Hey folks! Thank you for joining me in another video, I appreciate you! We have a couple videos this week, and then you will see a bunch of small improvements in next week's videos and beyond! I'm looking forward to it!
"adult children from seemingly stable good loving homes killing their parent(s) in order to hide their school/work/life failures" can be an entire true crime genre.
@@princesabonita79 was just about to say this, I was writing a comment about Chandler like halfway through this video because it immediately made me think of his case. Its crazy that these kids think killing their parents is a good solution to the problem.
How often do you step on your mom's toes? The implication here is that this has happened multiple times. Once a week? Twice a week? Once a day? My mother was a Saint. I never, ever stepped on her toes. I made a note of where her toes were at all times and I nimbly avoided them. It was not a major challenge. There was Sainted Mom - 6 feet away. OK, apart from the annual hug, which required its own protocols and precautions (no rib squeezing) the plan was to keep a foot and three quarters distance at all times. Some said a foot would suffice; I wanted a warning track. Not Once. Not Once did I step on her toes. I hugged her a bit too robustly on her birthday in 77, but no material damage was done and I adjusted. She was an excellent sport about it. "Well, look who's a clingy mama's boy at 20 years old". I laughed along with everyone else and lapped up the humiliation as punishment. There is no excuse for hurting your mom. Even "accidentally".
The defendant, now an inmate, was sentenced to an indeterminate sentence of 15 years to life. She must serve 15 years before being eligible for parole. I doubt the defendant will get paroled on the first or second appearances.
Her family really said "I don't know why we're doing this"?! Somebody was murdered! Just because you want to let the killer go free doesn't mean that the law will let her literally get away with murder!
exactly. Just because you feel safe around her doesn't mean the public does. She can do this because she didn't want to talk to her mother about why she wasn't in college imagine what she would do to a boss as somebody else and a type of authority position.@@haji818721
I never get that. The dad saying he’s trying to keep the family together? Seriously? The family had been broken by what Sydney did. And her family was still babying her. Like seriously open your damn eyes! She took someone’s life cause she wasn’t getting her way. Smh
steve already lost his wife. do you mean to say that he should lose his daughter at the same time? why would you wish so much additional pain upon the family?
What kind of psychosis enables you to answer a phone, pretend to be your mother and reassure the person on the other end that everything is fine?? Also if she really felt any remorse she would've immediately confessed instead of fabricating a whole "someone broke in!" story. I think the judicial system made the right decisions here. My condolences to the families and people affected. You can hear sounds of people sobbing during the sentencing, this is heart breaking. Edit: fixing typos.
She appears to ne be a spiteful , spoilt teenager who, for once, didn't get her own way. She was clearly old and informed enough to know what she was doing was wrong, even it was a knee jerk reaction .
Pretty sure sydney was just in a fit of rage because she got caught lying.... Liars and narcissists get angry when they're exposed. It's what they do 100% of the time.
You know, I bet she was already trashing the house in a rage when her mom came in. She hears her coming in, pauses, hears her talking to the _school_ and flips even more and grabs a knife
@@nikkimclay5474 She excelled in school because she was a minor living under her parents house and following her parents rules. The moment she went to college and moved out she no longer wanted to live by her parents rules and expectations. It's obvious she didn't care about school, it's her parents who did. She was done living by her parents rules.
I've known quite a few narcissistic people and Sydney is obviously a narcissist. She 100% got pissed that her lies were being uncovered and she no longer had control over the situation and she got angry and lashed out. She had no psychosis, she had anger management issues and a controlling personality. I'm appalled that her family is supporting her through all of this, she certainly does not deserve it.
I actually did something similar about lying involving college. It destroyed my family for years and i had to work my ass off to get my parents respect and trust back. During that entire 4 year period of my lying, and it being discovered, I never thought of killing or harming my parents. This is heartbreaking. Those poor parents
What was the push that made you come clean? My neice lied about her University, and I became suspicious but my mother was in total denial and continued to fork over thousands of pounds. Even after the truth became obvious, my neice has never outright confessed, apologised or offered to repay my mother.
