The Prophecy

Invisible Choir explores detailed depictions of violence and murder and is not appropriate for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. It's weird to be throwing up blood like that. Not to mention if he had alcohol poisoning, he would have been able to get up and move around this morning. Especially at two or three in the morning. There's a special kind of innocence to our youth. For many, it's the only time where there are no worries other than seeing friends, riding bikes around town, and maybe pulling an all-nighter watching movies. Our younger years are filled with profound mystery, but just about every day consisting of self-exploration and dreams of who we will one day become as adults. Some fantasize about becoming rock stars or famous actors, while others simply look forward to the promise of total independence that adulthood will one day offer. Now bogged down with the day-to-day of adulthood, we often look back on these years fondly, growing up with a sense of sentimentality. Most special of all was that being a kid was all done in the company of friends. Friends who were in the exact same boat growing up alongside us. But over time and of course with age, we find ourselves going in different directions than what we may have imagined as children. This often times results in the unfortunate reality that we lose the very things we had in common with those we grew up with. For many of you listening right now, you may be conjuring up memories of summer break from school or afternoons spent hanging around your old neighborhood. But it's important not to live in the past because things change and people do as well. Sometimes the best you can do is keep living your life, continuing on the trajectory that brings you to the adults you want to be. After all, we need to, as we never really know how soon our journey will end. None of us do. Bigger fish nation, right? That's the name. Yeah. Or the bigger fish brothers. He's Aaron. Did we decide this? This is what we're doing, the bigger fish nation. All of the three of us. Well, we forgot to review such a dumb show Aaron. We gotta at least choose an awesome name. Okay, we can discuss the titles but today we're going to talk about Star Wars Ewoks. TV show. That was 21 year old Aaron Davis and his brother Luke with audio from a video posted on Luke's YouTube channel entitled The Bigger Fish. The video was posted in January of 2016 when both Aaron and Luke were still in high school. Now, if you grew up in the late 90s or early 2000s, you probably were a child of the Internet. YouTube has changed significantly over the years as a landscape, but in its early years, just your average person would frequently post online for fun, regardless of the number of views or followers. These creative projects ranged from song parodies to video logs or in the case of the Davis Brothers, film reviews. Both Aaron and Luke love to discuss movies and television in depth. Their mother would later talk about this passion of Aaron's stating quote, He would analyze a film in every way possible. For example, Aaron and Luke were really excited to see the movie Fantastic Beasts, The Crimes of Grindelwald on opening night. When they came home from that movie, they were so animated in their hatred of the movie. The next morning, we were taking a family vacation to Florida and for the whole eight-hour trip, they picked apart the movie in every way possible. Other content posted on Luke's YouTube channel included short films that the two wrote and directed together, with Aaron and other friends oftentimes cast for acting too. Watching these videos, it's easy to feel a sense of nostalgia. In the early age of the Internet, there was a do-it-yourself attitude towards making content like this. If you had a camera and could figure out how to upload a video, well then you could become a content creator. But this outlet of creativity was more often than not a hobby, not a career, as there are literally millions of other people with the same dreams, all making the chances of becoming the next breakout star exceedingly difficult and unlikely. As we get older and are forced to rethink what our future looks like, well, that's where the innocence of our youth can sort of fizzle out, with the hope that we will continue to carve out time for our passions later in adulthood. Thinking ahead of a future with bills to pay, Aaron's path deviated away from writing and acting. Instead, he decided to attend Brigham Young University, Idaho, and graduated from the school with a bachelor's degree in political science in 2022. You see, Aaron's family were members of the Latter-day Saints, and their religious beliefs were something they held near and dear, inspiring his decision to attend BYU, which is an LDS-affiliated school. The Davis family's devotion to their religion became especially important to them after their youngest child died by accidental drowning at the age of eight months old. They were living in their home in the state of Massachusetts at the time, and the family later moved to Georgia in 2011. They held on to their faith all the more tightly after this major loss, as they felt it was their way to ensure they'd one day meet their child again in the afterlife. Aaron's family was close, and his parents were fully supportive of their children's creative endeavors. But they were also very excited to hear about Aaron's plans to further his education, as well as his desire to get married and one day start a family of his own. They were proud when Aaron worked as an LDS missionary in Las Vegas, Nevada during his schooling. Aaron's goal after graduating BYU was to attend a middle Georgia State University to earn his master's degree and teach high school civics. He also dreamed of one day earning his PhD in political science, so he could one day have a future career as a full professor on the subject. Aaron seemed to be sure of what he wanted to do with his future, working numerous jobs throughout his schooling to pay for his higher education. But the fact that Aaron's educational and career goals differed from his creative pursuits didn't