Mysterious disappearance of Niqui McCown and the deadly love triangle / murder of Brian Barrett

Niqui McCown disappeared just weeks before her wedding, leaving behind a daughter and a fiance, Robert "Bobby" Webster.  Days after McCown's disappearance, he canceled the wedding and tried to return his wedding band - leading him to be the main suspect. But after years dead ends, the case hits a major break. Then we cover the love triangle of  "Talhotblond," "MarineSniper" and "Beefcake." What starts out as innocent flirting turns into cat fishing and murder.

Sources:
“Disappeared” Season 2, Episode 3 “Vanishing Bride”
 https://truecrimedaily.com/2018/02/19/love-and-obsession-what-happened-to-niqui-mccown/
https://abcnews.go.com/US/online-love-triangle-deception-end-murder/story?id=14371076
https://news.wbfo.org/post/admitted-killer-cannot-withdraw-guilty-plea-sentenced-20-years
https://www.foxnews.com/story/man-gets-20-years-for-bizarre-internet-love-triangle-murder 

Transcript

Liz: [00:00:00] Welcome back guys. You're listening to, that's a bad sign. I'm Liz and I'm Emily. 
Emily: [00:00:05] We'll kick off this episode with recommendation corner. So I go first and my recommendation is for everybody to go watch one division on Disney plus. Now you have, it's a Marvel show with Elizabeth Olsen. She's amazing. And you do pretty much have to see the other movies in the Marvel universe in order to understand Wanda vision.
And I know that's a commitment because I think it's like 22 movies. So this is a big recommendation, 
Liz: [00:00:33] just a little bit of a time commitment. But 
Emily: [00:00:35] I will say that my boyfriend went out of town and I stayed in all weekend and I just went one movie to the other and they are so amazing. And Wanda vision is the best thing 
Liz: [00:00:44] I have to get on my Marvel game.
You would love it, Liz. I know I would. Liz, 
Emily: [00:00:49] I love star Wars. She loves X men. Like you are the prime. Audience for the rest of the Marvel universe, 
Liz: [00:00:55] a little bit of Spotify, a little bit of superheroes. 
Emily: [00:00:58] All right. So by now, next week you have to watch all 22 
Liz: [00:01:00] movies. Okay. I will tell my boss I'm sick. All right.
My recommendation is for everyone to go watch the Demi Lovato documentary. It is on YouTube, which sounds weird, but really you just log onto YouTube on your app or on like the website. And I think it's four or five episodes, but they're relatively short, like 25 minutes. It is so interesting. I mean, she gets really, really deep.
Obviously she's struggled with drug addiction, mental illness. She talks about abuse in her life. And it is just fascinating. I hear it's 
Emily: [00:01:36] really depressing. And I heard about the abuse. Who do you think it was? 
Liz: [00:01:42] I don't know. I watched it with my friend Erin and we were, she said someone on camp rock. So Erin and I were like, should we watch the movie again?
Just to try and figure this out because I'm so curious. Oh, she said it was somewhere on Canberra. Yes. So I don't know, but we should maybe look into it. Maybe you and I should watch cam Brock and decide. Anyway. It's very interesting watch. Even if you don't listen to her music, even if you don't know who she is, it's kind of just a fascinating story about growing up in Hollywood.
I will watch it. I've been putting it off. Not going, gonna lie. There were some tears on my end. Oh, but it's very good. All right. Let's 
Emily: [00:02:19] cheer. As in start the murder. Cheers.
Liz: [00:02:31] Okay. Before I start my story, I need to give a shout out to one of our followers who requested, or I guess she didn't request, but she sent me us the link to this crime and she said it was very interesting and we should look into it. That was today. And I thought it was so interesting that I. Did my notes on it.
And here it is, we love 
Emily: [00:02:52] fan requests. What's her 
Liz: [00:02:53] name? She goes by Despina on Instagram. Ooh, thank you to subpoena. Thank you so much. And let's jump into it. Yes. Okay. So I'm going to be covering the mysterious disappearance of Nikki McCowen. My reference. I only have two references this week. One is the episode called vanishing bride from the show disappeared.
Oh, my God. And the other is true crime daily.com. So it's a Sunday afternoon in July, 2001 in Richmond, Indiana, and 28 year old, Nicki McCowen was going about her day, making preparations for her upcoming wedding. Her fiance, Bobby Webster was also busy running errands for the wedding, getting tuxedos with his friends, et cetera.