Which is exactly what makes this, and cases like this, so difficult to judge. She may well have been psychotic at the time she murdered her mother, then in a more lucid and terrified state, she may have subsequently attempted to stage the scene as a break in. That said, impersonating her mom on the phone? I doubt that was a decision made by a sane mind. It's a shame that two psychiatrists both agreed she was not in her right mind, but suggested very different diagnoses... Just muddies the waters even further. If she were rapid-cycling bipolar, this behavior could very well make sense - from the lying to the violence, even without an acute psychotic state - but, with two different diagnoses (one suggesting schizotypal bipolar and the other schizophrenia, if I understood correctly), which present in very different ways, it makes it difficult to trust that either of those psychiatrists had it right. Then there's the almost... Callous behavior exhibited in the court room: smiling when she's on trial for murdering her own mother, claiming she was not sane at the time..? An extremely odd expression to make, given the circumstances. Allegedly, she was being treated for her mental health at this point, so... Either way, this case is one which I, personally, would label as impossible to judge her state of mind. Whether she was schizophrenic, bipolar, simply experienced a brief state of psychosis, or none of the above, the fact remains that she lied to everyone she knew about just about everything in her life for months on end, ultimately leading to the savage murder or her own mother and her fear-induced feeble attempts at misleading investigators. She belongs in a psychiatric hospital until the point which she's been deemed mentally sound, if that ever were to occur, and then from that point onward she belongs in prison. I don't really understand why our society is so lenient with violent mentally ill offenders... At the end of the day, mental health diagnoses are largely educated guesswork (which is why we see so often mental health professionals disagreeing wildly on diagnoses of the same individual) rooted in biased and often, historically, pseudoscientific belief systems, with very little evidence that a method of diagnosing an individual has any efficacy whatsoever. Don't misunderstand me: psychiatry and psychology are not completely baseless and the existence of psychiatric disorders is provable (and genuine scientific evidence backs up just about every disorder we currently know of) but when it comes to the actual process of sitting down with another person and identifying the disorder that best matches their symptoms... That's not particularly evidence-based. If I go to a psychiatrist and tell them that I'm exhausted all the time, that I have zero motivation, that I get frustrated easily and distracted quickly, that I often don't want to get out of bed, they'll likely diagnose me with clinical depression. In reality, I have ADHD (causing distraction, motivational issues, frustration), am physically disabled (in a way that is not visible to others, causing low energy, exhaustion, persistent physical pain, and so on) and am autistic (specifically, I have PDA - Pathological Demand Avoidance). No amount of antidepressants or talk therapy will help me. Despite this, for two decades, I was repeatedly misdiagnosed as depressed and have been on practically every antidepressant under the sun, with most having little impact beyond the long list of awful side effects. The only ones that helped were ones effecting primarily norepinephrine, which, no surprise, is because they also treat ADHD. Anyway, my point here is that psychiatrists and psychologists are extraordinarily fallible. The existence of mental health disorders, for the most part, is provable with science (usually via brain scans). The existence of a specific disorder, or any disorder at all, in a single individual, is likewise provable using those methods... But they're prohibitively expensive, and in the vast majority of cases, the methods used boil down to one individual having a conversation with another and ticking the boxes on checklists for common disorders until one or more match, and then allowing their gut feeling to lead them to the first diagnosis they wish to try out, medicating, and rinse and repeat until a medication appears to work well enough. Hardly a science- or evidence-based approach, so it's extremely easy for bias, human error, deliberate or malicious manipulation, and other problems to impact the conclusion a psychiatrist or psychologist ultimately comes to.
The way Sydney is being believed by her family is insulting to people who suffer from psychosis. She is like Chandler Halderson, she doesn’t deserve mercy.
Completely agree. I wouldn’t want her living under my roof after that. She wasn’t out of her mind an hour before when she got away with it with her dad.
Not just insulting, but it paints us as dangerous when most of the time, we’re not (though I do fear I’ve unintentionally damaged trust and can’t trust most memories for the past few years, I can’t imagine harming someone without believing it was in self defence and I’d feel awful after realising what was going on) and people like this who claim it just to get away from responsibility.
Ya, college was miles easier than my high school 😂 High school was 8 grueling hours of homework on a good day. College was an hour or two of work at most and “as long as you show up for your tests and turn in your work we dont care if you come to class” 😅
My guess is she had rarely, if ever, heard the word No over her lifetime. We all have to learn to deal with not getting what we want; or this is the result.
Exactly! A few streets from me, a guy tried to kill his entire family bc he failed out of college and was due to head back from winter break. I'll never understand how he thought killing everyone e would be better than telling them he failed
Seriously, I would think they would be 100% understanding. We had our son flunk out his freshman year, he was scared to tell us, I don't know why. We really didn't care, because college is not for everyone.
@@haji818721 you never know, not all parents operate like that. Some place the weight of the world on their kids and when they don’t live up to those expectations it can end in verbal or physical abuse, disownment and a bunch of other things as well as bunch of other reasons why a parent may not have the same reaction as y’all.
Fr. This story kinda hits close to home since I see so many parallels in my own life. I’m also behind schedule in college, I’ve failed out of 1 college and been on academic probation more than once. I have had super low self esteem since early middle school and feel like a failure and that I’m behind my peers all the time. A bunch of other factors ended up culminating in a suicide attempt a few years ago that led to me being diagnosed with severe major depressive disorder, severe anxiety disorder, and ADHD. I remember the fear, shame, anxiety, guilt, and embarrassment I felt and still feel to this day. All that said I would NEVER think of hurting my parents like any other regular person. What happened in those situations was I faced the music and took whatever punishment I got. Then we worked together to formulate a game plan on how to get back on track. This case seems almost unfathomable. Such an insane reaction to a very fixable situation. Like when this all started she wasn’t even kicked out just on probation. Such a senseless crime.
