AI Summary
5 min readOn the morning of September 22, 2006, Brian Draper walked through the hallways of Pocatello High School holding a camcorder. He spotted a classmate at her locker and called out: “Hey, look, it’s Cassie. Hello, Cassie.” The girl looked up, shrugged, half-smiled, and moved on with her day. Ten hours later, she was dead. That videotape, which Brian and his friend Tori Adamchuk tried to burn and bury along with the knives and masks used in the murder, became the central piece of evidence in the case. When detectives first watched it in a darkened room, they saw Cassie Stoddard alive—and they saw the two teenagers who would kill her documenting every step of the plan.
The Tape That Changed Everything
The videotape captured the day in fragments. Around noon, Brian and Tori sat in a corner of the school library, whispering into the camera. “I’m sorry Cassie’s family, but she had to be number one,” Brian said. “We had to stick with the plan. And she’s perfect, so she’s gonna die.” This directly contradicted the story Brian had told police in his initial confession—that Tori had acted alone and that the murder was a prank that spiraled out of control. On tape, Brian appeared as the leader, calm and deliberate.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (02:00) **Recap: The Videotape and the Opening Footage** - The hosts set up the episode by reminding listeners that Brian Draper led police to a buried videotape, and they begin playing clips from it.
- 2 (04:20) **The "Apology" and the Shift in Brian's Role** - A lunchtime library clip reveals Brian apologizing to Cassie’s family and declaring she “had to be number one,” showing him as the leader of the plan.
- 3 (06:25) **Casing the House: The 9:54 PM Clip** - Brian films from his car, describing how they just spent an hour inside the house, unlocked the back door, and are now waiting to kill their “two friends.”
- 4 (11:54) **The Post-Murder Tape: “I Stabbed Her in the Throat”** - The most disturbing clip: Brian, filmed two hours after the murder, gleefully describes stabbing Cassie and seeing her “lifeless body just disappear.”
- 5 (15:41) **The Three Brian Drapers** - The hosts contrast the tape’s version of Brian (a determined killer) with his two other personas: the calm, snowballing interviewee and the sobbing, remorseful confessor.
- 6 (18:08) **Tori’s First Interview: The Parents’ Perspective** - Shannon Adamcek describes bringing Tori to the station, believing he was merely grieving the loss of his friend, and never suspecting his involvement.
- 7 (19:45) **Tori’s Lie: The Movie Alibi Crumbles** - Tori immediately deviates from Brian’s story, saying they never went to the movie, but instead planned to break into cars.
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Guests on this episode
Show Notes
In episode three of The Scream Murder: A True Teen Horror Story, Brian Draper is charged with Cassie's murder and a horrifying videotape reveals all.
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