Nikki. And Bobby had met in high school and they dated, but they broke up after high school graduation. And they went their separate ways. After that. Nikki dated another local young man named Steve Johnston, whom she had a daughter with little Peyton, Nikki and Steve eventually ended things and it turns out she had never really forgotten about her first love.
Who was Bobby? Aw. He felt the same way. And the two connected and had this whirlwind reconnection and a proposal came soon after everyone in their lives were just thrilled with their relationship. And the wedding was now just three weeks away. So around noon on this Sunday afternoon, Nikki dropped off Payton at her parents' house so that they could watch her while she ran her errands.
Then she went to the laundromat a few hours later. Nikki came back to her parents' house. In-between her laundry getting, you know, being finished. Yeah. She seemed agitated and anxious. And she told her mom that some men were harassing her at the laundromat, but she was like, you know what? I have to go back and get my clothes.
So she went back to the line. That's so scary. Now Bobby got back to their house around 4:00 PM and Nikki wasn't there, even though he, she technically should have been done with her errands earlier than him, but he doesn't immediately panic. But a few hours later, he starts to worry. There's been no word from her.
He's calling her sisters, her mom. And no one has heard from her. She also was late to pick up Peyton from her mother's house, which was obviously very strange because she loved her little girl and in her apartment with Bobby, her purse and ID were there. So it's not like she picked up and ran away around 10:00 PM that night.
Bobby starts to think something was terribly wrong because. No one has heard from her since the early afternoon. Yeah, obviously. So he and her family is start to search the highways because maybe there was a car accident. You know, she didn't have a cell phone to get in touch with anyone. So they're just looking on the streets, but they don't find anything at that point when they don't find her in their search, the family decides to file a missing persons report with the police.
The police see no reason to be concerned because there had been no distressing phone calls made, you know, she's an adult. So potentially she just went off on her own. No, I hate when the police do this, I know they do look into the laundromat and the surrounding businesses and they see surveillance video from a deli that was right by the laundromat.
Nicky was seen on camera buying a soda, but nothing looked wrong. No one followed her out of the deli. She didn't seem distressed or anything. Okay. Police also check the laundromat and the owners say they don't know anything about any altercations that happened between their patrons. So, you know, because Nikki was reporting that someone was harassing her, but they say we don't know anything about that, but 
Emily: [00:06:40] that doesn't mean it didn't 
Liz: [00:06:41] happen.
Exactly. So police think, you know, she's getting married in three weeks. Maybe she got cold feet and decided to take off. Nope. But her family does not agree because first of all, she would never leave her daughter and she loved Bobby and she really wanted to marry him. Like the two were happily in love when Nikki doesn't show up for work the next day, that becomes a huge red flag for everyone, including the police, because now she's not showing up for her daily obligations.
Yeah. She also loved her job and would never miss a day just for reference. She works at a correctional facility. So the family continues their own search. They're checking anywhere that they thought she might go. Also, the police are looking into her cell phone and her bank accounts, but really they have no leads at all.
However, the police soon have their prime suspect. The fiance, Bobby, no, his actions since the disappearance have been pretty weird. For one thing, he called the community college where Nikki was taking classes and said that he wanted to collect her unused tuition money. When, how far? Like days after her disappearance, then a few days later, he goes to the jewelry store and tries to return the wedding band that Nikki had purchased for him.
Oh no. And then he canceled the wedding. And Nikki's family gets word through the grapevine that Bobby has canceled the wedding. Oh no. So obviously the family is extremely concerned. Why would he cancel the wedding so quickly? Like, you're just giving up hope, but Bobby denies ever canceling the wedding.
He says he flat out, never said that. He also says he didn't try to get money from the college. He was just inquiring about her student loans. And as for the ring. Yes, he did try to sell it back, but he wanted to get the deposit back to get a cell phone because since this investigation was going on, he wanted to be able to be in the loop at all times.
Okay. I buy all of that. Regardless of this, the police do bring Bobby in for a polygraph test. When they asked him, did you have anything to do with the disappearance of Nikki McCowen? He said, no. And the polygraph went off the chart indicating that he was lying 
Emily: [00:09:02] side note, never take a polygraph, even if you're innocent, just don't do it.
