Reporter and then there was the new man in her life. Anybody close to brandy, we need to take a real hard, serious look at. Reporter no fingerprints. No dna. And no arrests, for years. Reporter youre grieving, how do you put all that awful time together, molly . Day by day. Reporter then hints emerge of someones dark past. Youve got robberies going on, the homicide. Reporter and one brave woman willing to talk. He told me the same that happened to brandy would happen to me. Reporter the question wasnt just who murdered a young mother. It was why . There was no money. There just wasnt a reason to do it. She didnt hurt nobody. She didnt bother nobody, why did they have to kill her . Reporter im lester holt and this is dateline. Heres Dennis Murphy with out there in the dark. Reporter it was a chillier than usual monday night in may, as brandy daniels drove home from her shift at kohls. Zanesville in eastern ohio is the kind of nottoobig, nottoosmall, city where you can be off the downtown grid and into wooded Rolling Hills in just a few minutes. And out there in the dark, thats where this 25yearold single mom was heading back home to her daughter waiting to be tucked in at brandys moms house out in the country where shed been living lately. Brandy had been through a rough few months, years really. But one of the big reason things were finally turning around for her was that soothing voice on the cellphone this night, her fiance, talking her home. Im just talkin to her as shes driving home. Trying to drive a stick shift, which shed just learned, talkin on the phone. Reporter the fiance was craig berry, her older boyfriend. Im a hairstylist, have been for years. Reporter one day, brandy walked into craigs salon. We hit it off. Reporter women are very funny about who they will turn their head over to isnt it . Yeah, we turned out to be really good friends. The most beautiful eyes you ever saw. Reporter like the song, brandy turned out to be a fine girl for craig and that, right away mutual attraction, grew into something more serious. Touched my heart. Immediately. It was connection like ive never felt. And it just kept gettin bigger and bigger every time we talked. We were lookin at houses. Reporter you guys were fixin to marry . Oh, yeah. Yeah. Reporter count brandys mom, molly edwards, among the many people thrilled at the arrival of craig in her life just when you needed something nice to happen. Craig, what did you think of him . He was really nice. He put her first. He put her first. Reporter growing up, brandy wasnt much for barbie dolls but give her a sketch pad and a pencil and she was lost for hours. She loved to draw. She had a deft eye for realistic wildlife portraits. She took every kinda art class there was. If it had anything to do with art, she took it. Reporter brandy enrolled at her local college, zane state, but before her freshman year was up she left school to marry josh daniels, a parttime student shed met. Not too long after, she had news for mom. She called me up said that she was pregnant. Reporter you must have been so torn up. I was. That was my baby. Reporter brandy, husband josh, and the baby daughter were living nearby. You couldnt ask for a better mother. If it was somethin that she needed or the little girl needed, the baby got it first. Reporter and how did grandmother like her new baby . The baby got everything. Yes, yes. Reporter the marriage after seven years of trying foundered. She filed for divorce. Reporter she seemed to be on the other side, molly, of a really rough patch in her life. Yes. Reporter but on this may night as she was driving home from work, with fiance craig in her ear, he heard brandy starting to sound edgy. She says somebody was tailin her. You know, these people need to get off my butt. And the phone just went dead. Reporter went dead . I text her, you know . Whats up . So about ten minutes pass by, and i called her sister. And said, is brandy home yet . She goes, no. And i said, well her call dropped on me and she shoulda been comin in the door by now. She said, you want me to go check . I said, would ya . Reporter brandys kidsister tess, headed up the almost half milelong drive from her moms house to look for her. Just a few minutes later, her sister calls me back and is losin it. She was at the top of the driveway. And she says i see her car. Her headlights are on, but its not movin. Her heads slumped down. And then she just become hysterical. And i said, ill be there. I said, you need to call the cops. 911 your emergency . Reporter the Muskingum County 911 center fielded the call. My sister is in my driveway and her head is bloody and shes not moving. I just need someone to come quick, please. Im just scared i need someone to come now. [ crying ] stay on the line with me while i get the squad on the way. Reporter fiance craig was on his way too. There was his girlfriends little Nissan Sentra in the drive. I pull in right behind her car. And theres a sheriff there already. And im walkin up to the car. And i see her in the drivers seat. And i said, whats wrong . He goes, i think shes been shot. Reporter nothing can prepare you for that, huh . No. She was dead. Thats what he told me. Reporter he told you that at the scene . Yeah, and stay away. You dont wanna contaminate the crime scene. Reporter no bridge ahead. Into the abyss. Blew me outta the water. Reporter brandys mom was just leaving the bottle factory where she worked. 