Sydney was angry, embarrassed, frustrated, ashamed, ... but not psychotic. My brother did pretty much the same thing, "leaving" classes yet not telling my family. Her actions are in no way justified.
@@adamhalcyon3393The mother could have been more strict and had higher expectations for her daughter. The father probably had a cooler head at the moment, while mother seemed super upset, hence leaving work and being on the phone with the school when she got home to confront her daughter.
I saw no tears or a grief muscle. And the smile captured in court,where she obviously corrected herself 😮. 😢Sadly, her family is deluded, and my heart goes out to them.
@graciegardener It's a furrow between your eyebrows that can only be created by genuine sorrow. Almost like a wheel. Greg can do it because he lost his son.
I did something similar in college, lied and failed out. So ashamed and spiraled out of control. When my parents found out, i attempted to take my own life. I was a liar and incredibly manipulative. I never thought of hurting or killing anyone, only myself. Took me years to regain trust from my family and rebuild my life
If I may ask, what causes young adults to start failing once they enter college? She went from doing really well to the exact opposite. Would really like to understand what happened. It sounds as if you could give some insight.
This girl was the most manipulative person I've ever experienced in a trial. To try to get off by claiming insanity when she was clearly just an overprivalaged brat who was used to not having to make any effort in life is just horrid! The fact that she STILL had her entire family wrapped around her little finger was SO troubling...had them begging not to have charges pressed against her!!!! Are you joking?!?!? Really??? Sure, she's an adult...so let's let her off without taking any responsibility for her actions. Absolutely ridiculous!!!
also she was supposedly a good student yet flunked her classes at a school with a 76% acceptance rate? Not to sound elitist but I have never heard of that school and when I looked it up, I can't iminagine it being super rigorous compared to some...in Ohio; tragic case, kind mother and wife brutally killed
Some people can't process their family member just being a stone cold selfish killer so they need to fall behind the "insanity" reasoning for their own sanity - esp when they can't see the manipulation right under their noses that has been going on for years. They need to remember the good little girl she was for their own sake.
@@rockrangel this is true. I flunked one class in undergrad at UNC. I was so embarrassed. My mother was more mad about the wasted tuition money than the F haha.
I also felt she had fragile ego and low self-esteem, if such thing like failing in semester shook so much of her confidence then she wasn't ready for life at all. Being excellent in high school could have a lot of reasons but clearly she was never challenged if she crumbled suddenly. And the fact she was comparing herself to other peers feeling like a failure made her drop the school says me she can't stand someone being successful besides her
I could. If you can give but not take; keep youd hands, opinions, threats, ect to yourself. Its not making sense tho. She told her dad seemingly with ease, but lost it on mom. Somethings not adding up. Mom didnt take it well considering the yelling on the on the phone. It sucks the call log wasnt added to the video.
She was just like me. I was also a consistent honor student from grade school to high school but everything went downhill when I reached my 2nd year in University because I had depression and kinda felt lost along the way like I didn’t know what I’m doing anymore. Almost ended my own life. Glad I made it through and got my sanity back. Kids, stay in school and please don’t hurt your parents. Jesus Christ.
yeah I think common to feel lost in college, and its hard, very hard to get good grades compared to high school. It really seems like she had good parents too.... a part of me hopes that it really wasn't like she meant to hurt her mom, and it really was a crazy psychotic break but stabbing her 37 times, and trying to cover up the crime..... yeah.....
Or don't stay in school unless you want to be there. Too much pressure to please or be accepatable to parents and others is a real problem. Go to work after high school instead and get a perspective, then go back to school if you really want to. Don't do it because it's expected of you.
My mom passed away days before Christmas 2022. When I hear about spoiled brats like her it makes me so angry. I'd give anything to see my mom one more time.
I went to high school with Sydney. We played soccer together. I will never get used to seeing her face on my favorite true crime channels. Haunting. RIP Brenda :(
I went to the same high school as you, but I ended up leaving my junior year because of asbestos exposure, I was slated to graduate in 2024--70 years after my grandmother, who went to the original St. Vincent HS in the early 50s. my girlfriend graduated in 2023, and is a freshman at Ohio University. I'm a senior at Jeffrey Dahmer's high school and will be graduating this spring.
@@timothyharris1125 I thought of LeBron. The killer went to his high school too. S/N should have got life in prison, should have been no controversy or anything honestly.
Same, I haven't spoken to my mother in over five years because of what she put me through. But I couldn't imagine doing what this girl did to her mother.
I haven’t spoken to my dad in over 8yrs. I don’t have a good relationship with my mom. I didn’t even have a childhood because of them & NEVER contemplated killing either. Ever.
