This aired on Friday, May 20th but I didn’t watch it until last night. 20 20 always does a good job of creating captivating and interesting programming. I enjoy the fact that the episodes are 2 hours long because I think you get a fuller picture than you could possibly get in a 1-hour program.
This was the story of Brandon Woodruff who was living what appeared to be a normal life for a 19-year-old Texas kid. His life changed in 2005, when both of his parents were brutally murdered. He was charged and convicted of their murders. He maintains his innocence and lots of people think that the original case had plenty of holes in it. If you watch the episode, you will learn more than I can possibly cover here.
In summary he was gay but still in the closet. He like many others struggled with coming to terms and then being able to tell the world. He was very much hiding this from his family. He went away to College at TCU (Texas Christian University) a private college based in Fort Worth. His personality changed when he got there and I think he was coming to terms more with his sexual identity. This kid and his family had no money. His family managed to scrimp and save to afford 1 semester of college for him on a trial basis. The family had to downsize their home and was in the process of moving when his parents were murdered.
What is odd is that he started hanging with a different crowd at school, buying designer name brand clothes and was a bit obsessed with wearing them. He was flying off to Miami, LA and other places. He told people he was a model. It didn’t take me long to figure out first that he was gay and then that he got into gay porn. I was of course spot on. He did some work for Helix Studios as Bradley Rivers. He had blond hair, a smooth body and in general was good looking.
I saw some of his work last night, I went looking for it and it wasn’t part of the 20 20 episode. They flashed a photo provided by Helix but he was shirtless but otherwise clothed. He wasn’t exactly what I would call an A list porn star but he knew what to do in order to get the job done. This was more lackluster porn than the quality work that Helix produces today but that’s my opinion.
The thought process in convicting him was that if he would lie about a little thing like his sexuality then he for sure would lie about a big thing like murder. Oddly enough he was at a relatives house the weekend a gun and some bullets went missing. The gun was never found. The caliber of the bullets was the same as what was used to commit the crime. He also had a dagger or sword with him at college that his roommate saw but it too went missing about a month before the murders. The dagger was found when his family went to clean out the belongings of the home. Oddly police searched it with a K-9 team and didn’t find anything. When a relative discovered the item, she took it to police who had it forensically examined. It contained blood and DNA of his father. This wasn’t found until years after the verdict was rendered so it wasn’t used as evidence to convict him.
The police used here say from a friend of Brandon’s that My Space page allegedly said that he hated his parents and wanted to see them fucking dead. Police came unglued when they found out that this was here say and didn’t actually exist because they used that as evidence in their affidavit to get an arrest warrant. I don’t know why in the world a police department would use here say and not actual proof but that was a while ago when the digital age was in its infancy. Today I don’t think that would have happened as police are savvier.
The way that 20 20 laid the story out in my mind they removed any suspicion of doubt and I think this guy in fact killed his parents but just can’t come to terms with it. Much like he struggled to come to terms with being gay. I get that murder and sexuality are two very different things. I can relate to the sexual identity issue and having problems accepting it, coming to terms with it and then being able to tell others.
Just because I think he did it doesn’t necessarily mean for sure that he is guilty. I should also point out that there is/was no physical evidence that connects Brandon to the crime. I am not exactly sure how a conviction was secured without that. Double Murder is a serious crime and he got life for it. Once the guilty verdict is rendered you play hell trying to get that conviction vacated. Wrongful conviction does happen and there are lots of people in prison today that do not belong there. Is Brandon one of them? He has appealed and that appeal was recently denied. There is a website freebrandon.org that tells more of his story. Only God & Brandon know for sure if he actually did it. My opinion is just that and has no weight. For him to be innocent the real killer would need to be found and based on the facts I heard it sounds like if he is truly innocent someone did a hell of a good job to frame him. Check out the website, listen to the story on 20/20 and form your own conclusion.
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