Sophomore Obsession (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)
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Hey Prime members, you can binge eight new episodes of the Mr. Ballin podcast one month early and all episodes ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. On a hot summer day in Illinois, police officers made their way through a big field out in the middle of nowhere. They pushed aside the tall grass and they could see and hear flies buzzing all around them. And then suddenly, the officer at the front of the group stopped. They crouched down and then signaled to the others. They had finally found the body.

The other officers rushed to him, and when they got there, they all just stopped and stared down at the dead young woman. The cops knew something like this was going to leave the people in the small town nearby in complete shock, but they had no idea what this discovery would lead to. Because this dead young woman in the field would soon help solve a murder that had taken place across the border in Indiana and lead police to a cold-blooded killer who had been on the run for two years.

But before we get into that story, if you're a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious delivered in story format, then you've come to the right podcast because that's all we do and we upload twice a week, once on Monday and once on Thursday. So if that's of interest to you, please remove the Follow Buttons deodorant stick from its container and replace it with cream cheese. Okay, let's get into today's story. ♪

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On the afternoon of Saturday, September 6th, 1997, 19-year-old Brooke Baker typed furiously on a computer in the journalism department at Vincennes University in the small college town of Vincennes, Indiana. Brooke looked at the words on the screen and she felt a rush of excitement. Writing was her favorite pastime. She was a journalist and editor for the university newspaper, but this felt different because Brooke was writing the most important story she'd ever worked on.

She finished writing her opening paragraph, read it over a few times, and then exhaled. This was a great start. And she'd secured a major interview in a few days that she knew would make this story the talk of the entire campus when it was done.

Brooke loved the idea of having a story that she wrote be talked about by students and faculty. She was only a sophomore, but she already had clear goals for after graduation. She wanted to move to New York and become a writer for the highly prestigious Rolling Stone magazine. But to make that happen, she really needed experience writing major stories like the one she was working on.

But in truth, it wasn't the attention or potential accolades that made Brooke want to become a professional journalist. She believed that good reporting and good writing could really make a difference in the world and that it could genuinely help people who needed help. And so that's why she had chosen to write this story in the first place, and why she was now willing to spend part of her weekend alone in the journalism department working on it.

Brooke looked down at her watch and saw it was already 3 p.m., later than she realized. So she put her notes in her backpack and got ready to leave. But before she left, she checked her school email. She opened up the first message, and immediately, she felt a pit form in her stomach. Then she glanced all around the room, like she thought maybe somebody was secretly watching her, and then she logged out of her email, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and rushed out of the room.

Outside, she saw a young man named Steve Hoffman standing by the door with a huge smile on his face. Brooke had long, light brown hair with blue eyes, and today she was wearing jeans and a baggy t-shirt. And Steve thought she was one of the prettiest girls he'd ever met. They'd gone out a couple of times, and Steve hoped they would start going out more often.

Brooke smiled back at Steve and apologized for keeping him waiting. He said it wasn't a big deal, that he'd only been there a couple of minutes. But then Steve noticed the worried look on Brooke's face, and he asked if everything was okay. Brooke said, yep, everything's fine. She was just stressed about the story she was working on. And then before Steve could ask any more questions, she took Steve's arm, and they began walking past all the red brick buildings that lined the campus. It was a warm day, almost 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and a group of students were reclining nearby on the grass, soaking in the sun.

The campus was always calm and beautiful around this time of the year, and just walking outside with Steve relaxed Brooke, and so she put the email she had just read out of her mind. A few minutes later, Brooke and Steve turned away from the center of campus onto a small street that had several fast food restaurants on it. Not far away, they could see a bridge that stretched all the way across the Wabash River and led into the state of Illinois on the other side.

Brooke and Steve walked into a sandwich place, grabbed some food and sat down, and before long they were talking about school and also their shared love of movies. And then at some point, as casually as he could, Steve asked if Brooke maybe wanted to come back to his apartment later that night to watch a movie. He said his roommate was going to be out, so they'd have the place to themselves. Brooke told Steve that that did sound fun, but she already had plans, so maybe they could hang out and watch movies next weekend.