11 05, i got a phone call. And i went runnin out to the truck. Tess said, somethin is wrong with brandy. We get home. Reporter see emergency vehicles, officers. We go right off into the driveway. And thats as far as i could go. Reporter the car with the driver side window down, the vehicle stalled in first gear, and brandy inside looking rag doll, shot three times execution style. The detectives were arriving. Reporter whod want brandy dead . Its always the husband, right . Maybe not this time. When we return josh was, in fact, still in alaska that night. But there was someone who lived right in town. Reporter did you wonder what was goin on with the boyfriend . Anybody close to brandy, we need to take a real hard, serious look at. So one phone for you and one phone for someone in your squad. Buy an iphone 8 and get a second iphone 8 on us. Wecagefree eggs. Ng and we care about amazing taste. Because at hellmanns, were on the side of food. New aveeno® positively radiant its timbody lotion. Glow on with the moisturerich power of soy. It transforms dull, dry skin to leave you glowing. New positively radiant® body collection from aveeno®. crunching dude, your crunchings scaring the fish. Dude, theyre just jealous. Kelloggs raisin bran crunch. With crunchy clusters and the taste of. Apples and strawberries. I got one i guess were having cereal for dinner. Deliciously hearthealthy kelloggs raisin bran crunch. Powerful skincare,s now lightasair a breakthrough moisturizer delightfully whipped for instant absorption feel a lightasair finish in a flash new olay whips ageless reporter it was may 5th, 2014. The car was at the head of the driveway. Lights on and two county detectives arriving to try to figure out what had happened to the young woman dead in the drivers seat. Detective mike ryan and captain steve welker in the first minutes of what would be a years long investigation. Mike and i arrived at about the same time. Did the scene explain itself to you . We could see the basics of what had happened. Reporter their victim brandy daniels had been shot three times at close range. Crime scene techs would later recover three shell casings and a clip for a semiautomatic pistol. Brandys purse and phone were beside her. We eliminated robbery almost immediately. There was an amount of money there that somebody woulda took if it wouldve been a robbery. Reporter as the csis took their photos and estimated bullet trajectories, gathered blood, dna, brandys mom, sister, and fiancee watched on in blank horror. What do you remember about the rest of that night . Sittin in in the vehicle behind her car. Just watchin it. And theres your girl, gone. Theres my baby and i cant do nothin about it. It was 2 00. Went to the house. 4 00, detectives came down to the house, said that they removed her and the car. Reporter who would benefit from a single moms death . Of course, the questioning turned quickly to the soontobedivorced husband, the father of the little girl. Brandys mom told them about josh daniels. Said he was a perrsonal trainer at the gym and an obsessive weighlifter. When you ran him through the computer, whatd you find out about him . Did he have priors . He did not. He was not on law enforcements radar. Reporter not on law enforcements radar, but none the less, somebody they wanted to talk to right now. But, there was a problem, a big one. There was every reason to believe he wasnt in the driveway that night but 4,300 miles away in alaska. Josh had moved up there to be near his mom. Hed found work in the prudo bay oil fields. Josh was, in fact, still in alaska that night. So thats a pretty good alibi. Yes. Because theres domestic turmoil doesnt mean youd necessarily have a suspect though, does it . Not necessarily. Doesnt explain why shes dead in this vehicle, huh . But its a good idea to eliminate the husband as a suspect in the getgo. Reporter detective ryan called josh daniels on alaskas north slope. Can you discern things like demeanor or attitude through the phone line . Not really. I wasnt detectin shock or or grief, or anything like that. But nothing you can hang your hat on either, huh . No. One of the questions i asked him was, who have you been talkin to here in zanesville . And he gave me a list, about a half a dozen people. Reporter daniels told the detective hed return to zanesville as soon as he could. But there was another person much closer that the cops had to figure out craig berry, the fiancee. He is the last person known to have talked to her . Yes. Did you wonder what was goin on with the boyfriend . Hes quite an older guy. Hes got 20 years on your