take away from how much he cherished those movies he wrote and directed with his brother and many of his close friends over the years. The most recently available video on Luke's YouTube channel was one entitled, Brandon Rising, a short and funny film that Aaron worked on with his best friend, 21 year old Brandon Reisner. Brandon and Aaron first met when they were in the fifth grade, but their friendship didn't really take off until the two were freshmen in high school. Brandon was also LDS, meaning the two could bond over their love of faith as well as film. Once friends, the two became inseparable, with Aaron's family viewing Brandon as one of their own children. When they weren't in school, they were making films together, but as the two grew older, it became clear that they had different ideas and aspirations of where their lives were going. While Aaron's dreams were academic, Brandon's remained in the arena of acting and music in the arts. Brandon had tried to attend BYU Idaho alongside Aaron, but dropped out after just one semester, moving back in with his dad and stepmother to their home in Rome, Georgia. Along with acting in Aaron's short films, Brandon composed his own original music and began working as an actor for a haunted house in the Canton, Georgia area. He also had another job working at a local gym in town. This crossroads that the two young men found themselves at was just a natural part of life, moving from childhood into adulthood with different goals and different plans. Aaron had recently started a relationship with a young woman who he met at church camp. She lived in Alabama, so Aaron was now spending more time visiting her in his already limited schedule. Life was moving on, and it was only natural that Aaron and Brandon were seeing each other less and less as their day-to-day lives continued. In order to teach political science in school, Aaron needed to sit for a Georgia State test on the topic. He succeeded at passing the test on the morning of Thursday, November 10, 2022, and then had plans to celebrate by driving to visit his girlfriend in Alabama. Now, Aaron's family lived in coming Georgia, and on the way to visit his girlfriend, Aaron would drive right past Rome. Actually, Rome was a smack dab in the middle of the drive, and Brandon's family was out of town at the time, too. So Aaron figured why not break up the trip with a sleepover at his best bud's house? After contacting his girlfriend and parents to let them know the plan, Aaron started off on his drive. Everything started off fine until Aaron's girlfriend got a text from Brandon. He told her that Aaron's phone had died and that they had made a small change of plans, and that Aaron would stay over the night of the 11th, getting to her home one day later. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary. That was until Aaron ceased making any form of contact with either his parents or his girlfriend, as the 11th turned into the 12th. The car was then found submerged in a creek in Rome's Heritage Park on the morning of November 12th, a discovery that initiated a strange series of events with the Rome Police Department. When police arrived at the park at around 10 a.m., they were met by a blue Toyota Prius, with its lights still on and the front of the car fully submerged in water. Doing a little bit of digging, officers found that the owner of the vehicle was a man named Randy Davis. After contacting Randy, police learned that it was Aaron's father. The police informed Randy that the car was discovered in a ditch, a finding that seemed all the more serious when investigators learned that Aaron had been driving it on his way to Alabama. Randy said that this was out of character for his son, but asked that Aaron be listed as a missing person. The son's name is Aaron Davis, supposed to be coming to Rome to see his girlfriend in North Alabama. I don't think it meant that. No, I wonder where he got his car from. The strange thing is, there's no celebration. It's almost like it just rolled off in there or something. Did it go all the way up in the park? Yeah, it looks like it's still on. No, ain't it? Lights are on and the dash lights are on. Yeah, I mean, they're lights, I don't like it, but it ain't running, running. That water ain't big, I don't think he's in there, is he? The shallow water didn't obscure much more than the hood of the car, and it was obvious no one was inside. It appeared that the car had simply rolled down the steep embankment into the creek bed below. After learning that Aaron had been visiting with Brandon, the police were quick to call Brandon in to inform him of their findings, and to see if he knew anything that might help with their investigation. Hello? Hey, is this Mr. Reisner? Yes, this is. Hey, I'm Lieutenant Saylor's wrong place. You doing alright today? Yes, I am. I'm looking for my friend right now. Yeah, that's what I was coming about. I don't, you hadn't heard from him, I don't guess. I have not. I've tried calling him and this was concentrated voicemail and I heard he was at the heritage park, so that's where I'm at right now, so I'm gonna, I'm looking around. Do you guys know where the call was? Yeah, it was in a ditch over there. Brandon was as confused as Aaron's parents were as to what had happened. The two were out the night before getting food and drinks, and went back to Brandon's house to settle in for the night. The only thing out of the ordinary that evening was that Aaron had gotten extremely intoxicated during their outing. What's the last time you saw Aaron? I saw him last night. About what time? Well, we started drinking around like 12, we're all in tune, and he started throwing up pretty bad. He told me to leave him alone, so I went downstairs and I fell asleep and I guess I woke up around like one. And that's when I saw that his car was gone. The two were old enough to legally drink and Brandon respected Aaron's request for space while he was sick. The last thing Brandon had ever expected, though, was to wake up and see his inebriated friend drive off at around 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning. Sounds like he might have been intoxicated. Yeah, he probably was unless he threw up a lot. Okay. Do you know if anybody left with him or drove in? I don't think so. I would be surprised. I don't think he knows anyone in this area. Okay. 