Steve said that would be great, and then they talked some more and finished up their lunch, and then before long, they left the shop and began heading back to campus. And after walking for a little bit, it was time to part ways, and so Brooke thanked Steve again for lunch, and then she walked past the journalism department building and crossed the street to her house. Brooke had chosen this small white wooden house to live in during her sophomore year because it was so close to the university building where she spent most of her time, the journalism building.

She also chose it because she could afford to live there by herself. Brooke loved spending time with people, but she also loved having a quiet place to write without any distractions. But tonight was not going to be one of those nights where she wanted total silence and peace because she wasn't writing. Instead, she was going to a party. And so Brooke went inside her house, she dropped her backpack on the floor, and then headed to her bedroom, where she began digging through her closet and laying out clothes to figure out which outfit she was going to wear for the fun that night.

After midnight on September 7th, so about nine hours after Brooke met Steve for lunch, Brooke danced to the music blaring through a small house located just off campus. The party she was at had been raging for a while, and Brooke was having a great time. You know, she'd been really stressed about the story, and this was a good chance for her to blow off some steam. Brooke grinned at the tall young man dancing next to her, and then she wrapped her arms around his neck. His name was Tommy Williams, and he looked at Brooke just the same way that Steve did. He thought she was totally beautiful.

And then Tommy asked if she wanted to get out of there with him. Brooke nodded and said, yeah, let's go back to my place. And so the two of them said their goodbyes to some friends, and then they left together. The two walked for a few minutes through town and then eventually cut across the campus, which was empty except for a couple of other students wandering home after a night out.

Brooke and Tommy had just passed the journalism department and had begun to cross the street to Brooke's house when suddenly bright headlights lit up their faces and they stopped walking. Brooke turned and saw a campus police officer sitting in his vehicle on the street. Brooke grabbed Tommy's hand and told him to walk fast. And so the two crossed the street the rest of the way and they approached Brooke's house. But before going in, Tommy asked Brooke like, hey, what's going on? It's just a campus cop. He's most likely just out here looking for drunk students. Like, we're okay. We're not going to get in trouble.

But Brooke would say that the guy in the vehicle was not just a campus cop. He was also her landlord, and he totally creeped her out. She told Tommy that she'd caught her landlord a few times watching her through her window. And not long ago, she'd gotten out of the shower one time and walked out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel, and he was just standing there in her apartment.

She had screamed at him and asked, you know, what are you doing here? And he said he'd just come to spray the house for bugs. He said it was his right to come in whenever he needed because he was the landlord.

Tommy couldn't believe it and said that was totally insane. And he told Brooke that she really should go tell the police, like the actual city police, not the campus cops, because this guy sounded legitimately dangerous. Brooke nodded but said she really just didn't want to talk about it, at least not right then. And so she grabbed her keys out of her purse, but before she could unlock her door, behind them both she and Tommy heard the sound of another car coming down the road and slowing down basically right behind them out on the road.

But when Brooke and Tommy turned around, the car sped off. Tommy didn't get a good look at the car, and so he just asked Brooke, like, hey, who was that? Who would be pulling up in front of your house and then speeding off in the middle of the night? Brooke just shook her head. She didn't say anything, but she actually did recognize the second car. It was Steve's.

Brooke secretly wondered if maybe Steve had just been waiting by her house on the off chance she might want to go hang out, or if maybe he had been following her since they ate lunch together that afternoon. And so between the email she got before she left the journalism department, you know, the campus cop parked in front of her house, and now Steve driving and lurking around her house, it had been a really weird day.

But still, you know, Brooke was having a good time with Tommy, and she didn't want any of that other stuff to ruin her night. So she opened the door and led Tommy inside. At 9 p.m. that night, so basically 20-ish hours after Brooke and Tommy went inside of Brooke's house, Brooke's brother knocked on Brooke's front door and called out to his sister. The siblings were supposed to have gotten together that afternoon, but Brooke hadn't been home when he came by.

Back in 1997, cell phones were not nearly as prominent as they are now, and Brooke and her brother didn't have them. And so Brooke's brother had tried calling her home, her landline phone, a few times throughout the day, but she hadn't answered. And so now he had just come by her house to make sure she was okay.