victim, right . Yes. So he is a person of interest until hes not, im guessing, huh . Well, at that point anybody close to brandy, we need to take a real hard, serious look at. Reporter within hours of brandys death, craig got the thirddegree. Were they askin you hard questions . Where have you been . What are you doin . Did you think, wow, they think im a suspect here . Oh, yeah. Well, thats common, right. Until youre in it and then theres a cop right in your grill. Right. They asked for my cell phone. I handed it over right then. How long did that last . I got home at 5 30 that morning. Reporter then the legwork of the investigation began in earnest. Starting with where she was last seen alive. So youre talkin to your victims coworkers. Whats the picture comin together there . They all described brandy as a very good young lady. A devoted mother in a marriage that she really wanted to get out of. Reporter patrol officers traced the route from kohls to the murder scene, hoping theyd find a security cam that recorded brandys car headed home. The boyfriends story is theres a guy right on her bumper. But that image doesnt show up anywhere, huh . No. Reporter when the lab results came back disappointment. No useful figerprints or dna. And the long slog of getting search warrants to recover data from the cellphone and the towers the signals bounce off of, had only just begun. A few days after the murder brandys husband josh returned to zanesville from alaska. They met him downtown at his lawyers office. He was fully cooperative. The detectives asked for his cell phone. He and his attorney voluntarily turned it over. Now you can look him in the eye, and you can check out his demeanor. What are you seeing . Josh was very cool and collected. He looked very confident. Reporter with the data from his phone on the way to the lab, josh returned to alaska with his eightyearold daughter. Molly and her family had buried their brandy but no one was coming to terms with the magnitude of this crime. Did the officers tell you anything about how the case would go . They figured that itd be summed up within a couple days. Reporter if only. Coming up a new suspect. But he has an alibi. Hey, hit me up on this phone right here whenever you need to talk about something. Reporter was his alibi a lie . At Eleven Oclock, he was not at your house . He was not in my house then. 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Reporter but craig wasnt a total dead end. The fiance did have a tip for the detectives. He told them they should check out a fellow gym rat of josh daniels, a guy who gave brandy the creeps, someone with an unusual first name, sirius. Sirius e. Underwood when they ran the name, investigators found a son of a local preacher, whod had some juvenile offenses but in the years since had redeemed himself. He graduated from zane state, got a good job with a local manufacturer and seemed to charm every woman he met. Four days into their investigation, detective brady hittle found sirius at a girlfriends place. I asked him if i could look at his cell phone. If i could take it back to the office, and download it. He agreed to let me do that. Howd he present himself . Calm. He claimed he didnt know brandy was killed. Just calm, cool, and collected. Reporter sirius came to the sheriffs office. Well put it in airplane mode. Reporter while the squads phone expert examined his cell, sirius explained how he knew brandys husband josh. We went to zane state together. Okay. I worked out with him and stuff like that. Reporter he said he hardly knew brandy. I didnt, like, meet her meet her, i seen her one time. Reporter as for his pal josh up in alaska . Sirius said they hadnt been in contact for a while. When was the last time, he sent you a text, he called you . Ill say about two or three weeks ago. It was not this week . I didnt talk to him this week, no. Reporter sirius said hed been with his girlfriend around the time cops believe brandy died. And went to my girlfriends house and i kind of stayed the night there. Reporter officers returned siriuss iphone and thanked him for coming in. Wendy lemon, the girlfriend in sirius alibi, was next up on the detectives list of people to talk to. Wendy, a mother of five, said she met sirius a couple of years earlier at the same place brandy and josh got together Zane State College. I just knew from the moment i met sirius that this is just a new friend. Happy. Always smiling. Reporter the midlife single mom back to college and deans list student sirius were ambassadors for their school. They were just looking for a face for Zane State College that would be friendly, and that would be outgoing, and so that we could go to different events in the community, as well as giving tours on campus. Sirius had found time to work as a Campus Security guard, and thats where he met josh, who did the same thing. Sirius was an overachiever even featured in brochures about the college. Wendy liked almost everything about him. They became a couple. One year for my birthday he