Liz: [00:09:07] Excellent advice. Now Bobby says that what they really asked him was, do you feel responsible to what he says, who wouldn't feel responsible? This is my fiance and I couldn't even protect her. 
Emily: [00:09:20] Liz you're like jerky me all around. I 
Liz: [00:09:22] don't know how I feel. I know. Well, in the episode that I watched, they show both the detective and Bobby.
So they're both giving their sides of the story. It's very compelling, regardless of the failed polygraph test, the police have no real evidence to keep Bobby, so they have to let them go and they just label him as a person of interest. Bobby thinks that they're focused on him as a suspect, hinders their investigation.
Cause they're not looking into any other leads then days go by and weeks go by and the police get nowhere. So the family gets increasingly annoyed and they're continuing to do their own searches. The trail goes pretty cold. And also at this point, the family shuts Bobby out tough situation. Yeah. I honestly don't know what I would do and not in that situation.
All right. So three and a half months after Nikki's disappearance, there's a break in the case. Her vehicle turns up in Dayton, Ohio, which is about 40 miles from Richmond, Virginia. And it's parked in an apartment complex. Nicki's laundry is still inside of the car, folded up nicely in a basket. So now we have her car and her laundry.
So where's Nikki. Oh my God. Police bring her car back to Indiana and they inspect it for blood fingerprints, et cetera. And nothing turns up. There was no signs of break-in. There were no weird fibers, no strange fingerprints, all in all. It was a major disappointment. Like, I don't even 
Emily: [00:10:57] know what to ask. 
Liz: [00:10:58] I'm just mind blown right now.
I know. I imagine the police are thinking, this is, this, is it like, they're going to figure out what happened because of this. Now, while the car itself doesn't lead to anything, the location of it does. Hmm. Because apparently a man named Tommy Swintt lived just a few miles away and it turns out that he and Nikki once had a complicated relationship.
No, he was a coworker of hers at the correctional facility and Nikki thought of him as a brotherly figure, but Swintt clearly wanted more of a romantic relationship. No, they also find out that he had a violent streak when Nikki's sister says that. She once went over to Nicky's apartment and heard her screaming.
And when she entered, Nikki had her foot on this guy's chest. I'm a screaming help. He's trying to rape me. She had her foot on his chest. Yeah. Like get away from me somehow. I don't know. Oh, like she fought him off. Yes. Good for her. So now Swen does on the cop's radar, but just like with Bobby, they don't have any evidence.
So they just label him a person of interest. Unfortunately. The case kind of goes cold at this 0.1 year after Nikki's disappearance, her sister went to New York to talk about the case. Um, on a talk show, there was a psychic there who told them that Nikki had been killed the day she went missing. And they said that they would find her body in a trench somewhere near the laundromat.
What type, like who lets 
Emily: [00:12:32] this person speak with a family? I don't know, but yeah, 
Liz: [00:12:35] oddly enough, the police follow up on this and they don't find anything. Okay. Yeah. Obviously. Then in 2004, the family offered a reward of a hundred thousand dollars for any information regarding her disappearance. But no one came forward.
The family is just absolutely distraught. At this point, they feel like they're living in a nightmare and Peyton who was just nine years old when Nikki went missing is now growing up without a mother on the fifth anniversary of the disappearance. The family held a Memorial at the laundromat and Peyton at age 14.
Pled on TV for anyone to please come forward with information. That's so sad. It's really sad. They show clips of it do so. Six years after Nikki's disappearance, the Richmond police learn some concerning information about one of their persons of interest. Tommy Swintt had been hired as a police officer in a town near Dayton, Ohio.
So this guy who attempted to rape. Nikki, who is still a person of interest, but they couldn't do anything about because they had no evidence. He is now hired as a police officer 
Emily: [00:13:45] and the police are worried, but there's, he has no charges against 
Liz: [00:13:48] him. Correct. But the Richmond police and the family both think that the Swintt is connected to Nikki's disappearance.
So they're all freaking out. And the Richmond police quickly inform the Trotwood police, the town, where he was hired. That this person was a person of interest in an active, missing persons case, which leads to the department requesting his resignation. Okay, good. They told him if he didn't resign, they would start the termination process.
So he resigned, but he was pissed. Swintt sues the city of Richmond and its police department. He says that the police never formally told him he was a person of interest and that he was never accused of anything. His lawsuit goes nowhere, luckily, and obviously, however, the story ends up all over the local news.