And so the brother knocked on the door one more time and waited a few minutes, but when he didn't hear anything inside and the door didn't open, finally he just reached into his pocket, pulled out his keys, and used the house key that Brooke had given him for her place, and he unlocked the front door. Once he stepped inside, he immediately heard the sound of water running in the bathroom. He figured Brooke must be taking a bath or a shower, so he shouted out to let her know that he was there. But again, nobody responded.

Brooke's brother walked down a short hallway towards the bathroom, continuing to call out for his sister, but when he got down the hall, he saw the bathroom door was wide open, and so was the shower curtain, and Brooke wasn't in there. He walked into the bathroom and went straight to the bath, and when he did, he was just confused. The water was running in the bath, and several wet towels were laying in the middle of the tub. He turned off the water and then walked out of the bathroom and headed down the hall towards Brooke's bedroom.

He knocked but got no response, and so eventually he opened up the door and walked inside, and right away he turned his head. Because the lights were on in the bedroom, and his sister was totally naked asleep in her bed, and part of her body was exposed...

And so Brooke's brother immediately said, you know, I'm so sorry. And he shielded his eyes. And as he was standing there, he didn't hear his sister kind of reacting to his presence. And he knew his sister was actually a really heavy sleeper. And so without looking, he sort of walked over with his head turned away and was starting to cover his sister up with a blanket, you know, to keep her warm. But as he did, he stopped because something just didn't seem right. You know, he's not looking at his sister, but he can hear her. Or more specifically, he can't hear her. He can't hear her breathing.

So finally, the brother just turned and looked directly at his sister and also the wall above the headboard, and he just started shaking uncontrollably. And then a moment later, he turned, ran to the kitchen, grabbed the phone, and dialed 911. A few minutes later, Detective Greg Winkler of the Indiana State Police pulled up to Brooke's white wooden house and parked several feet away from the ambulance that was already out front.

The town of Vincennes had a really small police department, and so anytime there was a violent crime in the town, the state police were called. But that really didn't happen very often, and when it did happen, these violent crimes almost never occurred near the college campus, and so Winkler had been very surprised when he got this call.

He stepped out of his car and looked up and down the street. It was basically empty, and so Winkler was clearly the first cop to have arrived at the scene. So Winkler walked over and introduced himself, and even though it was pretty dark out in front of the house, Winkler could tell the young man had been sobbing.

Winkler eventually asked Brooke's brother if he could please explain what had happened. Brooke's brother told the detective that he and his sister were going to meet up that day, but he hadn't been able to get in touch with her, and so that's why he came by her house. Then he told Winkler about how he let himself in with his own key, and then also what he had seen in the bathroom and, of course, in the bedroom.

Detective Winkler thanked him and asked him to please keep waiting outside. Then Winkler walked into the house and found paramedics standing by Brooke's bedroom door. They informed him that the young woman had been dead when they arrived. Winkler nodded and walked into the bedroom. He saw Brooke's body laying on the bed, and right away he lowered his head. He was an experienced homicide detective, but that did not make a scene like this any easier to deal with.

Winkler could see immediately that there was blood spatter on the wall behind the bed. He got closer to the body, and he saw multiple wounds on Brooke's neck and chest. There was also blood on the sheets, as if she had suffered wounds on her back as well. Then Winkler noticed the bruising on her inner thighs. The detective would have to wait for the forensics team to arrive, but so far, to him, based on what he was seeing, this looked like a violent murder that had followed a sexual assault.

Winkler felt angry. The victim was basically still a kid. I mean, one look at the pictures and decorations in her room made that obvious. He walked into the hall, ready to search the rest of the house, but he saw that several local police and state forensics officers had just arrived. One of the Vincennes PD officers was Detective Bob Dunham. The two men greeted each other, they had worked together before, and Winkler turned around and led Dunham into Brooke's room.