totally set up an entire day skydiving. Happy birthday thank you woo it was so amazing. So awesome. We took motorcycle rides, and went on picnics. Reporter now wendy found herself caught in the undertow of a homicide investigation. Cops had her downtown the same day as sirius. I just wanna let you know, youre not under arrest, okay . Reporter detective ryan asked about the night of the murder. He used wendys texts with sirius to refresh her memory. Could you put it here so we both could see . Oh, yeah. May 5th. Reporter did wendys texts that night fit in the timeline they were building of brandys murder . And did they speak to sirius whereabouts . At 11 oclock, when you type these you were sure he was not in the house at 11 00 . At eleven o clock, he was not at your house. He was not in my house then. Reporter sirius arrived, wendy said, after that Eleven Oclock text. Sirius had given the cops wendy as his alibi and shed inadvertently only made him someone detectives needed to take a closer look it. Theres a window of opportunity in there in which he could easily have done this crime. Yes. Reporter and there was another thing, the squads phone expert filled them in about some internet searches hed found on siriuss device. Sirius had opened every news article that had to do with the homicide. Reporter interesting because earlier in the day he claimed he didnt know brandy was murdered. Question was sirius the gunman in brandys driveway . He seemed to be no more than a casual friend of joshs from the gym, but when the it guys cracked josh daniels phone use history it told a different story. What had he deleted . A lot of text messages. To whom . Sirius underwood. Sirius underwood was, by far, the one he was in contact the most. Whats your thinking . When we first talked to josh he never mentioned sirius underwood. Why would they be lyin to us about that . Reporter why indeed . The story told by the phones the concealed relationship fed a growing theory of the crime they were looking at a Long Distance killing between ohio and alaska. If that was their case, then technology was going to be as valuable to them as dna or bloody fingerprints. The first big question did the killer assuming he was a man have a phone on him when he did the shooting. And, what tower near the murder scene had the phone pinged off . We had tons of and im not exaggerating, thousands upon thousands, upon thousands of phone calls that hit all these various towers. Reporter in that electronic haystack, a sharpeyed cop noticed a call around the time they believed brandy was killed. It was made from a number with a 310 area code now normally thats southern california. The county lawmen traced that 310 number back to an anonymous disposable phone a burner purchased in zanesville a week before brandy died. I get the call records for the 310 area phone, and start combing through those. He only called two people. A second burner phone and josh daniels. Those were the only two. Reporter was this their breakthrough . That burner phone, at the right time, right place, had called joshs phone in alaska. Then the phone techs did another extraction of joshs phone, and they retrieved something josh thought hed deleted. A voicemail that was left on josh daniels cell phone from this california area code. Hey, whats up, man . Its me. Hey, hit me up on this phone right here whenever you need to talk about something. Hear me . Holla at me later. Bye. Reporter detective hittles ears perked right up when he heard it. I listened it to and now i know that phone, 310, is sirius underwoods. That is his voice. Reporter the detectives wanted another, technically deeper dive into sirius iphone, which theyd returned to him. Sirius came downtown again, as requested, but while the cops were preoccupied chasing down a search warrant for his device, he outfoxed them. Sirius found a computer and remotely wiped his phone clean. When i reached in i got sirius phone, i could see that it had been reset, factory restored from the icloud. So whatever story he was gonna tell, you werent gonna hear it . There was nothing left on that phone. Pretty clever. We knew at that time we had a serious problem with our evidence. We were not dead in the water, but we were definitely struggling. Announcer coming up, a stalled case. Are you startin to lose faith in your police . The investigation. It was stressful. Announcer and then a threat convinces a woman to talk. He told me the same that happened to brandy would happen to me. What did he say happened to brandy . He kill her. He kill her. Get the best internet with the best shows and get the best of both worlds. Fios by verizon gives you the Fastest Internet available for only 79. 99 a month online with a two year agreement, and your netflix is on us for one year. And with the gigabit connection on the 100 fiberoptic network, you can stream on up to 100 devices at once. So get the Fastest Internet available, plus netflix, plus up to200 tv channels, plus phone, plus a twoyear price guarantee. All for just 79. 