatever that is experiencing symptoms of disassociation right if there are two withdrawn from their environment or their surroundings important that they be associated with something in the world it's important not let people get too far gone our final question was about Ashley and what Sunny would like all of us to know about her she was one of those rare people in the world that cared out of her heart and she didn't do things out of some desire for potential gain or beneficial she cared for everyone regardless of whether or not she knew them I have a lot of great memories of my sister I'd say if there was one thing I'd want to remember is that she was she was the kind of people that is very rare genuinely cared about people around them all over for now now I can truly appreciate what it means we want to extend the utmost gratitude to Alan and Nicole brazell for being so open and for allowing us to share their side of this heartbreaking case

Channel: EXPLORE WITH US

Views: 4,931,889

Keywords: documentary, true crime documentary, educational, psychology, law, analysis

Id: cFBslqiCPIw

Length: 50min 34sec (3034 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 20 2023