Dunham looked at the body and the bloodstains on the wall. He had the same thought and felt the same anger as Winkler. Someone most likely had raped this young woman and then viciously killed her. A few minutes later, the detectives left the bedroom and began to search the rest of the house. They started with the bathroom where those wet towels were laying in the bath. And then after that, they went to the kitchen and they found the sink filled with water with several knives soaking in it.

Durham called out to one of the nearby forensics officers who then quickly came into the kitchen and they all agreed at least one of those knives in the sink could be a murder weapon, so the forensics officer bagged up all the knives as evidence. After that, the detectives continued their search of the house and they didn't find any sign of forced entry and also they found Brooke's purse and some cash just laying out in the open. So from the looks of it, this didn't seem like a crime connected to a robbery.

And not long after the detectives had done this search of the house, the forensics team that was also at the house determined that very likely Brooke had been sexually assaulted before being killed, just like the detectives had thought. The forensics officers also pulled DNA samples from Brooke's body, from under her fingernails, and also from the blood on the wall, and they informed the detectives that they would have further information about what happened to her after processing a rape kit.

And so to this point, the detectives felt like they sort of had a good amount of information about what very likely happened here. You know, a rape followed by a murder. A horrible thing, but relatively straightforward. And so the detectives believed they were looking for a man, maybe a current or ex-boyfriend who Brooke knew well enough to let into the house. Because again, there was no sign of forced entry. Or if it was not a current or ex-boyfriend, they believed they were still looking for a man, but one who just happened to have his own key to this house.

Winkler stepped outside and found Brooke's brother standing with a couple of officers. Winkler walked over to him and asked him to give him a more detailed timeline of exactly where he had been that day and also the night before. And Brooke's brother laid it out for him. When he wasn't trying to track down his sister, he had mostly been hanging out with friends. Now, the police would obviously have to follow up with his friends to confirm his alibi, but for now, they took him at face value and

And then Winkler asked the brother if he knew of anybody else, friends, family, anybody who might have a key to his sister's house. Brooke's brother thought about it and then said he was pretty sure he was the only family member who had a key. And then he also said that he did know Brooke's landlord also had a key. He told Winkler the landlord was a campus cop named Mike Nardine and he knew that his sister could not stand him.

Winkler asked why. Was he just like a bad landlord or something? But Brooke's brother said it was way worse than that. He said Mike used to watch his sister through the windows, and one time he had even let himself into the apartment unannounced. At this point, Brooke's brother looked right at Winkler, and the detective looked back and could see how angry the brother was. And so Winkler, sensing there was more here, asked the brother, you know, is there anything else police needed to know about this landlord guy? And Brooke's brother just nodded.

He said he was almost positive her landlord, Mike, had offered to let Brooke keep her rent money in exchange for sex. Mr. Ballin Collection is sponsored by BetterHelp.

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A couple of days later, Detective Winkler and Dunham met with Mike Nardine, the landlord.

Brooke's autopsy report suggested that she had been murdered late at night on September 6th or in the early morning hours of September 7th, and the detectives had learned that Mike, the landlord, was working on campus around that exact time and not far from Brooke's house. Mike walked into the small interview room at the Vincennes Police Department and sat down across from the two detectives, and right away the detectives could tell Mike was angry.

He made it very clear that he did not understand why they would drag a fellow officer in for this kind of interrogation. But Winkler and Dunham assured Mike they were just trying to get a clear picture of what had happened. This didn't seem to make Mike any happier, but he did answer the detective's questions about his relationship with Brooke. He told them that he was her landlord and that they would talk from time to time when he was doing work on her house or collecting the rent.

When there was a pause in the conversation, Winkler just asked Mike straight out if he had ever spied on Brooke when she was in her house or if he had ever told Brooke she could exchange sex for rent. Mike glared at the two detectives. He said none of that happened and if he ever showed up at the house unannounced, it was just to do work that had to get done. That was it.

At this, Dunham spoke up and he told Mike, okay, that all makes sense. And then Dunham asked if Mike would submit to a polygraph test and also provide a DNA sample. After all, if Mike was telling the truth, DNA and a polygraph were the easiest ways to prove that.