So it's kind of like Nikki's disappearance is back on the front page. Oh, that's good. This leads to an anonymous phone call that links Tommy Swintt to the unsolved murder of another woman. Oh my God. I have to take a sip of wine before I finish. I'm like sweating. All right. So 16 years earlier, forest workers had found a body in a pile of brush near Dayton, and they reported it to the police.
It turned out to be 33 year old, Tina Marie ivory. And she had been viciously strangled. The police back then were able to pull DNA from a blanket that she was wrapped in, but they had no suspects in the case. So they had no one to compare it to. So the case went cold. Now the Dayton detectives reactivate this ivory investigation and they think, can we match this DNA to Tommy?
Swintt the Dayton detectives then contact the Richmond detectives. So Richmond is where Nikki went missing. Yeah, the Richmond detectives say, yeah, we have a sample of Tommy, sweat and steel because during the controversy where he was all up in arms about him getting fired from the police department. The Richmond police were saying, okay, well, if you're that sure that you're not involved in this active, missing persons case, why don't you turn over some DNA?
And he said, sure, not a good idea, buddy. So when the sample from the blanket of this other murdered woman is compared to the DNA from Tommy Swintt, it was a match. Oh my God. Now this is obviously huge progress, but they still need to link him directly to the murder. So they start reexamining all of the evidence.
Emily: [00:16:27] Wait, I'm sorry. They have a DNA match. What 
Liz: [00:16:29] else do you need? Sort of circumstantial though. You could just say like, Oh yeah. That's where like, I, that was my blanket, but I have no idea what happened. They have no way to actually prove it. Okay. Okay. But they know this is their guy. Yeah. So the fingerprint examiner looks at this tape that we use to wrap the body and he finds a print.
And they're able to see this print now a lot better than they used to be able to because the technology had improved so much. Remember it's been 16 years. However, at this point Swintt had moved to Alabama 
Emily: [00:16:59] dude, move to Mexico, like get out of the 
Liz: [00:17:01] country, right? Like not smart. Anyway. So the Dayton police take a trip down to Alabama.
I think this is kind of funny. They actually pulled him over for a traffic violation and they just to get him to come down. Yeah. Yeah. I get to that so that they can fingerprint him once they get him to the station and fingerprint him, the detectives come in and they confront him about Tina Marie Ivory's murder.
They asked, do you know who she was? Do you have anything to do with it? He says, Nope. I have no idea who this person is and I had nothing to do with it. And the detective said, it's a woman detective. So I just loved this. Of course she goes, what would you say if I told you we had compelling evidence that you did have something to do with it.
And he says something along the lines of, you know, all due respect. I know you're trying to do your job, but I'm going to have to shut this down. This line of questioning. 
Emily: [00:17:55] I want to punch 
Liz: [00:17:55] him in the face. I know. Meanwhile, they're running his fingerprints against the fingerprints from the tape, and obviously they come back as a match.
So now they have enough to get a warrant for his arrest. 
Emily: [00:18:08] Can I just point out that granted it was only for a hot second, but he was a police 
Liz: [00:18:12] officer, right? I mean, especially in the news of the most recent days, I don't understand. I was having this conversation with my family yesterday. Why are there not more thorough background checks done on people?
Yeah. 
Emily: [00:18:25] And like, not all police officers are bad, but obviously there's some really corrupt ones. This one is like case in point. 
Liz: [00:18:33] Exactly. All right. So nine years after Nikki's disappearance, a grand jury indicts Tommy Swintt for the murder of another woman. Tina Marie ivory. Yay. So less than an hour later, the police are approaching sweat's house because now they get to bring him in to present.
What do they hear? But a gunshot coming from his house. I knew it. Yep. He killed himself. So this obviously is hugely disappointing because this was the one person that could help figure out where Nikki was. Like, he knew I have no doubt in my 
Emily: [00:19:13] mind that he did it in the fiance, had nothing to do with it, 
Liz: [00:19:16] but.
It's just infuriating and it's so upsetting for the family because the case, it can't be solved now. I mean, the police say they're never going to stop looking, you know, for her remains and the family vows, the same thing, but their one lead just killed himself. I wonder 
Emily: [00:19:37] why was he there that day? 
Liz: [00:19:39] I know.
And that's the other thing we will just literally, you never know. Yeah. 
Emily: [00:19:44] Sorry. Last question. I really wonder who. Did the anonymous tip for the other murder? 
Liz: [00:19:49] I know I'm so curious on a happier note. Bobby is now close with Nikki's family. Again, particularly Peyton. He says that Peyton stood by his side throughout the whole investigation and that she still calls him her stepdad.
Oh my God. I'm going to cry. Peyton still believes that her mother is out there somewhere. She says, I'm not sure if she's alive or dead. But until I know for sure she's alive in my mind, unless I'm going to cry. And like I said, the police and the family both say, we're going to keep searching because we want to solve this case.
So hopefully one day we'll get some more information. Oh my God. 
Emily: [00:20:29] I have tears in my eyes. 
Liz: [00:20:31] It's a tough one. It's just like it's, it's so frustrating that everyone knows what happened, but nobody knows why. And nobody knows where her body. Yeah. 
Emily: [00:20:41] Oh, sorry. I'm just thinking of something else. So he worked at a correction facility, corrections facility.
Yes. Do we know if it was a woman correction facility or men? Cause I would hate to think about him being surrounded by a woman 
Liz: [00:20:55] that is such a good question. I have no idea that he has like 
Emily: [00:20:58] authority and power over. 
Liz: [00:21:00] That's very worrisome. That is truly horrifying. Wow. They didn't specify either right socket.
This guy's a piece of shit. Yeah. There's also mentioned in one article that he visited gay clubs. So I'm not sure he kept his abuse to just women anyway. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. That's my story. Well, 
Emily: [00:21:19] then a big thank you to our 
Liz: [00:21:20] fan who recommended them. Yeah. Thank you so much. This was such an interesting one and I love getting case recommendations that I don't really know anything.
Yeah. I know. That's 
Emily: [00:21:29] the best. So that means you guys were always listening. Yes. 
Liz: [00:21:35] All right. 
Emily: [00:21:36] Let's do a cheers quick. Cheers. You deserve some wine after 
Liz: [00:21:40] that.
Emily: [00:21:51] my sources today include ABC news. Uh, what's this WBFO news and also Fox 
Liz: [00:21:58] news. Interesting. 
Emily: [00:22:00] The year is 2005 and online chat rooms are a thing. I remember it. And a relationship begins to blossom on a teen chat site called Pogo between Marine sniper and tall hot blonde. So those are their screen names.
God, doesn't this 
Liz: [00:22:17] just take you back. I am thinking about all the stupid email and aim names that I had. 
Emily: [00:22:24] So Marine sniper, his name was Tommy and he was a tall good-looking muscular 18 year old Marine and tall, hot blonde. She, her name was actually Jessie and she was a softball playing high school senior from West Virginia.
So do you want to take a guess what the issue is in the story? 
Liz: [00:22:44] I'm going to guess that the Marines not real justice shot in the dark. 
Emily: [00:22:50] So Marine sniper was actually 46 year old Thomas Montgomery, who is a married father of two. 
Liz: [00:22:57] Ooh. Oh. 
Emily: [00:22:58] He did spend six years in the military as a young man. Hence like the Marine sniper screen name, but not only was he lying about his age, he was embellishing about his career because he was never a sniper.
So the story goes one 18 year old, tall, hot blonde started am Montgomery. He decided to pretend he was 18 too. And his quote is I kept thinking, well, we're never going to meet. I'll just play the game. 
Liz: [00:23:25] Nope, no, no, no games. 
Emily: [00:23:28] It's not a game. That's an 18 year old girl. So they began chatting constantly and he told her how he was in the military and he would hint at all these dark covert ops.
So she was falling in love with this bad boy, military guy and their friendship quickly bloomed into a relationship. They exchanged gifts, calls, love letters, and eventually it led to virtual sex. Again, so 
Liz: [00:23:55] disgusting. I'm like crying. My face is cringing. They 
Emily: [00:23:59] sent photos of each other to each other to prove their identities.
And Jesse's photo was in fact, a tall, hot blonde 18 year old and Mancha. Marie did send a picture of himself. It was just 30 
Liz: [00:24:11] years old. Oh no. So he's not lying. I mean, definitely stretching the truth. Now 
Emily: [00:24:21] here's when things go bad. If these 
Liz: [00:24:23] haven't been battle ready, I'm going to go with tab. Should've been called a while ago.
Emily: [00:24:28] So there's obviously so many issues, but things began taking a turn in Montgomery's real life. He said to 2020, he was interviewed quote, his relationship became more real to me than my real life. Mind you, he's a father to two young girls and has a wife. So that's really sad. 
Liz: [00:24:50] Very disturbing. 
Emily: [00:24:52] And also I just to like give you a sample of the conversations they have, because you have access to all their instant messages and it's so revolting, but I'm just gonna tell you it.
Okay. I love you always. And forever. Tommy said Jesse, to which he responded. I've never felt this way. Oh, how disgusting is 
Liz: [00:25:12] this? How many times I'm going to say to you in this episode, 
Emily: [00:25:15] So with this online persona Montgomery lost touch with reality, he was so infatuated with his 18 year old girl that he was catfishing.
And he wrote a note to himself that the police later found. And the note read. On January 2nd, 2006, Tom Montgomery apprentices 46 year old ceases to exist and is replaced by an 18 year old battle, scarred Marine. He's moving to West Virginia to be with the love of his life. 
Liz: [00:25:45] He's fully 
Emily: [00:25:46] lost it. Yeah. He's writing this note that he's now an 18 year old, white.
So now by 2006 in March, one of Montgomery's daughters starts using his computer when Jesse happens to message him. So the daughter instantly sees this, thanks. Something's off here. Why is a tall, hot blonde messaging? My dad and brings it to her mother. So her mom goes to the computer, finds all of the instant messages, all of the emails and such.
Also starts going through our husbands things and finds the love letters, the gifts. She even finds a pair of red panties. So the mom Montgomery's wife takes a photo of the family and writes a letter to Jessie with a photo and says, let me introduce you to these people. The man in the center is Tom. My husband, since 1989, he is 46 years old, 
Liz: [00:26:43] bold move by 
Emily: [00:26:44] the wife.
But now Jessie knows and she's horrified. Obviously, and she breaks up the relationship and I guess she was so like, couldn't believe that it was happening, that she emails one of Montgomery's coworkers. Who's a 22 year old college student named Brian Barrett and asked, is this really true? Is Montgomery an old man?
Like, has he actually been catfishing me? I don't know how she had, 
Liz: [00:27:13] I was going to ask that question. 
Emily: [00:27:15] I mean, this is like, what, 2006, I guess everyone's just like, I have no idea, truly 
Liz: [00:27:20] whatever. 
Emily: [00:27:22] So Brian, whose screen name is beefcake confirmed that Montgomery's identity was actually an old man. And not only did he confirm it for Jesse, but he started to console her and before long.
Jesse and Brian are now dating. Oh God. And none of these people have met or actually, sorry, the two men work together, but Jesse nobody's met her and now she's going from dating some old man to his younger 22 
Liz: [00:27:49] year old. It's almost like a step in the right direction, but still in the wrong direction.
Exactly. 
Emily: [00:27:57] Montgomery after he learns that his coworker is now dating his ex-girlfriend who's 18 years old, he becomes consumed with jealousy. And he sends crazy messages to both Jesse and Brian and they're violent. And he's saying things like Brian will have to pay in blood for taking you away from me, but that didn't stop Jesse and Brian from taunting him because Montgomery just kept going on these chatroom websites.
So anytime he was in a chat room, Jesse and Brian would write in it and expose his identity. And they would bully him. They would say, he's an old man. He's disgusting. He's a pedophile. And that everyone in the chat room would kind of join in. So I don't think this is helping Montgomery 
Liz: [00:28:39] sanity. Definitely not, 
Emily: [00:28:42] but still, why are you in a chat room with all these teenagers, 
Liz: [00:28:45] right?
Or like, Hm. That his wife not confront him about this. She would say 
Emily: [00:28:50] things like, can't you just talk to me and get off the computer. And he would refuse he was in his own world. 
Liz: [00:28:57] Ladies that is a bad sign. If your husband is doing that. Oh yeah. I would know from my marriage experience, 
Emily: [00:29:04] Jesse, despite the fact that she's mad at Montgomery, she seems to flip flop and sometimes she is really nice to him.
And so she misses talking to the 16 year old Marine or 18 year old Marine, whatever. And I'm going to give you another conversation of the items that they had between each other. This is going to make me gag. It's so disgusting. So tall, hot blonde AK. Jesse says I ached to be with Tommy. Do you miss it?
Tom Marine sniper replies more than you will ever know my heart aches to hear you. Sorry. My heart aches to hear you call me your Tommy. I wish I could be the 19 year old Marine for you. And then she says, I know Tom, 
Liz: [00:29:48] so I hate everything about this conversation. 
Emily: [00:29:52] I was uncomfortable reading this to say the least.
But this doesn't last, she, you know, was flip-flopping between getting mad at him and for giving him. But in the end she writes off Montgomery and she says, you're an old man. I don't want anything to do with you. And then she kept going with her relationship with Brian. Now Montgomery begins to spiral, especially when he sees that Brian writes in a chat room saying tall, hot blonde.
And I are finally going to meet IRL. In real life now I'm nervous. So on September 15th, 2006, as Brian left work and got into his truck to go meet tall, hot blonde. He is shot three times by a military rifle. Wow. Police quickly learn of the internet love triangle. So they put out a search warrant for a Montgomery and they can't find him.
So their next thing is, well, we should go find Jesse, the girl in this love triangle to make sure she's safe. So they go to Jessie's home and they knock on her door and her mother, Mary Shiela opens the door and they explained to Mary what happened and that her daughter Jessie's in danger and Mary begins to panic, but not out of concern for her daughter.
Turns out tall, hot blonde was Mary all the log? No, the pictures that she sent Montgomery were actually those of her daughter, the real Jessie. But Jesse had no knowledge of her mom's cyber 
Liz: [00:31:23] life. I am floored. Isn't that nuts. I was not expecting this at all. 
Emily: [00:31:32] I know. So it's like kind of funny. It's like they were both catfishing each 
Liz: [00:31:35] other.
Exactly. It's why don't internet date? What did I do this weekend? Yeah, they did. I dated, but also 
Emily: [00:31:41] like. They could have worked 
Liz: [00:31:42] out. Like they were the same age stuff too. If they both just said their normal pictures of each other, like maybe they would have had a happy life. Okay. 
Emily: [00:31:50] I mean, it's not funny because someone was murdered, but so Montgomery he's eventually found and charged with the murder of Brian Barrett and he pleads guilty in exchange for not going to trial and giving a guilty plea.
He receives a 20 year sentence. He tries to commit suicide and he fails kind of like your guy. Um, but I just want to point out that, like, I just think this case one, the whole mother pretended to be her daughter thing is crazy, but also this guy, Montgomery, he was a father. He had two daughters. He was involved in his church and was the president of his daughter's swim club.
How could he just spiral out of control with a cyber life? That is 
Liz: [00:32:31] so scary, but I almost feel weirder about the fact that the mother was using her daughter's photos. Oh 
Emily: [00:32:38] yeah. So. Prosecutors actually want to charge Mary the mother. But at the end of the day, they said she crossed an ethical line, a moral line, but she didn't break any laws.
So we can't 
Liz: [00:32:51] charge her. That's not some sort of fraud or identity theft or something. 
Emily: [00:32:55] I don't know. But what I do know is that her husband filed for divorce and her daughter moved out and her daughter refuses to speak 
Liz: [00:33:02] to her. Can't say I'm shocked by that. 
Emily: [00:33:05] And I'll end with a quote. It just so disgusting, but she says, this is quote from Mary.
It was stupid. It should have never happened. I just never thought it would go 
Liz: [00:33:14] anywhere. What, it's one 
Emily: [00:33:17] thing to catfish somebody, but to pretend to be your daughter, 
Liz: [00:33:22] that's a such the level of, I've said this word before, but a level of fucked up goodness that I can't even fathom. So 
Emily: [00:33:31] that is the story of.
The cyber 
Liz: [00:33:34] love triangle. Well, that was very interesting. Really took me for a ride there. I was so 
Emily: [00:33:41] excited to that. The mountain was the dog. I 
Liz: [00:33:43] know. I can see it in your eyes. I was like, what is coming? Oh, and that's that? Wow. So let's 
Emily: [00:33:51] just end it on, make sure to write a review for our 
Liz: [00:33:54] podcast. Yes, please, please, please do that.
And follow us on Instagram and then reach out to us on Instagram. If you have any cases you want us to cover, or if you want to say hi, cause we love to chat and we don't catfish people.
Cheers. Cheers. .