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In this conversation though, he added that they had continued drinking wine back at his house, which took both of them over the edge from buzz to completely drunk. Brandon had been searching the park to see if any important evidence was missed that might help them find Aaron. He told officers that he contacted Aaron's girlfriend, telling her that he was trying to figure out where his friend was. This is the last kind of situation that anyone wants to find themselves in, and a time when you have to avoid playing through the darker scenarios in your head. After speaking with Brandon, investigators continued searching the park. Unfortunately, they didn't have any major findings, so police decided to drive over to Brandon's family home to see if he had any other leads he might share with them. The drive took the police to the quiet suburbs of Rome, Georgia, where Aaron was last seen. As they walked up to the door, they were met by Brandon. They began by asking him some simple clarifying questions. The only new information garnered from the conversation was that the two had drank even more heavily the night before than they had initially heard, mixing red wine with both fireball whiskey and a few beers. Brandon also revealed that at some point during the night, he had dropped a bottle of red wine, causing it to break. When he cleaned up the glass, he accidentally sliced his finger and had to go to an urgent care clinic. As for the rest of the night, the cops already knew those details. Brandon Reisner was extremely cooperative, but he did have a strange moment when asked about what his and Aaron's relationship was like. This isn't coming with any judgment, I just think of the answer. It's the nature of y'all's friendship. I really do. Like. But not like too close. Okay. Like we rarely look at each other. We're like hug and like greet each other. Yeah. Well, other friends like we're more of a lot closer. Not to get over it. Yeah, we're like type 5s and stuff. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So we used to wrestle a lot back in high school. Yeah. And then we just kind of stopped for a while. Okay. So you don't have any kind of sexual relationship at all? No. So now's the time to tell me if you, I'm just trying to make sure we cover all our bases. And like I said, I'm not here to judge. Nothing that's illegal. I just want to make sure, you know. There's nothing crazy going on, right? Nothing that would be crazy. I'm just trying to follow everything into a timeline. Brandon jumping to describing his physical interactions with Aaron was unexpected. Especially as the police were merely trying to understand what their relationship was like. Moving along, Brandon told officers that the night before, Aaron had slept in a guest room in the attic of the home, separately from his room on the floor below. That was most likely why he didn't hear Aaron moving about the house until he was already driving away in his car. The officers asked Brandon if there were potentially any ongoing issues between Aaron and his girlfriend. But Brandon had little to say on that matter, stating that he and Aaron rarely talked about that kind of stuff. Brandon described that most of their conversation surrounded himself and that Aaron wasn't the type to share any personal information. The comment seemed strange to police, especially considering that the two young men had known each other for so long and described themselves more like brothers than friends. It was at this point when the officers asked Brandon if they could potentially search inside the family home. After all, he had nothing to hide, right? Well, Brandon agreed and while he sat on the porch accompanied by one of the officers, others went inside to take a look around. Upon entering, the home appeared nice and well kept. There was only one thing that initially looked off. It was a door to the attic with a key still inside of it, though the door itself was locked. The officers searching the home walked back outside and asked Brandon about it. Sorry, Brandon, I know I'm asking you a lot of questions. I have one more question. Is there anywhere in the house that you don't regularly go to? A cellar? Okay. In the attic spot. In the attic spot. The one with the key and the door over here? Okay. The up there, but to the right. I don't go over there very often, because it's a clear yet. Okay. Do you mind coming in here with me so you can just show me where I'm going and all that? Yeah. This makes it a little bit easier, because I don't want to go somewhere that your parents hang out at because I'm not trying to get in their space, you know? Brandon entered the home with the officer, giving him a tour of the house as they walked through. He pointed out which room was his parents and which ones were guest rooms. There was one guest room next door to Brandon's room, but he explained that Aaron had instead opted to stay in the attic during the visit. While searching the home, the officer lost track of Brandon, but he took this opportunity to chat privately about the different moving parts of the investigation with another officer stationed there inside. Brandon was unaware that there had already been numerous witness interviews held during the time that officers were speaking with him and simultaneously investigating the house. One of the interviews was with Aaron's girlfriend, who had quite a few interesting things to share with police. She told them about the text message from Brandon, saying that Aaron would stay a day later, but that there was something else even more unexpected that came up. What'd you think? He said they don't have any sexual relationship, but he didn't seem to have fallen in love and asked the question. So I'm going to be lying to him. It could be. I think the girlfriend seems to think they had something going on, but she didn't kind of say that. His girlfriend's mom would say that he's bisexual and I haven't talked in a few days and they never talk about her when they get together and hang out. The conversation around sexuality seemed to keep popping up and the disclosure of Aaron's sexuality certainly made Brandon's awkward answer about the two never touching seem a little more significant. The officers couldn't help but notice that Brandon's timeline of events seemed a bit inconsistent, with him seemingly adding new details every time they asked him to go over the night again. Well, once the police made their way up into that attic, they would soon be met with the evidence that took this situation from strange and mysterious to sobering. There was a great deal of visible blood spatter on the attic walls and ceiling and some strange liquid on the floor, liquid which looked to be vomit, more blood and perhaps even a mixture of the two. There's a significant amount of blood next to the bed too. Decent, more than just vomit. All the way over here. Looks like it's been there a while but it could have been throwing blood I guess. It looks like it too. See all that? It's weird to be throwing up blood like that. Not to mention if he had alcohol poisoning, he wouldn't have been able to get up and move around this morning. Especially at two or three in the morning. There in the attic, the mattress lay bare with the sheets missing. All around the bed were various household cleaners and a vacuum. The scene looked as if the officers had just interrupted the process of a cleanup. While the blood was certainly creepy enough, the fact that Brandon had described the attic itself as being creepy didn't make much sense. It was fully finished with children's toys, collectible items and baby blue paint covering the walls. Taking these findings into account, Brandon's dismissal of the attic now seemed as if he were clearly trying to hide something. The longer the two officers looked around the attic, the more concerning details they noticed. There was blood on the ground the entire length of the bed, as well as spots on the mattress. On the armoire next to the bed too were more blood stains. That's when the police knew that they needed to have more aid. This room may just be an act of crime scene, so as the two officers started making their way downstairs, they tried to remain nonchalant. It was likely they would need to detain Brandon and get an investigator on the scene immediately, but they'd also have to maintain the delicate balance of not cluing Brandon in on too much. If they gave any clear indication to him that something was wrong, Brandon would certainly catch on, especially if he were in some way involved in Aaron's disappearance. As the two made their way through the home, acting like they didn't just see blood all over the attic, another officer sat with Brandon in the kitchen, keeping a close eye on him. As Brandon and this other officer continued on with their small talk, the two officers from upstairs stumbled upon something else, bloody sheets and a running dryer. At the same time they were checking the dryer, Brandon seemed to have the intuition that police were taking a bit too long during their initial search of the property. Perhaps he even heard that dryer door opening. Whatever it was, the officer who sat chatting with Brandon shifted his eyes away for a second, only to see Brandon move back in his chair. One split second later, Brandon got up and made his way to the hall. Before the officer even knew it, things became a whole lot more complicated when Brandon dashed out, making his way quickly to the front door of the home. In a chain reaction, all the police officers soon learned that their suspect was now on the run. Damn, I think I just saw him on that street when I was coming over here. Yes, yes, he was on the street before this one right here, but I was coming over here to get the backyard. He had a red shirt, he was just walking down with long blonde hair. Yeah, it's him. Fuck, fuck it, fuck it. Fucking saw him, but they told me to come over here. Zero's emissary, he's headed back towards Turner McCall. Fuck. This episode is proudly brought to you by Little Spoon. Hey, is it just me or does it seem like nowadays there's more healthy food options out there for dogs than there are for children? That's why I decided to try Little Spoon. 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And as luck would have it, one neighbor was already on the phone with Brandon's father after seeing the police activity at the family home. It was immediately clear upon the investigators speaking with the father that he had no idea what was even going on at his property. Yeah, we're probably gonna need to talk to Brandon. Do you know where he is? No, I thought he was still at home. Now, earlier we had told him to make sure to keep his phone on, keep it handy, and to maybe drive around the areas where they normally hang out and try to look for him for Aaron. But no, he's not answering the phone. We're trying to reach him. Okay, okay. Does he have any kind of a lot of 360 or find my phone app that you might could get us his location for? I can try. I've located his phone before, but I used his laptop in his bedroom to do it. We're still about an hour away working our way there. Okay. Yeah, I can try that app. Okay. Yeah, we're gonna, we really need to talk to him. And at this point, it would be better if he voluntarily came in and talked to us a little bit about what's going on. Oh, yeah, of course. You guys have talked to him today, right? Yes, sir. Mm-hmm. Okay, okay. Hey, I mean, just to be fair, you realized we're at your house, correct? Yes. Okay. We'll keep trying to get hold of him. Okay. Okay, I appreciate it. All right, thank you, sir. All right. Now, as you think about it, from the get-go, Brandon's recollections were contradictory and confusing. The major one that you may have noticed was the fact that the LDS members do not typically drink alcohol, but it seemed that both Aaron and Brandon had been imbibing that night. In fact, as he kept talking, Brandon seemed to remember more and more types of alcohol that they had consumed throughout the evening. The story about his urgent care visit came much later into the conversation with police, despite it sounding like a rather memorable chunk of his evening. The investigators also noticed that Brandon didn't smell like alcohol, despite the fact that he had allegedly been drinking heavily all night. More new information kept coming in from their investigation too, most notably the fact that Aaron's car was searched and found to have a significant amount of blood in the trunk. Both Brandon's father and stepmother arrived on scene shortly thereafter to talk with police and give their first-hand accounts. They said that when they talked to Brandon after Aaron's disappearance, he had sounded worried and was out actively looking for his friend. Brandon's father echoed this same sentiment when he later spoke to a different officer on the phone. And for what it's worth, outgoing and outgoing messages, he's been asking other friends about if they've seen or heard from Aaron Davis. So I don't know why he would have ran. I think he's just scared, panic attack, I don't know, but anyway, that's all I got for you, so I'd let you know. If we did, I mean, possibly if you let one of the officers take that phone so we can preserve it in case it's needed for evidence. Yeah, I can work my way that way, I'm on foot, but I'll get over there eventually, yeah. Okay, that would be good. You know, I mean, I'll tell you, I don't know what happened, but there's something going on, so we just need to see what's going on. The truth and the whole story about what's going on, I don't know if you've heard from Aaron, but I think he's been here. Sure, well, you know, like I don't know if I mentioned it or not, but you know, when he called this morning, it was two-fold, it was the vomit upstairs, and asking Rachel to clean it up, and then he had cut his hand or finger or something, and he was asking her if she'd mothered it in a stitch or whatever, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's blood or something in the house, From Brandon's dad and stepmother, the officers also learned that Brandon was diagnosed with Schizoaffective disorder, along with OCD, Tourette's, depression, autism, and anxiety. This gave more credence to Brandon's father's interpretation of his son potentially fleeing due to some type of panic attack. An officer met with Brandon's dad outside of their home later on that evening to update him on their investigation. His father had found Brandon's cell phone left behind when he ran away from the house. He informed police about this, but he was scared to hand it over, understandably, considering that it could potentially provide damning evidence against his own son. All right, so first of all, I understand you found his cell phone, that's right, you wanna turn that over to us? Maybe. Okay. All right. I do, if my gut says yes, but at the same time. Yeah, I mean, we'll probably need to go through it, and see at least where he's been today, if we can do that. So I know you asked Lieutenant Slater's about not destroying your house, okay? So far we've done a good job of that, okay? However, there is a significant amount of blood in that upstairs bedroom and on the car. Okay, so we're gonna have to cut that carpet to take that, okay? Of course you are. But I wanted to be straight up with you. No, don't go by that, okay? No, I appreciate that. During this time, Erin's girlfriend and her parents had teamed up with Erin's parents, while driving to Rome to search for their missing loved one. Little did they know that the answer to where Erin was would be revealed the very same night. They all arrived in town together. At around 7.30 p.m. on November 12th, Brandon Reisner was escorted into the Rome police station by his father and stepmother. They had discovered Brandon outside the gym he worked at in town, and he told them something they had to report to police. They had relayed this to the officers before arriving with their son at the station that night. As Brandon and his parents entered the station, they were led into an elevator. On the body camera, you can see Brandon's father place his hand on his son's shoulder to comfort him. The ride in the elevator wasn't long, but given the tension and silence amongst the family, it seemed like it took an eternity. As the group left the lift, Brandon's parents were asked by officers to step to the side so they could chat privately. I'm gonna take him back there and we'll talk. And then, do you have some questions? Would you like to talk in private? You need to sit in the other room. Okay. But I'll be back in just a minute, okay? All right, if y'all just have a seat, I'll be right back out with you, okay? Before Brandon was taken into a back room at the station, his father leaned in and hugged him. He did this knowing that it may well be the last time he would ever be able to hug his son, because the information he needed to share with police was going to put Brandon away for a very long time. After a short while, Brandon's parents were brought into a separate room by an officer to share that critical information that Brandon had already told them. I'll take you out. Try to show him. I'm sorry? I can try to show you. You can try to show us the general area, yeah. Where am I? Hold these drawn. There's a road that parallels Dean Street on the north side of Dean Street, and it curves and goes up in the middle. There's an old cemetery of the bill. You turn left, trendle, trendle, something like trendle. Trendle? Not trendle. It's a dead end. It's a church. Go to the top of the hill. Past cemetery on the right. Centres on the left. Yeah, some churches on the left. Try to make me show you. All right. Like you go on a Kaggle Springer road? I can show you. But where his parents are out looking for him? Brandon had clearly disclosed the location of Aaron's remains to his parents. At the same time, Aaron's own family was still out looking for him, none the wiser to the reality of the unfolding situation. The officer then asked Brandon's parents a simple question. Why did their son do it? Brandon was brought in both of the college last year. Aaron was at early this year because he was having anxiety attacks. He was having suicidal thoughts. He was having visions. He brought him home to make himself like it's medications, right? Whatever. He's still having visions. It's one of a parent's worst fears to have a child struggling with their mental health. In this case, they did all they could, having Brandon speak with a specialist and getting him on medication, but they felt the safest thing they could do was keep him at home or they could keep a closer eye on him. They knew Aaron was a special and loyal friend who could help Brandon during these terrible times too, but they would have never thought things would end the way they did. His parents were all the more fearful and concerned once they picked up Brandon that night on the 12th as he looked and acted as if nothing was wrong, despite just having confessed to murdering his best friend. Now with a potential location, police had to search in the woods near a cemetery and church to see if Brandon was indeed telling the truth. As they would soon learn, he was. Police made their way over to the location given to them by Brandon's father. It wasn't long into their search when they discovered what they were looking for. The road was a dead end just as Brandon's father had described. Aaron's remains were quickly discovered there, buried in a shallow grave made by an uprooted oak tree. The hole was filled with dirt as well as sheets that had clearly come from the bed that Aaron had slept in. The linens were wrapped around Aaron's body and secured with duct tape. Upon unraveling the bedding and the tape, investigators found the partially dismembered and mutilated remains of 21-year-old Aaron Davis. The full extent of Brandon's brutality was pieced together after Aaron's remains were reviewed by a medical examiner and forensics team. And just to warn you, the following details are extremely graphic, so please proceed with caution. The End Investigators pieced together that Aaron had showed up at Brandon's home on November 10. That same day, he and Brandon went out for drinks. Brandon, who admittedly was separating himself from the LDS, drank here and there, but Aaron not so much, making him a lightweight that night. After drinking at a beer garden, the two made it back to Brandon's place, where they continued drinking. There, they sang some karaoke songs and went to bed around midnight. But sometime during the night, Brandon grabbed a knife and made his way up to the roof of the home. There, he watched Aaron through a window, sleeping below in the attic. Brandon then crept into the attic via a window before brutally stabbing his best friend more than 50 times. According to the medical examiner, Brandon stabbed Aaron 20 times in the head, four times in the neck, 21 in the torso, two to his left arm and seven to his right arm. Aaron was still alive during most of the stabbing, yet he had not a single defensive wound, likely because he was extremely intoxicated during the vicious attack. Brandon then dragged Aaron into the small bathroom next to the bedroom, where he partially dismembered Aaron's abdomen, one of his shoulders and his arm. It also appeared that Aaron was missing a piece of his intestines, something that despite how hard investigators looked, they were never able to recover. There had been so much blood from the murder that it had soaked into the floorboards in the attic. During the time after immediately killing Aaron, Brandon began making various internet searches, including hydrochloric acid, symptoms of schizophrenia, 10 tips to deal with guilt, secluded locations, how to drain a washing machine, and 20 or so other searches of where to buy replacement sheets for the bed he had just murdered his friend on. He would later drive to Walmart to pick up cleaning supplies, duct tape, and new bed sheets. But Brandon also stopped to watch clips from the notoriously violent film, No Country for Old Men, along the way. More specifically, Brandon watched a scene in which the main villain blows up a car to create a diversion, so that he could treat an injury he had. The scene seemed eerily connected to the situation Brandon now found himself in. He also researched the film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which involves a story of a man avoiding serving time in prison for a rape charge by pretending to be mentally ill. That same night, Brandon was feeling creative and also wrote lyrics for a song. Lines from that song read as follows. He screamed till he choked on his own tongue in blood. His scream became a gargle as he swallowed his tongue. Brandon also made a post-murder to-do list, which consisted of things like vacuuming, doing laundry, and showering. Oddly enough, the list also included applying to BYU Hawaii and, of course, posting his music to YouTube. After this, Brandon placed Aaron's remains into the back of Aaron's own car. The following night on the 11th, Brandon drove Aaron's remains to the quiet spot in the woods near that church and cemetery. An uprooted oak tree in the area left behind an approximately six-by-eight-foot hole, in which Brandon dumped Aaron's body, concealing the remains under a few inches of dirt. He then drove Aaron's car over to Heritage Park, where he pushed the vehicle down the ditch into the small body of water. Investigators were able to confirm that the blood in both the home and car were indeed Aaron's. They also connected Brandon to the scene where Aaron had been dumped as they found a bricks from the nearby church inside of a backpack discovered in Aaron's vehicle, as well as outside of Brandon's home. Brandon seemed as if he truly thought he was going to get away with the heinous murder of his best friend in the hours after he was first reported missing, but instead within days, he was charged with felony murder and aggravated assault and battery, as well as concealing the death of another and removal of parts of a body and abandonment. He was promptly arrested and taken to jail. Breaking the news to Aaron's family and girlfriend was beyond difficult. Aaron was just 21 years old at the beginning of his life, and the fact that his life was so tragically cut short by the person both he and his family viewed like a brother and son made the situation all the more inconceivable. Unfortunately though, the road to justice would only get harder as Aaron's friends and family waited for the inevitable trial to begin. First, the court had to determine if Brandon was even competent to stand trial. After some time and numerous psychological evaluations, Brandon was indeed deemed competent, but he would go on to plead guilty to the charges in June of 2023, and his sentencing date was scheduled for July of 2024. It was there during sentencing that the public would finally learn the why of Aaron Davis's murder. The truth that was beyond disturbing. While it's one thing to understand the factual aspect of a case, Brandon Reisner's sentencing offered an opportunity to better understand his internal world, something that the state was quick to do to paint a picture of why he should be sentenced to life without parole. Quickly, it became clear that Brandon was far more disturbed than anyone had previously known. First, this was premeditated. This was not a random act of violence or a random occurrence. This is something that the defendant had been thinking about since at least early fall. He had taken edibles and witnessed a prophecy where he felt that God was telling him that he had to either kill his best friend or have sex with his stepmother, and so he thought there would be less self-pleasure in killing Aaron. He also had another prophecy, which is another term that the defendant uses for his visions where he felt that that Aaron was going to lose it and become just as deranged as the defendant. The defendant thought Aaron might kill Phoebe or Micah, Aaron's younger siblings, so the day of I knew I had a hunch I would have to do it because of that prophecy. These are the defendant's words that on the day of he knew this was premeditated that he was going to kill Aaron. He also had another one where he thought that as some type of reward for killing Aaron that he would then have an opportunity to see Lorelai, Aaron's younger sister, because she would have to come back for the funeral, and he might have a chance at that point to start a relationship with her because he'd had a crush on her. These things came about at times that the defendant was smoking marijuana and or drinking alcohol, but at different parts in his account and in different parts of the evaluation report submitted, the defendant recognizes that smoking marijuana and drinking made him have urges to kill, but he continued participating in those behaviors anyway. Brandon had been experiencing these violent and sexual delusions for quite a while, and it seemed that they most frequently centered around his friend Aaron. Even with the awareness that substance use was bringing them on, as is often the case with psychotic episodes, Brandon kept drinking and using drugs. On the day that Aaron contacted Brandon to tell him that he wanted to visit him on his drive to Alabama though, Brandon's fantasies turned into reality. Brandon's parents were gone and Aaron would be all alone in the home with him overnight, creating the perfect opportunity to attack and kill his best friend. The ease of the plan cemented in Brandon's mind the fact that everything was falling into place for the slaying, in Brandon's words, it was his so-called prophecy. While Brandon was working at the gym earlier in the day, he thought in depth about how he was going to kill Aaron. He knew that he could only go through with the murder if he and Aaron were drunk, so he took him out and made his friend who rarely had alcohol drink to excess. Brandon also bought a bottle of red wine to bring back to the house, making sure that if the beers and whiskey weren't enough, the wine would be. While Aaron's girlfriend thought maybe there was something sexual occurring between the two friends, this was not the case. With the facts laid forward during the sentencing hearing, it became crystal clear that Brandon had only one intention with Aaron, and that was to kill him. He also talked about having dark fantasies and obsessions with movies like American Psycho. He wanted to prove that he wasn't a loser because he felt like if you have everyone fooled, that means you're not a loser. And he, at different points, expresses that he felt he wouldn't be a loser if he didn't kill someone, that he desired to be charismatic, that he desired to be, quote, the top dog psychopath. At a different point, in one of his evaluations, he distinguishes himself from Ted Bundy, which again kind of shows that he sort of has this preoccupation with serial killers. He's obsessed with Christian Bale's character in American Psycho. He knows enough about Ted Bundy to distinguish himself from Ted Bundy and make a comment that showed he recognized what Ted Bundy had done. He was familiar with hydrochloric acid. He had watched Dommer on Netflix. We knew that from the police celebrate of his phone. And so again, these things, he has these preoccupation with these things. And this also kind of puts into light the earlier searches for no country from Oldman that is after he's killed Aaron in between his different searches to try to cover up his crime, is he's also still watching movies again on this subject matter. Ultimately, his dark fantasy becomes realized. And that's when he kills Aaron. The prosecutor then read a portion of Brandon's recollection of his thoughts before the murder. He shared during an interview with a forensic psychologist. I don't remember a single thought. I knew what I had to do. I was a man with a plan. I got up on the roof and stopped my prey. I became a carnal animal like in a dream. I saw that he was laying on the bed in there. I hid behind the pillar for a second to make sure that he didn't see. And the defendant reported that he started feeling emotion for the first time as he was killing Aaron, but then he later says, the only emotion that I felt was surprised that I could have done it or that I could have changed my reality so drastically by doing one move. These are his words about how he felt as he was killing his best friend. Brandon also said that the chase from police after their search of his home was fun for him, comparing it to a casual game of tag. I was feeling pretty good then. I knew that was supposed to happen, me running from the police. I also loved playing tag and it was fun. I'd had dreams about being pursued by the police for something like this. I had a dream in the springtime where I stabbed Aaron in the neck and he wouldn't die. So I thought the dream came true. Again, this is some sort of dark fantasy of his, but it is also exciting for him and it is enjoyable. He's likening this to a child game of playing tag and this is where he's running from the police after he has killed his best friend. During the sentencing, it came to light that when Brandon's parents picked him up from the gym after he fled, after he confessed to murdering Aaron and told them where the remains were, Brandon sang along to the radio in the car as if nothing happened during their drive to the police station. Brandon Reisner was severely unwell and he had thought about killing people for a long time, remembering as far back as the spring before he'd murdered his best friend Aaron. He also has had thoughts of harming others. In the spring of 2022, he started having dreams about hurting or killing others. He reported liking these dreams. These ultimately evolved into dreams specifically of killing family members or other people he knew and then they became an actual desire to kill. He has thought about killing a homeless person. He's thought about going into downtown Rome with an ax. He once brought a knife while running errands in order to quote, find someone to kill. He considered stabbing a male stranger that he saw near his car once and he hid a knife in a bag at a family gathering that summer that included Aaron and he reported that he was hugging the bag that had the knife in it while having interactions with Aaron and his own brother. All of this excited him. He called it a thrill that was related to something unallowed, but it also was connected to his desire to be powerful and influential after he felt that he failed at being good. Aaron Davis just so happened to be the first and only victim of a deeply disturbed person, but it became clear during Brandon's sentencing hearing that he would have killed anyone if given the chance. In fact, there was an incident that occurred just 10 days before the murder while Brandon's parents were still away on vacation. That could have just as well ended in brutal violence. Brandon's parents had hired a young woman to pet sit their dog while they were traveling. According to the woman, one day Brandon came home at an unexpected time and began drinking, offering her her own mixed drink. The woman refused it, feeling that 21-year-old Brandon had bad intentions. After she retired for the night to the guest bedroom she was staying in, Brandon repeatedly tried to enter the room, attempting to initiate sexual contact with her. She eventually pretended to fall asleep hoping it would stop him. Instead, Brandon stood in the darkened doorframe of the room for much of the night, watching her as she pretended to sleep. Unsurprisingly, the next day she left the home as she felt unsafe being in Brandon's presence any longer. While we will never likely know whether Brandon had the intention to kill or assault the pet sitter, she didn't stay around long enough to find out. But her recollection certainly sounded similar to the manner in which Brandon watched Aaron sleep from the roof, above that attic before he descended down and started his attack. Unfortunately for Aaron, there were less warning signs as the wannabe serial killer was, by an actuality, just his best friend. As he said, he channeled his homicidal urges into the most successful outcome, killing Aaron. Aaron was a fly that fell into the defendant's web. There's an old saying, welcome to my home, said the spider to the fly, where the spider invites his prey into his home, his web, in order to kill him. That is exactly what the defendant did to Aaron. Just like the fly, once Aaron arrived at the defendant's home, he was the defendant's prey. Brandon Reisner was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He will now sit for the rest of his natural life behind bars in the Macon State Prison. The prison. Aaron Davis was at the start of his life, transitioning into independent adulthood. He had a girlfriend who loved him and a family who rooted for him all along the way. While he certainly had his own secrets, like any other young adult, he had a life of self-exploration ahead of him, and it was all so tragically ripped away by his best friend, someone who was running into roadblocks himself, trying to navigate what his own confusing future looked like. Aaron's family trusted, loved, and looked out for Brandon like he was one of their own children. But instead, he chose to repay them and their kindness in the most diabolical of ways. Brandon knew his thoughts were unrooted in reality and excessive in violence, but he chose to keep his disturbing fantasies all to himself, despite the psychological care his parents had recently gotten him. This finally culminated in Brandon's decision to act upon his delusions. The fact of the matter is, you never know what's going on in someone else's head, and sometimes that may well be for a good reason. This episode was written and produced by Trevor Payson. With editing and engineering by Scott Ecklund. I hope you enjoyed this episode. I'll see you in the next episode. I'll see you in the next episode. To learn more about our work or explore additional premium episodes, visit InvisibleQuire.com and connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and X. Your continued support, whether by listening, sharing, or leaving us a five-star review, helps us keep uncovering the stories that need to be told. Thank you for being a part of the InvisibleQuire community, and remember to never whistle at night.