Mike continued to just glare at the two detectives, but he agreed to both requests. And so Dunham and Winkler excused themselves and walked out of the room, and they quickly arranged for the polygraph test and also sent an officer into the room to swab Mike's cheek for the DNA sample. And a little while later that day, after Mike had taken the polygraph, the detectives thanked him for coming in and told him they would follow up if they needed to. Mike just shook his head and walked out of the room.

Once he was gone, Winkler and Dunham joined the polygraph examiner, and the examiner reviewed Mike's test right in front of them, and he told the detectives that the results were inconclusive, which meant there was definitely a chance that Mike had lied on several questions, namely about his relationship with Brooke.

Investigators knew it was going to take some time to get the test results back for Mike's DNA sample, as well as the DNA samples that were taken from the crime scene. So while they waited, they spent the next several days interviewing Brooke's friends and family to try to get as much information about the college sophomore as possible.

And during these interviews, several people vouched for Brooke's brother's whereabouts on the night and early morning when his sister's murder had supposedly taken place. And so Winkler and Dunham did not consider him to be a primary suspect. But just about all of Brooke's friends told the detectives that there were two guys that Brooke had been seeing, Steve Hoffman and Tommy Williams. And she had hung out with both of them on the day before she was found dead.

Winkler and Dunham brought Steve into the station first, and after he sat down, Steve kept fumbling with his hands and running his hands through his hair. It was obvious the kid was nervous, but the detectives didn't think that was very suspicious because after all, he was young and he had just been thrown right into the middle of a murder investigation.

Winkler spoke calmly to Steve. He said Steve was not in any trouble, but they needed him to be completely honest with them even if whatever he had to say might be embarrassing or might make him feel like he was betraying Brooke's trust. Steve nodded and said he would tell them whatever they needed to know. So, Winkler started by asking how long Steve and Brooke had been together. But right away, Steve said he and Brooke weren't really dating, they were just "friends with benefits."

They had started hanging out with each other recently and they had had sex a few times, but Steve said he really liked Brooke and he really hoped that their relationship would become more serious over time. Then Dunham asked point blank if Steve had slept with Brooke that past weekend, but Steve said no, he hadn't. He said he met Brooke for lunch on Saturday and asked if she wanted to meet up later that night at his place, but she said she already had plans.

After a pause, Dunham leaned in and asked Steve if his lunch date with Brooke was actually the last time he had seen Brooke. And at this question, Steve sort of froze and began to stammer like he couldn't make a sentence. But then he finally said, you know, after their lunch, he'd just gone back to his apartment and his roommate, Brian Jones, could vouch for him.

Dunham nodded and asked if he and his roommate Brian were both at the apartment the whole day. But Steve said that Brian had gone out later that night, so Steve at one point was at the apartment just by himself. And at this point, Dunham just said, okay, take a deep breath, and I want you to answer the original question. Was lunch the last time you saw Brooke?

At this, Steve shook his head and his face turned bright red like he was totally embarrassed. And he told the detectives that on the night after he and Brooke had gotten lunch together, he had driven to her house and actually parked his car nearby.

He knew she'd gone out that night, but he thought maybe when she got home, she might want to hang out with him. But around maybe 1 a.m. or so, he saw Brooke walk up to her door with another guy. And when he saw this, he felt this immediate rush of jealousy and anger, and for a second he drove right up in front of her house and then sped off down the street.

Dunham and Winkler looked at each other as if they kind of knew that this was a big moment in the interview. And then Winkler turned back towards Steve and leaned in, and he asked if Steve had been angry enough about seeing this other guy to maybe go back to Brooke's house later to confront Brooke about the other guy. Maybe they got into a fight. Maybe things got out of control. At this point, Steve began to get visibly upset. He said he never went back to the house. He really liked Brooke, and he would never hurt her. He had just been stupid and jealous, and that was really it.

The detectives let Steve collect himself, and then after a few moments, Dunham asked him if he would provide a DNA sample. And at this, Steve did not hesitate. He said he would do whatever they needed if it would help them find Brooke's killer. Later that week, Winkler and Dunham met with Tommy, the other guy that Brooke was seeing before she was killed, and the interview went pretty much the same way the interview with Steve had gone.