99 per month. Its time to fiber optics your netflix. Go to getfios. Comto switch today. Reporter investigators were pretty sure they had the right guys for brandy daniels murder. Theyd learned a lot about just how awful her marriage to josh was. Cops found a 911 call brandy had made six months before her murder. Zanesville police and fire. Im in a abusive relationship. And im afraid to go home. And um tell my husband that i want to leave but he wont let me. And it gets physical. Reporter brandy didnt request a deputy that night but she did file a restraining order against josh when she left him. Cops knew joshs buddy from the gym, sirius, was likely involved in the murder, but they just couldnt tie the two of them together despite some suspicious phone traffic between the pair. An additional difficulty in the investigation was the fact that josh was still living in alaska, about as far away as you could get from ohio and still be in the same country. Josh daniels was here starting his new chapter, living in wasilla about an hour outside of anchorage with his mother and stepfather. Keeping tabs on him from thousands of miles away were the zanesville police, and they were seeing some patterns. When he wasnt working a job in the north slope oil fields, he was partying, pumping iron and chasing women. Back in zanesville, meanwhile, the cops kept the pressure up on the person they did have in their zip code, sirius underwood. The detectives were all over his girlfriend wendy. Every time that i had a little spat or whatever i was frustrated or disgusted with sirius they would always show up, again, just wondered if maybe you remembered something. Trying to find you at a vulnerable moment yes, yes and like, ive already told you every single thing, and its never going to change. If you dont lie, you dont have to cover a lie. Reporter brandys mother was losing faith in cops ever making an arrest in the case of her daughters brutal murder. Are they saying, trust us . Yeah. Every time wed hear somethin, wed contact em. Still need to get more evidence. Still need to get more evidence. Reporter but something was about to happen and it was enormous. Call it a good luck bolt from the land of the midnight sun alaska was calling. It was three months to the day after brandys murder when the ohio investigators got a phone call from up here in wasilla. It was a woman on the line saying that she had been seeing josh daniels, and she had a story to tell the police, something he had told her. Well, when detectives ryan and hittle heard that, they were on the plane to alaska within hours. The young woman explained she and josh had been engaged at the time of brandys death. But he had commitment issues. He lied all the time. He was dating multiple people at the same time. Reporter she had the detectives undivided attention as she related what an intoxicated josh told her on the fourth of july. And he told me the same that happened to brandy would happen to me. Did he say happened to brandy . He kill her. He kill her. He said, i killed her yes. Yes. Do you remember what his exact words were . He said that he killed brandy with a phone call. And i believe everything he said. I believe that he killed her and i was so afraid. Did he say who killed brandy . He said its a black guy at the gym that was in his group of people. Reporter it looked as though the detectives were ready to put a bow on their investigation. Take the blizzard of messages between the two men, mix in the geography of the cell phone towers that put a suspect burner phone tied to sirius right near the crime scene, and now add in the story of the woman from alaska whod apparently heard a confession and you should be ready to swear out arrest warrants. Not quite. When the detectives got back to ohio their first stop was at the office of states attorney mike haddox. And they come to you and say are we there yet . Yes. And youre tellin em, no, youre not quite there. Yeah. I wanted to make sure that before we took the case to grand jury that we had a motive. Obviously, in the case of josh daniels, the the husband, we had a motive. Marriage was breaking up. Hed been violent with her in the past. But he was thousands of m miles away thats correct. In alaska at the time of the killing. We knew he didnt pull the trigger. Couldnt put the gun in his hand. When we came up with with sirius underwood. Well, the most obvious is theres been some sort of a payment. We spent about a year lookin through Bank Accounts couldnt find any. Reporter almost two years went by and nothing. How do you put all that awful time together, molly . Day by day. Are you startin to lose faith in your police . The investigation. It was stressful. Mike ryan, he would call. I said, have you heard anything . Oh, we still have to get some more more evidence, more evidence. Reporter but its funny how things sometime work out, because the investgators were about to get another bolt out of the blue lead like the one from alaska. It began with, of all things, a message to the Facebook Page of the zanesville p. D. The tipster had volunteered that her husband was part of a stickup gang. We came in and spoke with her and obtained a lot of valuable information for this investigation. Reporter detective phil michel of the zanesville p. D. Had been working for two years on a string of armed robberies. When got the facebook tipster in for an interview, guess who she identified as two members of the robbery crew . None other than sirius underwood and josh daniels if the tipster could be believed theyd been bandits together two years before brandy would be found shot to death. The woman confirmed something detective michel had long suspected, but been unable to prove that the robbery of a local Department Store had been an inside job. Josh daniels had been working at the store at the time and handed over seven thousand dollars to a masked gunman. If we had been here on january 1st, 2012, what might we have seen . You can an individual come from the southwest side of the parking lot he stuck the gun in joshs face shows a pistol. He ended up falling down. Being knocked down. Reporter the tipster claimed that josh wasnt the victim of the robbery but actually one of the participants. And, that his pal sirius had been the mastermind not only of the Department Store job, but the prime mover in a crime wave responsible for multiple armed robberies most of them captured on surveillance video. The two bodybuilders secret sideline was a headsnapping revelation. Sirius underwood at night is over here robbin drug dealers, or hes robbin tumbleweed restaurants, or theyre hittin, you know, gabrielle brothers. But during the day, hes the sweetest guy, loves the women, they love him. Hell train with you. Poster boy, just an allaround great american. Reporter the cops believed that linking sirius and his partner in crime josh daniels to the violent robberies would help nail the two for brandy daniels murder. Were on the right track for the robberies. Were gonna go try to confront josh. Reporter back to alaska. When josh landed at Anchorage International on his way home from the north slope, Airport Police whisked him into their office. Detective michel showed josh photographs of the Department Story robbery suspects. Have you ever seen him before, around the store, or anything like that . No. Reporter detective michel then handed josh another photo. You ever seen sirius underwood . Yeah. I used to work with him. Would you have talked to sirius that day would he have called you or texted you or anything like that . Nhuh. Not at all . No. Reporter really . The cop accused josh of lying. Of being up to his eyeballs in the robberies. So if you guys came up with some dumbass scheme to take some money, then be honest with me. No. Reporter josh stuck to his story. Then lawyered up. The detectives flying home to ohio knew they had more work to do but in any conspiracy theres a weak link. They just had to pick their man and break him. Reporter coming up who would crack first . We get the the phone call saying, hey lets make a deal. Lets lets talk. Reporter when dateline continues. 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Open your ears to the Largest Selection of audiobooks from the worlds most inspiring voices. Download audible today. Reporter a dogged investigation with a generous dollop of luck had revealed that josh and sirius were more than gym buds spotting each other reps, they were Armed Robbers together. Detectives surmised that brandy, their victim, must have know about sirius, and her husbands part in the hold ups. For states attorney mike haddox the homicide case had achieved critical mass. So what was the final green light for your investigators . When did they have it . When we found that these two guys were criminal conspirators, violent criminals in several robberies, there was our motive, and once i felt that we had the motive for sirius underwood to be involved in this murder, we were a go. Which is, joshs wife might be a risk for him. Thats correct. She might snitch him out. She might snitch him out. Reporter haddox convened a grand jury. Assistant states attorneys ron welch and john litel would present the case. There would be a lot of convoluted storytelling and evidence for the jurors to follow. Youve got robberies going on, the homicide, the cell phone data, how you link all these people up. Youre going to have multiple snitches who are all going to be testifying, who all have their own issues. Reporter the grand jury sat for three months and heard more than 100 witnesses. In march 2016, it returned indictments against josh daniels and sirius underwood. At the request of authorities in ohio, the Alaska State Troopers located josh at his mothers home in wasilla. Once ohio gave the green light to the troopers move on their suspect, they did. The cuffs went on without incident. A bulked up josh was put in the backseat of a cruiser and driven downtown. Detective michel confronted him you been charged with several counts, including the robberies that occurred at gabriel brothers, tumbleweed, the one that you were going to do at campbells, and the murder of your soontobe exwife, brandy. Reporter josh was shown a graphic crime scene photo of poor brandy. This is what you are responsible for. This is what happened to your ex im willing to talk to you to get your side of the story if youre willing to talk to me. I think youre a good investigator but im going to have an attorney. Okay. Were gonna do that. Thats fine, josh. Reporter meanwhile, back in zanesville, police surrounded sirius underwoods car and arrested him. His interrogation didnt last long. You know why youre here . Tell me. Okay, weve had a grand jury, and youve been indicted. For what . Aggravated murder, aggravated robberies, attempted robberies, weapon under disability, tampering with evidence, josh daniels was also arrested, and if josh is up there talking, i think its the proper thing to tell you that you have the opportunity to tell me too. Would you like to talk to me about this . No, i want a lawyer. You want a lawyer . Yeah. Okay. Reporter josh waved extradition, and was brought back to ohio. Brandys mother got word at the end of her shift. I get a phone call, you need to get down here now. Come to the courthouse. Josh is there doing his plea, and then they go over details that we werent aware of. So its got to bring all the pain right back again . Yeah. How did he look to you in that courtroom . Not a care in the world. Reporter wendy was in the courtroom as well. This is big news. Sirius is charged. Hes in jail. Do you believe that he killed brandy daniels, that he shot her to death on that road . No, no, i dont. Sirius had just so much going for him and he had worked so hard and i would just say why . What did he have to gain from doing Something Like that . Reporter over the next few months welch and litle prepared their cases. Josh would be tried first, then sirius. They laid out their case on index cards. Motive was looking more complicated than ever. In opening arguments, they would have to explain to jurors just who these defendants are, sirius the overachieving charmer and bad husband, josh whod been abusing anabolic steroids for years. Josh was roided out. He was out of his mind using steroids sirius is a sociopath. Whereas for josh it was a status of being enraged, and jealous, i think he still loved her, and she was just done with him. Reporter josh sat behind bars for seven months. Deprived of elephant doses of steroids, his chemically enhanced muscles deflated like spent balloons. Theyd found their weak link. We get the phone call from joshs defense attorney saying, hey Dennis Murphy. Lets make a deal. Lets lets talk. The issue that we had is, you know, who do you make the deal with, the guy that had his wife killed, or the guy that shot her point blank range in the face . Reporter the states attorney agreed to a plea deal, but josh daniels would have to tell all. I want to start off with the murder. Reporter coming up one down. One to go. What was the weakness in the case . Youre still going to have josh come in as your witness. Josh. The jury wouldnt like him. So within that there might be wiggle room for sirius . Right. New elvive revives damaged hair in just 1 use. Go beyond regular shampoo or conditioner. Because youre worth it. crunching dude, your crunchings scaring the fish. Dude, theyre just jealous. Kelloggs raisin bran crunch. With crunchy clusters and the taste of. Apples and strawberries. I got one i guess were having cereal for dinner. 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Ng and we care about amazing taste. Because at hellmanns, were on the side of food. Introducing mcdonalds new 1 2 3 dollar menu. Id like the my wife is out of town and im in over my head meal. yelling sleep over sleep over sleep over sleep over sleep over . So you said 5 chicken mcnuggets happy meals and a classic chicken sandwich for 3 bucks each. Exactly. Guess you forgot to tell me it was a sleepover. No, you didnt tell me. Build whatever meal you want with favorites on mcdonalds new 1 2 3 dollar menu. reporter as part of pleading guilty to murdering his wife brandy, josh daniels had to admit what hed done provide what lawyers call a proffer. He was brought to a Conference Room at the prosecutors office. When was the first time that this idea came about . Ive known sirius underwood for a while we were havin a conversation one day at at his apartment. And i was tellin him about, how hard this was on me me and brandy splittin up. How pissed off i was that that she was seein that guy, craig. And he made the comment, well, [ bleep ] that [ bleep ]. Lets just off her. And, you know at the time, bein emotional and mad, you know, i i made the decision that maybe that wouldnt be a bad idea. Reporter josh helped him stalk his wife. Sirius asked me where she lived. And i told him. And he asked me about her work schedule. And i told him. Reporter and, it wasnt just brandy josh wanted dead. I told him w see if he could go over to her boyfriends house, craigs. See if he can find where he lives. And break into his house and kill both of em. Did he . Huh . Did he find out where he lived . Yeah. Did he try to break into the house . No. Not that i know of. Reporter they schemed together on the eve of the murder. He asked me a day before, are you sure that you want this done . And id been drinkin. And, you know, i had alcohol problems and steroid problems and i was just mad. I said, yeah. How did it go down . I told him when she was getting off work. I would text sirius and and just say the word close. He just said that, ive ive got this. I see her car. I dont know actually what took place on the night, i know she was shot. So i dont know if he parked his vehicle somewhere and came runnin outta the bushes. I never talked to sirius after the murder actually happened. He certainly confirmed with you that it happened. He said, done. Reporter they asked just could josh live with himself after killing the mother of his child . I thought that, you know, it would just go away. And that this day would never come. That me gettin arrested would never happen. After brandys death, became an alcoholic. Drinkin every day. Taking hero using heroin, downers. Just anything to numb that pain. Reporter the killer husband sounded almost contrite. If i could go back and i could change it, i i would. Brandy didnt deserve what happened to her. She was a good girl. And ultimately, years down the road, havin brandy gone, seein how that affects my thats gonna affect my daughters life. Shes not gonna have her mom. And knowin that i played a part in that, i cant i cant live with that. Reporter with josh about to throw himself at the mercy of the court, prosecutors still had the accused triggerman to deal with. But sirius was hanging tough, not saying a word. So with only one of the two accused going to trial, the states star witness would be josh daniels. As prosecutors prepared him to testify, they were still trying to wrap their arms around sirius motive for the murder. Reporter whats he telling you . When i pushed josh on why, why would he do this . And he says, thats what dudes do for dudes. Thats what sirius told him. Hes like, youd do that for me . And he just said, thats what dudes do for dudes. Reporter kill your wife . Right. Reporter crunch time for the prosecutors. Sirius trial was looming. And, they were far from confident. Reporter what was the weakness in the case . Youre still gonna have josh come in as your witness. Josh the jury wouldnt like him. Youre asking the jury to rely upon somebody thats admitted to having their wife executed. Thats a tough pill to swallow. Reporter so within that there might be wiggle room for sirius . Right. Reporter just days before sirius trial was scheduled to begin. I was writing my opening. I got a text message from the defense attorney saying, you guys do an alford plea . Reporter sirius lawyer was proposing a plea deal. An alford plea the screwball pitch of american jurisprudence. Alford plea, to civilians, to layman, has a very sketchy kind of feel to it. Do you wanna take a crack at trying to explain what an alford plea is . Sure. It basically is when somebody says, im willing to say that you have lots of information, and im gonna plead guilty, but im not gonna say i actually did anything wrong. Reporter and i say, huh . Right. Reporter and then i turn to ron and say, how does this go again . So, hes gonna take responsibility without saying he did it. Reporter the states attorney signed off, and the trial judge accepted sirius underwoods alford plea. Sirius was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after 38 years. A sentence hes appealing. Josh daniels got life with the possibility of parole after 28 years. Not enough time for some of brandys loved ones. Reporter so where do we stand now . Theyve theyve both been dealt with . Yeah, i guess. Reporter your opinion, do you think they both got off easy . Yes, they did. Theyre still breathin, shes not. Reporter josh and sirius are serving their sentences in separate maximum security prisons. Wendy writes and sometimes visits sirius. Brandys parents are raising her daughter. The family is left with a snapshot album itself getting older but the young woman pictured in the pages inside staying the same, never to have her own album of her daughter graduating, getting married. Time ran out for brandy on a dark hilltop before she could kiss her daughter goodnight. Reporter thats all for this edition of dateline. Well see you again sunday at 7 00 6 00 central and of course, ill see you each weeknight for nbc nightly news. Im lester holt. For all of us at nbc news, goodnight. Eagles mania buzzing. The super bowl is nine days away and bird fans cant get enough. Drivers beware. Police in new jersey close call to send a message. Right now at 11 00, believe the hype as the super bowl gets closer and closer, eagles fans gets excited about one of the biggest games in franchise history. Good evening, i am jim rosenfield. We have Team Coverage tonight