This is wild. I was just academically suspended after dealing with a ton of health problems and literally my parents were my rock when I found out and they weren't mad at me or disappointed, they just wanted to support me. I'll be going back in May and I wouldn't dream of lying to my parents about it, let alone kill them.
yeah--- Though... I had a similar thing when I got quite a few issues, lost 40 pounds (went from 130 to 90 lb) lost huge patches of hair all over my head, all from the stress of trying to get straight A's in college (and a hormonal issue, insomnia, eating issue and a 5 hour energy addiction). My mom in the beginning thought it was a good thing I was "doing well in school" until she actually saw me again. I think she stopped pressuring me to do well and said being healthy and eating and sleeping right. Her whole life had been "be doctor" "ur so fat" "be better" "better grades"- asian mom style but after seeing me she slowly stopped drilling in my head. I know she was still disappointed in me after the grades dropped down and I started to make friends.... but I also realized they do want to support me. me being alive mattered more even if a disappointment was a disappointment. I think at least my dad was happy for me when I got into the field I am now.
@@marching27so glad you’re getting healthier and taking better care of yourself. Failure is only temporary! Unless you make it permanent by quitting! Hang in there ❤
Yep I was on academic suspension my freshman year because I was in the wrong major and was struggling with my mental health. My parents backed me up 100%. It might be embarrassing, but it’s always best to just be honest. I guess everyone has different relationships with their parents, but this girl seemed to have a supportive mom and dad so it doesn’t really make sense to me.
"And sometimes, in those moments of self-doubt, you must focus on the perspective of those who love you and not your own." This hit me right in the soul. Wonderful advice ❤
Oh boy. Yeah, that's powerful. That's exactly what you need to think about at the very moment you're about to do something selfish whether in word or deed. It can be hard to put others first at critical moments.
The grandparents must have a lot of faith to let her stay at their home. I’d be terrified to look at her the wrong way, especially with her supposed ‘mental break!’
I think the fact that she attempted to cover up the crime by staging a break in proves that she knew what she was doing. She’s a master manipulator. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of a child murdering their parents to protect the lie that they dropped out. This also isn’t the first time we’ve seen a murder blamed on a robbery.
The fact that she attempted to cover up the crime is what negated any chance she had at getting a not guilty by insanity plea. You can't try to act like you didn't know what was happening or what your actions really were by immediately trying to stage a cover up.
I'm 44 yrs old and I STILL need my mother! The love, respect and loyalty I have for her is outta this world. The thought of harming or even mouthing off to her is insane! I CAN NOT relate to these kind of ppl who can even "think" like let alone act on thoughts of killing a parent is beyond me!
That just means you are a part of the lucky few who was raised by a loving parent. You are extremely blessed, I don't know anyone in my social circle who speaks of their parents the way you do. I wish for you that your bond with your mom lasts very long. Embrace it.
The footage of her sitting in court with a tissue to her face is both laughable and infuriating. She's obviously not crying; no tears at all. Just hiding her face so the judge will see how "sorry" she is. It's disgusting. I'm sure the fact that her parents were well off didn't influence the court...(said sarcastically). Minimum 15 years?!? WTF??? I was floored when I heard that her maternal grandmother was supporting her. I can't tell if her family is delusional, have been manipulated by Sydney so long that they're clueless, or just plain stupid.
I love your work Adrian. I was introduced to your channel by my bestest friend Sherri K. She unexpectedly died recently and I just want to give her a shout out. She never missed an episode. Keep up your good work.
Our elders are so precious. Every hour we spend w/ them will be a treasure, when we someday won’t get to do so anymore. I miss all four of my grandparents so much, and i love thinking back on times we enjoyed together
Mother's love you before you are born. The first heartbeat you hear is your Mom's. My Mom was the best, as I got older she was not only my Mom but my best friend. She was the most amazing Grandma to my sons, we were so deeply blessed to have her. She passed away Nov 23rd 2022 at only 72yrs old after a long battle with cancer. There has not been 1 day that we haven't missed her. Those of us blessed with amazing Mom's are so lucky. I always say my Mom taught me everything except how to live without her. Obviously everyone that's commented on this post cherishes their Mom's 💞 we are all blessed to have wonderful Mom's!! 💞
lol I flunked out of college tried to hid it got called out after a week or two but I didn't get mad at my parents I felt embarrassed and ashamed and just took responsibility. never would I think of hurting my parents for my failures
She knew her father knew everything that had gone on. She did not harm him and she was not as close to him as she was her mother. Why kill her mother when she was so close to her? She would have likely been better understood by her mother due to that close relationship. It's baffling to me why she killed her mother.
I remember lying to my mom about attending classes after dropping out. It was a grueling experience lying to her for months on end and when she inevitability found out, the situation wasn't pretty. But college wasnt meant for me and life moves on. No matter how dark life seems to get, it is never worth taking a life - whether it be your own life or someone elses'.
@@isajoy6961 That's rough. Have you confessed yet? I don't know your exact situation, but the anxiety and guilt you may have from maintaining the lie is probably making you suffer way worse than the fallout of coming cleaning would. If your major or college in general isnt for you, then it's not for you. Your parents will just have to make peace with that, even if they do have a right to be angry about the lying.