Tommy said he and Brooke periodically went out together, and yes, they had slept with each other a few times, but they were not in a serious relationship. Tommy said he and Brooke had been at a party together that Saturday night, then they had gone to her house, and they had had sex. He said he left not long afterwards, maybe sometime around 1.30 in the morning, and then he walked around campus for a while, and eventually ended up going to his friend's apartment and crashing on his couch.

Now, this part of Tommy's story did jump out at the detectives. Tommy could be telling the truth here, but there was a gap of time when nobody would have seen him, so he had no alibi. And that was more than enough time for him to murder Brooke, dump those towels in the bath, put the murder weapon in the sink, clean himself up, and then head to his friend's place. And so the detectives asked Tommy to submit a DNA sample, and he said he would. And then after Tommy had given that sample, the detectives told him that he could go, but that he needed to stay in town.

A few weeks into the investigation, the DNA test results from the crime scene and also the results from the rape kit came in, and both provided a DNA sample that the crime lab believed belonged to Brooke's killer. But soon after that, DNA test results came in for Brooke's landlord Mike and from the two guys Brooke had been seeing, Steve and Tommy, but none of their DNA was a clear match to the samples taken from Brooke's body and the crime scene.

Now, this did not necessarily mean that, you know, now Mike, Steve, and Tommy are all innocent, but it did mean that police did not have the kind of scientific evidence that would hold up in court. So investigators didn't feel like they had enough to arrest any of their top three suspects.

And these test results felt like a major setback for Winkler and Dunham. They had become convinced that one of the DNA samples they had secured would match the killer's. And so now they had to totally refocus their investigation and start looking for potential leads that maybe they had overlooked. And, as is often the case when a terrible crime takes place in a small community, police began getting lots of pressure from local media, city leaders, and Brooke's friends and family to solve this case quickly.

At around this time, Winkler and Dunham made their way across the university campus towards the journalism department. It was hard for them to describe, but even the campus felt like it was full of tension from this case, like nobody could relax because they feared they might be the next victim because whoever did this had not been caught yet.

The detectives entered the journalism department, walked down a long hallway lit with bright fluorescent lights, and found their way to a small office that was cluttered with books. In the office was one of Brooke's journalism professors, who also served as Brooke's advisor, and she welcomed Winkler and Dunham, and then she sat down at her desk.

The detectives thanked her for meeting with them, and then Winkler got right into it. He asked her if she knew of any rivalries between Brooke and maybe other journalism students. He told the professor that at this point, the police were looking for anything that might point them in the right direction.

Brooke's professor said nothing like that was going on, at least nothing that she was aware of. She said Brooke was very friendly and outgoing and was able to get along with pretty much everyone. She was even one of those rare students who didn't fall into a specific clique and who had friends from all different groups on campus. But then the professor stopped and lowered her voice and with a very serious look, she told the detectives that actually there might be one group of students that the police should look into.

The professor said right before Brooke was killed, she had been working on a story that was going to make a lot of people angry. She was covering an alleged rape that had taken place during a frat party right out on the steps in the front of the frat house. Brooke was set to interview the young woman who was accusing the fraternity brothers, but Brooke had died just days before that interview was going to happen.

At this, Winkler and Dunham shot each other a look. This was not anything that Brooke's friends had mentioned. So, the detectives got as much information about the story and the fraternity as they could, then they thanked the professor again, left the campus, and then arranged to search Brooke's phone records and emails. And as they were conducting this search, they quickly discovered Brooke had been receiving threatening emails from members of this fraternity the entire time she'd been working on the story. And one of those emails simply read, write the story and

This new lead initially gave a huge jolt to the investigation. Over the next few weeks, police tracked down the members of the fraternity who were directly connected to the story Brooke had been writing, and they secured DNA samples from 10 of these young men, and they interviewed a number of students who had actually been at the frat party in question. However, when the DNA test results came back from the frat brothers, none of them matched the killer's DNA sample.

This left Detectives Winkler and Dunham almost at a complete loss. Lead after lead had fallen apart, and it was starting to look like maybe Brooke's killer just had no clear connection to her at all. Over the next several months, the detectives continued to search for new evidence and new leads, but nothing of use surfaced. And eventually, the Vincennes Police Department determined that they didn't have the resources to continue their full-time investigation. So Detective Dunham was pulled away to work on other cases.

And then finally, after a year had gone by and still there was no more traction on the case, the Indiana State Police determined that Brooks' murder was now officially a cold case. On July 5th, 1999, almost two years after Brooks' murder, Detective Winkler sat at his desk looking over cases that had come in during the July 4th holiday. The phone rang and Winkler answered. Detective Dunham was on the other line and he was talking so fast, Winkler almost couldn't understand him.

But Dunham eventually slowed down and said he was at an apartment in town following up on a missing persons call and Winkler needed to get there right now. And so Winkler, who trusted Dunham, you know, he hung up, got in his car and sped across town.

Winkler found Dunham waiting for him outside the apartment complex and then as soon as Winkler got out, Dunham quickly led him into the apartment and right to the bathroom. And Winkler almost could not believe what he was seeing. A pile of wet towels were right there in the middle of the tub. And Dunham told Winkler the bathwater had been running when police arrived at the scene. Then Dunham led Winkler to the kitchen and the sink was filled with water and knives were soaking in it. Next they went to the bedroom and Dunham showed Winkler the bloodstains on the wall.

The crime scene looked almost identical to the scene at Brooks' house, except for one major difference. The Vincennes University sophomore who lived there, Erica Norman, was nowhere to be found. Investigators thought there was still a chance Erica was alive, and so they quickly coordinated with local and state police right across the Wabash River in Illinois, and they launched a two-state search for her.

But 15 days later, on July 20th, 1999, police would find Erica, but she was deceased. Her body was found abandoned in a field on the Illinois side of the river.

Back in Indiana, Winkler and Dunham met with several of Erica's friends, and one of them told the detectives that the night Erica had gone missing, she had gone home to watch movies with a guy she knew from work. And when Erica's friend told them who this guy was, the detectives felt a rush of adrenaline, but they also felt a huge sense of regret. They recognized the name, and so now they were nearly certain who had killed both Erica Norman and Brooke Baker.

Based on DNA test results, evidence found at the crime scene, and interviews conducted over a two-year period, the following is a reconstruction of what investigators believe happened to Brooke Baker in the early morning hours of September 7th, 1997. The killer sat on the couch next to Brooke. The pair was watching TV, but at some point, Brooke said she was tired and just wanted to go to bed.

However, as Brooke began to get up to leave, the killer turned and grabbed her by the arm and pulled her in to kiss her. Brooke shied away and said she didn't want to do that, but the killer just jumped on top of her and then tried to take her clothes off. Immediately, Brooke tried to fight him off and she slashed the killer's face with her fingernails and the killer was so stunned by it, he kind of sat up for a second, at which point Brooke managed to jump up from underneath him off the couch and she ran down the hall, but the killer just ran right after her.

He caught up to her, grabbed her from behind, and shoved her into the nearest bedroom. He forced Brooke onto the bed, ripped off her clothes, and then sexually assaulted her. The whole time, Brooke tried to fight back, but she couldn't break free. And then at some point, the killer, who was on top of her, grabbed her by the throat and started choking her.

Brooke coughed and wheezed and tried to get air, but the killer kept choking her tighter and tighter until Brooke began to lose consciousness. But the killer let go and climbed off the bed. Brooke was still breathing, but she could barely move. And so the killer ran out of the room, went to the kitchen, grabbed a knife in the sink, and then ran back to the bedroom.

Brooks saw her killer rushing back into the room with the knife, and so she used the little strength she had left to turn over on her side and try to pull herself up and out of the bed. But the killer just leapt on top of her again, and he slammed the knife over and over and over again into Brooks' back, stabbing her a total of 11 times.

As the killer did this, blood sprayed on the wall, the sheets, and the killer's hands and clothes. And when the killer was done, they climbed off of Brooke and rolled her onto her back. They weren't sure, but they thought Brooke was still breathing. So they raised the knife and stabbed her in the chest. Now the killer was sure she was dead. The killer climbed off the bed and stood in the bedroom, breathing heavily and trying to collect their thoughts. Finally, they walked out and went to the bathroom.