@@Jeriko251 I haven't confessed yet. I'm building more courage and gaining optimism about it ever since I opened up to my parents about how I'm struggling. Just learnt my aunt has been going through smth similar, except she's been hiding it for 20 years...
But my parents and family are endlessly supportive for me. I love them so much and they never fail to remind me. Most of what's stopping me is in my own head. I feel like I'm in the way of myself cuz ik my loved ones will love me either way. Oddly, I feel the most anxiety telling my bf about it. He hasn't shown the most empthy towards mental health. Thanks for asking though, hope you've felt a huge weight lifted off your shoulders after telling them. How did you break the news?
Even when it's a case I've heard before I like to listen to your videos, you present everything with a new perspective and I appreciate your empathy for victims. Thank you for being a great content creator!
How could the Powell family care so little about Brenda’s murder??? Sydney was a manipulative, lying murderer and the family didn’t hesitate to support the murderer rather than the murder victim.
"It is often said that, while we are busy doubting ourselves, others around us are intimidated by our full potential. And sometimes, in those moments of self doubt you must focus on the perspective of those who love you and not your own." Loved that quote!
Definitely a quote I need to live by, having finished university and forced to deal with a new form of the job process and adult life, no one prepared me for and feel inadequate about myself due to it.
Adrian, thank you so much for this video. As a mother who is obsessed with her kids grades, this case have just thought me that few bad grades is not end of the world. When my daughter came to me crying how she can’t figure out her math assignment last week.I told her take a break and just relax and try the next day
It’s okay to NOT get straight A’s! Many perfect kids kill themselves in college because they don’t get straight A’s or 1 B. It’s so sad😢and such a waste of talent! I know I don’t ask my doctors if they got straight A’s!
I do hope you treat your children as children, with the love, grace and compassion they deserve instead of controlling and dictating them. The world is harsh enough, let your kids be kids. They arent robots.
I hope you go easy on them. My mother was always obsessed with my grades, to the point that anything less than an A just wasn't good enough. I was burned out by the time I reached my final year of high school and completely flunked it because there was no support, only constant demands to study more and more. If she'd let me take breaks when I was younger, I would have done a lot better in my final year.
@@boba3331 thank you so much for your comment. I do go easy on them in fact way too easy sometimes, she’ll come home with straight B’s but instead of me congratulating her I’ll say why can’t you get A’s? And I regretted saying that to her, I apologise to her and told her I just don’t want her to end up like me a high school dropout. She attends one of the most expensive private schools in Sydney, and since I stay out of her business she’s doing pretty well
I'm sorry, as a Psych major in college, one of the things we focused on was Schizoaffective Disorder. As soon as Adrian said that diagnosis, I turned to my boyfriend and said "oh, no, she'd be showing symptoms before this happened if that's the case. If she was having a psychotic break, she wouldn't be in the mindset to answer the phone and impersonate her mom." Then the defense said the symptoms started at age 11? No, as you said, it typically kicks in in your 20s. Schizoaffective Disorder is SO disruptive to daily life, the parents, assuming they were paying attention, would have noticed a change in personality. Guilty of at least 2nd degree murder if not 1st degree murder. No doubt in my mind.
The forensic psych evaluations differed on their diagnoses. One said Bipolar/Schizoaffective, another said Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia can appear in children, it's just rare. Teenagers are less rare. Still, it's weird that no one saw the signs until after she killed someone. She was definitely actively hiding what was going on for her, pretending everything was fine when it clearly wasn't. That probably extended to her internal life as well. It would help to know more about what her friends in college saw. They didn't seem to notice, even though there was some kind of decline, as she was doing well her first two semesters, then suddenly failing 3 out of 4 subjects. She may not have been in psychosis when she attacked her mother, but if 2 out of 3 forensic psych reports say she has a mental illness, she probably has one.
@@ashleyhess6461 I'm just hypothesizing, if that wasn't clear. I'm going off the symptoms they taught us in the DSM-5. They might be working off the ICD.
Yeah, doesn’t that also have a prodrome? Not a major, but I have an adjacent disorder (MDD w/ psychotic elements) that gave me motive to at least learn about it. Granted, for me it kicked in at 17, but 11 is ridiculously early as well.
I personally feel that this girl was ill and that she was not in her right state of mind. And it is upsetting that she had stated that she had issues at the age of eleven and that was discarded because it was rare. People can hide mental health issues for years from everyone and even at a young age. This is a very sad story for the whole family.
@@blackswan5095 No. Borderline Personality Disorder is NOT THE RIGHT OF MIND. Symptoms include Self Image Issues, Anger Issues, Relationship Issues, Emotional Instability, Suicidal Thoughts, and Impulsive Behaviors. Prosecutors only care about their court wins instead of doing actual research
The fifteen years to life will certainly ensure that there will be more cases like this. How these courts can hand down such short sentences for a life is astounding and seemingly becoming shorter every year. RIP Brenda.
@@NopiusMaximus Yes, 100 percent. It is her minimum sentence. Unless she appeals, but there is literally no grounds for her to appeal on. She was provided with excellent counsel, she was allowed to have pretty much any and all evidence they wanted admitted. Unless there was some jury tampering, she will serve her 15.
That statement you made really resonated with me. During the times when you are feeling self doubt, lean on those who do not doubt you and who love and support you.
15 years minimum? What BS. Other people get sentenced to 40+ years for murder for hire. Murdering your own family is worse, so how and why did she get 15 years minimum? Outrageous.
This story is so wild to me. I just can’t understand. I had to tell my parents that I was pregnant when I was 19. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do… my dad told me I had ruined the family name. How much I embarrassed the whole family. I was written out of my grandparents’ will for many years. My grandfather didn’t speak to me for many years. I can’t imagine getting this worked up over grades and a suspension to where you would kill one of your parents over it! Especially since she was supposedly so close to her mom. It makes zero sense to me.
Thank you for the video, Adrian. Your videos are helping me get through a tough time right now as I recently learned my mom has breast cancer. Your videos help me take my mind off the stress for at least a little bit
Akron is a terrible place. The airport closes at 8pm. I got stranded there when Delta had their big outage some years ago and I've never forgiven the city for being so horrible.
I can't imagine my life without my mom. I'm 45. What goes so wrong in a child that this becomes a viable option in their life? Adrien, you are so respectful and very compasionate in your delivery regarding the victims in these god awful cases. I appreciate your content so much!!
@mamabrantingtherapist I completely agree, I’m 42 and I don’t know how I’ll manage without my parents, even though they live 3000 miles away. My grandmother had vascular dementia and during her last week, said she felt sad her mother didn’t visit her as often. She was 90 and still needed her mother at the end.
sadly, not everyone loves their mom like this, nor does every mom deserve this kind of love. i'm 45 too and i truly don't care when the day comes i no longer have a mom. my dad however is another story, probably still not at the level of your mom though. count yourself very very lucky. ❤
@@fernfunk This is true.. People who speak so positively of their parents are like unicorns to me. The only good thing my mom did was give birth to me. Nothing positive happened after that. Giving birth makes you a mother by definition, but it doesn't make you a parent. Some people have children for all the wrong reasons. For money, to save a relationship, for winning court cases, for getting priority in housing, for a fetish, there's more.
By attempting to cover her crimes that immediately negates an insanity defense. If someone commits a crime out of psychosis they don’t have control of their actions, and DO NOT have the wherewithal to try to cover up their crimes. The family has NO SAY in whether she should be prosecuted, she didn’t steal money or go joy riding in her parents car… she committed a viscous attack on her mother and the states roll is to get JUSTICE for the victim, and get her of the street so she doesn’t go postal again and commit these heinous acts on other people. She stabbed her mother like 40 times… I forget exactly and that is RAGE. Terrifying RAGE!
I Lost my MOM 7 years ago this past February 27th, she was only turning 66 ,Watching her pass away was the Hardest thing I ever faced in My Life, I could Never imagine doing anything horrible or Hurtful to her, This young lady is where she belongs
I agree... and I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm 57 and my mom is 85. I take care of her every day. I do anything and every thing, happily, to make her life a wonderful place. I can't imagine doing anything to hurt her. My mind can't comprehend it. This girl is a monster. I hope you are well and again I'm sorry for your loss 🙏
@ryblack5032. All my sympathy and deepest condolences, we are lucky to have any parant live for more than 75. Remember the good days and play happy songs. Children who respect their parents and don't hide things, are scarse to find. Big hug from me, all the way from South Africa. 🤗
@@ryblack5032 I'm so sorry for your loss. 😔💚 Ten years ago, in June, I watched my mom pass away from metastatic breast cancer. She was only 56 years young. She was my best friend, and I miss her every single day. 💛 Grief comes in waves. Time doesn't make things better, but it does make things different. Take care of yourself, and continue talking about your mom so her legacy can live on through you. Sending tons of love and virtual hugs to you and your family.
It’s pride. Some people can’t live up to the expectations of their families and deny their failures. They would go as far as to lie to their parents because of the fear of humiliation, getting scorned and judged. Instead of facing the fear of consequences, they do the unthinkable. All to silence the sound of the truth. Now they suffer more consequences.
Hard to diagnose from a distance. Something went wrong. Although people will risk life and limb to avoid humiliation. This was an awful happening. I wish that there had been earlier communication and it all had gone another way. Just don't ever kill anyone no matter how stirred up you may be in the moment. Drop back and regroup. Think it through. You can take a year off and try again. Not everyone needs to get a college degree after all.
If her flat mate didn't notice anything wrong with her, then there wasn't anything wrong, at least not the level of mental health problem that could excuse her actions. Add to that the fact that she tried to impersonate her mother on the phone, that would not tie in with a psychotic break or other mental ill health. I think she is someone that sailed through life with no difficulties and when she suddenly had such huge difficulties she simply flipped.
Her behaviour had been deceitful & selfish for longer than just the incident of murdering her Mom. There was the whole dropping out of college & doing who knows what, and hiding that as well. So not, imo, a one-off psychotic break.
Also think that parents should NOT pressure children to achieve and they should be aware of their childrens’ lives and LISTEN to them. They also need boundaries and to be aware of the consequences of their actions though. (The delicate balance of love.)
See I did drop out of uni, I know how it feels, the shame and panic, not knowing how to tell my mum, keeping up a lie until I had to admit I dropped out. I should mention it was also around covid time so I was struggling and I have health issues. Fortunately, I've been able to be reenroled and I'm going to be doing my final year next year to get my degree. My mum had supported me and encouraged me to try to get back in and get my degree
This sounds like a privileged child who has never been told no in her entire life, has a "best friend" instead of a mother and had Daddy wrapped around her finger. She had been praised for every breath she took her entire life and simply couldn't handle being called out on her behavior. The very fact that her family was like "we shouldn't be holding her responsible for her actions. She only killed her mother and none of us care about it, so you should let this drop." Paints the picture very clearly. Besides, crazy people who don't know they did anything wrong do not try to cover their tracks. Seeing her smiling and laughing during the proceedings shows she truly believed that she was going to get away with it.
At this point, in light of recent true crime stories, I'd say if you find out your kids lying about going to college, just go ahead and pack up your stuff and leave the state. Don't tell them where you went.
Sydney and her mother Brenda had a loving and healthy relationship until the day they didn’t. Until the day Sydney conveniently decided to UN-ALIVE her mother. Sydney had ZERO Mental Health issues then all of a sudden she plays the Schizophrenia Card to try to get a pass to the PSYCH WARD (she make it hard for people that REALLY do have Mental Health issues) vice JAIL. Parents please teach your children that you can’t MURDER your loved ones and then play the CRAZY or SELF DEFENSE CARD. Teach them to take responsibility for their actions. That they can’t just MURDER someone just because life/school isn’t going the way they’d hoped it would. Thank God the jurors saw through her bull💩👏🏾🙌🏾. Shame on you Sydney.
I'm not a medical expert, but if she is not dealing with serious mental issues this case breaks my heart. I would give everything to get my mother back. She died three months ago due to cancer. I'm not my old self since then and never will be. My best friend who loved me dearly and always protected me is not here anymore. I feel my heart ripped out, my better half is missing. So much pain....I can't help but envy those who still has their mother. She was my treasure.
Being intelligent doesn't mean you're guaranteed to pass a test. Smart people still have to study, they're just better at it. If she was partying, skipping class, and not studying, she would definitely have failed her exams.
Her family is rationalizing her act of killing her own mother, perhaps shielding her from accountability since her upbringing may not have instilled accountability for her actions. During her sentencing, she showed no tears, indicating sadness solely for receiving the sentence. While she might experience remorse or suffer from anxiety or depression now, neither justifies the cold-blooded act of murder.
Loved the title on this one! Teenage/child killers are the most terrifying of all. Such a deep level of manipulation and lack of empathy, at such a young age, just gives me chills. You can see the light in Brenda by her big beautiful smile, and the sparkle in her eyes. And it's just heart-wrenching that someone snuffed all of that life out. Peace to the family.
Interesting, because for me it's exactly the opposite: it's easy to understand why a child would commit a crime (children are extremely cruel, they don't have fully matured brains, they don't know how to regulate their feelings, and don't fully realize the consequences of their actions, the idea that children are innocent angels is bs, they learn empathy and love, or hate and distruction for others, from people around them, they are not born like this). I can't say the same about adults who commit crimes, there are no excuses for them, they should be able to understand why it's wrong to hurt people.
I don't GAF what everyone else here is saying. She was very, very close to her mother her entire life, yet kills her suddenly over something like that? What advantage would it bring her? No. Say what you want- she had a psychotic break.
I don’t blame her family for loving her, however if they think she can just walk away from murder and protect her then that’s a threat to society. She needed to be jailed and away from Anyone else she might “snap” at.
The engagement in the comment section is good for boosting Adrian's content in the algorithm (i.e. video more likely to show up on people's feed/searches) so you are contributing to his success by commenting!!! 🥰
it is SO EASY for a person today to claim to be "insane" at the time of a crime........that she staged a break-in and acted as her mother on the phone shows she knew what she was doing.... as for the family...they saw nothing over her life time to suggest an issue.......something just does not occur without a sign..... she just could not face her . mother......or her friends....
I think it was somewhere in between, clearly murder in the heat of passion, and then she panicked and quickly tried to cover it up. But I don't think she put much thought into it prior. It sounds like her parents were a bit helicopter'y, clearly she was pretty terrified of admitting she couldn't cut university life.
This is honestly insane to me... this kid brutally ends her mother's life and the family is like, nah its water under the bridge we dont need to worry about it? Like, what? Did the mom's life just not matter to the rest of the family? This is insane. And nah, i dont believe the insanity defense for a single minute. She was probably just frustrated with her life and seeing her friends do better in college and snapped when she heard her mother on the phone with her school. And the fact that she tried to cover up evidence, shes guilty. I hope she never gets out.
Even in the most disturbing of cases, Adrian’s voice is always a soothing and grounding element amidst chilling details… thanks for another great video. ❤️
Thank you for covering this case and giving Brenda focus! I've watched a few videos on this case and it always seemed like Brenda was ignored, even testimonies of the family spoke admirably of Sydney as if she was the victim with Brenda just simply forgotten.
It makes me sad that Brenda was quickly forgotten by her family as they tried to defend her MURDERER. They wanted to move on with their lives like nothing happened. Sydney is evil. She showed more emotion over her losing 15 yrs of her life more than she did over killing her mom. The scratching the pavement was an act, no doubt.
This is wild. My parents were all about our schooling, my sister is a dr now. I failed community college. My parents were super disappointed in me, but i never thought of lying to them about it much less unaliving them over it.
Looking at her body language during the sentencing, I noticed something. She did not have one single tear running down her face. Her nose and eyes were not red and there was no swelling. She didn't shed a tear. In both cases. She felt like shit, sure. But for herself, probably. Not for anyone else. So I don't think she had a psychosis. I think she was feeling cornered by her own lies, panicked and killed her mom in a panic. I know a case of a girl who did have a psychosis in her life. Only one psychosis. Never did she have any mental problems before. Until one day she snapped and killed her little baby cousin. The baby was 3 months old and she believed she had to kill him to prevent the devil from taking his soul. She was supported by her family, including the parents of the baby. Why? Because she was admitted to a mental hospital and got heavy medication. After a while she cleared up and realized what she had done. She was traumatized by what she had done and woke up screaming every night. Before she realized, she didn't have any nightmares what so ever. Also, she stated from the beginning she wasn't crazy and people just needed to listen to her, because she was telling the truth. Now, those are two things liars won't do. They do not say they're not crazy, but try really hard to prove they are crazy. Another thing liars can't fake are nightmares. You have them or you don't. And during her haze of the psychosis, she didn't have any nightmares. But when she fully comprehended what she had done, the nightmares came. That is something you cannot fake either. She is now free and under care. She is off the meds and is living a normal life without any mental health problems, except for the trauma she has by killing her cousin. She is getting help with that too. She never has been in trouble again. So yeah, Sydney isn't sick. She isn't suffering from anything that made her kill her mom and being able to get away with it. She tried hard to convince people she was crazy. Crazy people will never do that, because they believe that the rest of the world is nuts. To fully understand that, take a look in the mirror. You see yourself. Now, someone of your family is all of a sudden saying to you that you are someone with a different gender or skin color (pick one the total opposite of what you really are). And you tell them you are not what they say you are. But everyone is joining in. Just imagine what that feels like. It is scary and it is angering. Because you are 100% sure they are nuts and you know who you are. You see it in the mirror, right? That is how it feels to be crazy, in a psychosis. Everyone is crazy, but you are sane. (No, I never had a psychosis or a mental illness. Have a colleague that is schizophrenic with psychosis. And she explained to me how it felt.)
I love your channel. Thank you for all hard work you put into the videos. I'm in Columbus, Ohio and remember when this happened, So senseless, you tell the stories with so much respct.
Hi Adrian! Just got home from a really long shift... your videos always soothe me with your calm voice and the sensitivity you show. Perfect timing this evening. Take care of you x
One never know with kids/humans, there are always room for surprices, positive and negative. One can just do one's best rasing kids, let them go, hope for the best and cross fingers. there is always some factors one never can control,.
Would love to see you cover the case of Ricardo Medina Jr., the Power Rangers actor who stabbed his roommate, Josh Sutter, to death with a Conan the Barbarian replica sword. It was an interesting case, not just because it involved a celebrity, but there's a lot of controversy over how much fault Medina should have taken. At first it was being treated as self-defense, cause Sutter broke into Medina bedroom where he was with his girlfriend to escape the argument, but then they tried to get him for First Degree Murder because it was revealed he had stabbed Sutter multiple times. Finally, Medina agreed to Voluntary Manslaughter and got six years, but only served three due to Covid. This case only really got coverage when it first happened, so would love to see it get a proper video, not to mention more info about who Josh Sutter was.
When it comes to celebrity murders. I would love it if he covered the story of Joe Son. A Korean wrestler who played Random Task, a spoof of Oddjob in the first Austin Powers movie. On Christmas Eve of 1990, he and a friend repeatedly tortured and raped a girl they kidnapped in the middle of the night. This crime went unsolved until 2011.