They put the knife down, grabbed a few towels and tried to wipe the blood off themselves. Then they threw the towels into the tub and turned on the water. Then they picked up the murder weapon, the knife, and went to the kitchen. They filled the sink up with water and then dropped the knife in it to soak.

Then the killer walked through the apartment, turned off the TV, then walked to the front door, they opened it up and locked the handle from the inside, and then poked their head out, kind of scanning the street, and when everything looked clear, the killer casually stepped outside, closing the now locked door behind them, and then they took off running across campus back to their apartment. It would turn out Brooke had known her killer well enough to let them into her house, just as investigators had suspected.

But the killer was not one of the young men Brooke was seeing. It was actually one of their roommates. At the time of Brooke's murder, Brian Jones had lived with Steve, the guy who met Brooke for lunch and hoped to, at some point, have a more serious relationship with her. And so Brian had met Brooke a few times when she had come by the apartment to see Steve. And, you know, they had gotten along well because Brooke got along with basically everybody.

But Brooke had no idea that in those sparse interactions she had with him, Brian had developed an obsession with her. And so on the night that Brooke would be murdered, Brian went out and just kept thinking about her. And when he showed up at her house later that night, he was determined to have sex with her whether she wanted to or not. And when Brooke denied him, Brian raped and then murdered her.

Brian's name had come up in Brooke's murder investigation, but only in passing. And after two years went by, it looked like he would get away with his horrific crime. But then Brian had become obsessed with Erica Norman, another Vincennes University sophomore who had light brown hair and light eyes. Brian knew Erica from work, and just like he had done with Brooke, he decided he was going to have sex with her no matter what.

And on that night in July of 1999, he went to Erica's place to watch movies, but then just assaulted and murdered her almost identically to how he had done it two years earlier at Brooke's house. In fact, putting the towels in the bath and soaking the knife in the sink was something Brian had seen in a movie and imitated.

But this time with Erica, he moved her body to a field across the border in Illinois, thinking that would help distance himself from the crime. But one of Erica's friends knew that Brian had gone to Erica's house on the night she disappeared. And so when Detectives Winkler and Dunham tracked Brian down, they convinced him to provide a DNA sample. And when the results came back, investigators finally got their match to Brooke's killer's DNA.

Bryan was found guilty of both murders and sentenced to life in prison plus 60 years without chance for parole. To honor Brooke's love of writing and her belief that journalists could change the world, the Indiana Collegiate Press Association established the Brooke Baker Indiana Collegiate Journalist of the Year Award, and it continues to inspire young journalists to use their work to help others.

Thank you for listening to the Mr. Ballin Podcast. If you like today's stories and you're looking for more strange, dark, and mysterious content, be sure to check out all our studios' podcasts. They are this one, of course, the Mr. Ballin Podcast. We also have Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries, Bedtime Stories, Wartime Stories, and also Run Fool.

To find those other podcasts, all you have to do is search for Ballin Studios wherever you listen to your podcasts. To watch hundreds more stories just like the one you heard today, head over to our YouTube channel, which is just called Mr. Ballin. So that's going to do it. I really appreciate your support. Until next time, see ya.

Imagine you're walking through the park one day and you see a suspicious backpack sitting underneath a bench. You report it to the police and upon investigating, they discover two live pipe bombs inside.

You rush to clear the area before they explode, saving countless lives and preventing injury. Everyone declares you a hero for a fleeting moment until everything changes and you are declared the prime suspect. This was the story of security guard Richard Jewell. After the Centennial Park bombing killed one person and wounded more than 100,

Public pressure and a media witch hunt pushed a desperate FBI to find a suspect. Despite obvious holes in the case and unethical tactics used by the FBI, security guard Richard Jewell was under pressure to confess. I'm Aaron Habel. And I'm Justin Evans. Join us as we explore the aftermath of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in the newest season of our podcast, Generation Y, The Olympic Park Bombing.

Follow Generation Y on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Generation Y ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus.