Honor Roll Student Kills Mom With Cast Iron Skillet & Steak Knife To Hide Her College Secrets
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ต.ค. 2023
- Full Show Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com
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The idea that she thought killing her mom was less embarrassing than being suspended….dude. I’ve had my fair share of fuck ups in my life. But murder has NEVER crossed my mind to avoid them.
right!? maybe wanting to kms out of embarrassment (jk but yknow what i mean) but not my own MOTHER of all people 😭😭
I understand you. And I think that I wouldn’t of thought to do something like this. The issue here is there’s something else going on between the mother and daughter. And this is just about the pressures and people put on their children or in other cases how parents really spoiled her children In a way that makes them rotten
@@notville_bruh why did you copy the comment above lmao
@@BeautyWithTiffyor the daughter is just fucked up
I know right
I was a high school valedictorian who failed out of two colleges and lost two scholarships. It was devastating and I was not mentally well throughout. I went through black out episodes, panic attacks, etc.
Didn’t kill anybody!
Come on. She’s guilty.
I’m sorry you had to go through that !
I am very sorry for what happened to you . If you don't mind can you please tell me what happened from valedictorian to failed out of two college?
i dont think you can use your experience to speak for hers. do i think she was insane during the murder? idk. but do i think using one persons experience to speak over anothers is fair? no. people handle shit differently.
True, but there is a difference between "handling shit" and committing a crime to handle said shit. You feel me?
That is not handling anything, that is called going off the rails.
@@AlitaMeethey probably didn’t take college seriously
I personally empathise with the family. I feel like they clung to the psychosis theory because to accept that their child ruthlessly murdered her own mother would be extremely traumatising to even accept. It might even break the whole family apart. Her dad saying that this is not what Brenda would want, shows how much he wants to disconnect from the fact that his daughter is a murderer. Brenda was a mother, but also a human being who lost her life so painfully only because she cared about her child. This is heartbreaking. Sydney should be behind bars.
Absolutely. It was probably so difficult for them to acknowledge since it conflicts with everything they thought they knew her to be. Suddenly recieving such revelatory information about a family member with whom you had such close bonds has got to induce cognitive dissonance. I hope the rest of the family doesn't allow this to tear them apart and they can grieve together, lean on eachother, and if not necessarily "heal" their hearts and minds, at least get to a place where they hurt a bit less.
Yes! Most defiantly, her mom did not deserve this just because she CARED and loved her daughter🥺
Concerning Sydney covering her ears in trial, I think that is a very strong indicator of guilt. To me, it seems like at this time she really has to face the horrible things she'd done to a person she loves, but she couldn't bear to hear them said out loud. It does feel very infantile though, she's like a kid that's being yelled at for a fuck-up but can't process the feeling of guilt and tries not to hear what they've done wrong, because they *know* that it was wrong.
Totally. It’s like when a kid realizes they’ve been caught in a lie and they just cover their ears and cry harder or run to their room. So weird for a college age girl to do something like that, especially one who was supposedly so smart and puts off the air that she’s more mature than most girls her age. I’d expect it out of a 10 year old who doesn’t understand their feelings yet, but not out of a valedictorian.
Soo, for example, if you killed your family member in a total blackout state and later somebody told you that you defenetly did it wouldn't you feel extremly guilty???
@@LSG101097 When in a "total blackout state" it is highly unlikely that you are able to 1. pretend to be your mother on the phone, 2. act like someone is breaking in while being on the phone with your father after hearing that he's heading home, and 3. fake evidence for said breaking in. It may be possible for someone to kill a person while "blacking out", but not to fabricate a whole story to make it seem like someone broke in and killed the victim.
@@empty_akuma6577totally agree
@@empty_akuma6577 I could.
To me, the biggest indicator that she wasn't completely out of her mind is that she tried to cover up the odd phone call by pretending to be her mom. If her hands had "been on fire" and she had been seeing things, she wouldn't have calmly picked up like "Yes, this is Brenda"
Thats what i think.
I'd say the opposite just due to panic. Her mom was just on the phone, it's easy to tell the voice difference... That was the dumbest action. Probably the phone ringing made her lost and scared so she needed to stop it somehow.
im curious to know what else she would've said on the phone if her cover wasn't immediately blown
@@satamiko in case u have a different voice, I always had a problem with sharing the exact same voice with my mom) Elder relatives would always call me "Tatti" (my mom's name) after hearing my voice, couple times people mistaken me for my mom and even my friend told me once, when we were talking on discord and my mom walked into the room, that it sounded as if there were 2 of me lol
@@elifrost7890 that is rare and I'm sure if the two people looked confused after hearing it, it was quiet obvious...
NGL this is one of the craziest cases i have heard about in a while because how far can one go to hide A LIE ABT THEIR GRADES? honestly may her mother rest in peace 🥺
HOW DID U WRITE THIS SO FAST the video just got posted-
@@kkseriaaim saying though
@@kkseriaa Stephanie uploads the audio only version on Spotify a few days before the video releases on TH-cam. I listened to the case on there - OP most likely did the same.
oh you will be surprised on how many cases like this are out there, i have listen at least 5 simmilar cases. people do crazy things to keep their secrets burried, murder is one of them.
Giving chandler halderson
A lot of people can’t comprehend taking such an action over something so minor, and neither can I, but I can see how it happened. Two similar cases come to mind-Thomas Whitaker and Jennifer Pan who both lied about being enrolled in college and killed their families over the lie. I feel like Sydney’s family put so much pressure on her to live up to the golden child standard. This is not an excuse, but merely an observation. Even after she was suspended, she tried to ask her dad if she could take the semester off because she was struggling, and he still insisted that she finish school until summer break. Her mom was even reminding her by text that she could lose her scholarship if she didn’t keep her grades up. As someone who had to drop ALL of my classes mid-semester at college due to mental burnout, I know what that feels like. I didn’t harm my mother-in fact she came and stayed on campus with me for a whole week because of my mental state and was very supportive. But I still felt like a failure and it made me even more depressed. I’m not saying that Brenda wasn’t supportive-it’s just that I don’t think this family wanted to live in the reality that Sydney was not perfect, and if they couldn’t accept reality, I can see why she couldn’t either. Even now, they can’t accept that she fully lied for months, kept attending classes and living in the dorms, MURDERED her mom while she was on the freaking phone with school administration, pretended to be her mom on the phone, lied to her dad, and staged a break-in. This girl definitely suffered from mental health issues, but she did not have a psychotic break. All of that took forethought. It’s very sad, but she should pay for what she did.
For me what I feel from this girl is so stressed out she doesnt know how to deal with stress emotions or anything major she probably was babied all her life making her so easy for her to not deal with stress and SHE LIKE ANY COLLEGE STUDENT THAT STRESSED but she killed her mom because she reached a breaking point killing her SHE KNEW WHAT SHE WAS DOING SHE WAS NOT PHYCOTIC but just a stressed college student running away from her problems THE LEAST THING SHE CAN DO IS FESS UP AND HAND HERSELF OVER to the police that the least she can do for her mother honestly heartbreaking I understand this situation because i was similar in position that once i had a thought of killing my own mom or anybody but it flashed that i was going to commit such a horrible act never again got myself a therapist reached help because i was really gonna do something i would regret honestly this such a sad situation
25:04
@@ChocoMasHey thanks for sharing your story, don’t answer if you don’t want to, but may I ask, why did you think about killing those people? The same reason as presented here in the video? Or sth else?
@@nothingnewunderthesun4292 not the person, but had a similar situation. It's very much about avoiding letting them down, to such a warped point that murder/running away/suicide is a much better alternative than being truthful. I was conditioned that A's are expected and anything below that will get me into trouble. The reality of their reactions (punishment or not) doesn't matter because the mind only cares about AVOIDING punishment for failing at all costs. Note "for failing", because that takes precedence over punishment of anything else. Your reasoning is very much impaired because it can only see the academic failure as a bad thing that needs to be resolved, not that the other bad things you do to avoid it as ones. Additionally, you see your parents as an adversary instead of a place of support when you're down. Think of a cornered animal. That's essentially where you get put mentally, when you are in this type of situation. It's a lot more common for students to commit undo when they reach that breaking point.
Was with OP at first but then they totally flipped where they were coming from.
As an Asian who lied to their parents about being at university for 2 years and 1 month, I'd say the mentality she had was like this: it's better if my parents knew I was a murderer, rather than being an academic failure. I blame Confucius for this insane dilemma. For me, the constant peer pressure of doing "good" in school by my parents, and the painful repercussions of what would happen if I didn't live up to their expectations made me live a lie for over 2 years. My parents dont know where I am anymore. They either think I'm dead or joined a gang and died. I'm living by myself, working multiple jobs; and with the little amount of free time I have, I use it doing passion projects. It feels liberating. If there's one piece of advice I'd like to give to anyone who went or is going through the same situation, it's to break the illusion that your parents hold your future, and to please them is to somehow make your life "better." You do what you think is best for you, just make sure it doesn't lead you down a path that would disappoint you (and/or your family.)
i had similar experience (except you are definitely functioning much better than me) and i totally agree with you on the confucianism thing. but i don't think that's the case here
Stay strong brother xx my heart feels for you x❤
I wish more ppl would acknowledge this
as the eldest child. i try to interpret and bridge the gap. i tried to put my siblings through extra curricular activities to generate joy and curiosity. i asked only that they succeed in school in any field. a degree just makes life easier. it doesnt mark ones intelligence. it gives you critical thinking and goal setting skills. it gives you basic reading and writing skills. so that you can work and never be sued by anyone… with this said i think my siblings finished school. theyve become beautiful successful educators and advocates. i think her parents were loving but sheltered her too much.
Okay i agree with what you say, however at the end, i very much disagree. If your parents are disappointed at you, why should you even care? Ofc if it is reasonable, like its valid to be disappointed at their children if they murdered someone. But for school, for example, you shouldn't take their disappointment to heart. Life isn't all about grades, mere numbers do not define your worth. Its better to be around people that do want more to give to you than from you.
Sorry this turn into an essay haha- this is based on a moral point, however it is somehow rational too since everyone will become independent eventually
For anyone who believes the "psychosis" theory, keep in mind that Sydney spoke calmly to the school administrators, pretending to be her mother, AFTER the murder occurred. She then spoke calmly to her father and said that everything was fine AFTER the murder occurred. It wasn't until her dad said, "The police are on their way," that she suddenly became "psychotic."
That's not how it works. I'm not the world's leading expert on mental health, but I do have my degree in psychology, I have worked in the medical industry for over 20 years, and, oddly enough, actually know someone who had a psychotic break and murdered his own mother. It's not something you turn on and off. If she were acting psychotic the entire time, then MAYBE I would believe her argument, but she was totally fine until she found out that people were coming to the house and then she did a 180. Plus she created a fake story about an intruder and tried to stage a crime scene. That's not psychosis. That takes planning and forethought. She would have had to somewhat have her wits about her because she knew enough to break the window, so it looked like someone broke in. And as soon as the cops got there, that's the first thing she said, "Someone broke in. Mom told me to leave." No one having a mental break or hallucinating would have thought to do any of those things. Just the fact that she picked up the phone and said, "Yes, this is Brenda. Everything is fine..." She knew exactly what was going on and what she was doing.
If the school admins hadn't called the cops, she would have had more time to set the scene and could have possibly gotten away with it. (Although I highly doubt she would have been successful.) But I honestly believe that was her original plan.
Stephanie should pin this comment.
@@oreochocolate_lavacake9960 how does one "act african"
I’m not saying you’re wrong, but I don’t think she planned it. I think she just did it. I don’t think there was much forethought to it but I agree I don’t think it’s psychosis because you don’t turn it on and off like that
@@sleepingbear4557 I think that might’ve been a typo because it doesn’t make any sense to the comment
Even if this was how psychosis works her "psychosis" wouldn't have started until AFTER the murder STILL making her guilty.
She definitely meant to kill her mom. She didn't plan to kill her, but definitely meant to harm her as long as her mom didn't know the truth she was hiding. Just a sad case overall. Thanks for covering this case.
She was also psychotic at the time (mentally ill). I was psychotic 2 years ago, bipolar 2 diagnosis, it was horrific. Was I able to lie? Yes. Make a plan? Yes. Was it sane? Hell no. Did I kill anyone? Luckily not. Judgement is absolutely skewed.
Definitely tiger parents putting tremendous pressure on her.
"she definitely meant to kill her mom, she didnt plan to kill her" do u mean ,, like a long time before the murder? cause she planned to whether or not that was minutes ago or otherwise
@@Johnne009 they aren't tiger parents. its probably that she desperately didn't want her parent's image of her to be ruined bc of her suspension
I can understand this happening & being out of the person’s control with severe mental illness,…
Literally, “sHe DoSeN’t EvEn Go HeRe!!”
💀
Her family desperately needs to hold onto an excuse of insanity at the time of the murder to make peace with her actions in their own minds. If her Dad had to acknowledge that she did this with a clear mind, I think he would really struggle to reconcile that. I feel for the family. That has to be the most conflicting feeling!
There is a LOT of misconceptions related to insanity on both sides and, f it was as it was covered, the trial should be done AGAIN. Schizophrenia is an umbrella term for a wide variety of conditions, related to each other, but with significant divergences. Schizophrenia is considered a spectrum disorder that includes schizoaffective disorder, delusional disorder, brief psychotic disorder, schizophreniform disorder, and schizoaffective disorder. So the argument "I have schizophrenia and I wouldn't do it" doesn't make sense. It depends, 1, on the type of schizophrenia and 2, if it involves illusion or delusion (important distinction) WHAT KIND she may have gone through during the act. If, for instance, you have the a persecutory delusion and have the visual and/or auditory illusion that someone is after you to kill you, that may happen. Both sides, as it is reported in this podcast, seem to not have covered it. Asking JUST whether is compatible "with schizophrenia" isn't nearly enough for any veredict. All the symptoms related, whether false or true, COULD be related or NOT related. It's just not enough information.
Hey bruh bad grades kill……
She literally lied for 3 months straight and then is claiming insanity? Cmon now. She had to think about breaking the glass and making it look like a break in. She lied to her dad trying to act like there was a break on the phone with him and pretended to be her mom on the phone with the school. Im not buying it. Lock her up
She probably would have gotten less time if she called immediately after she killed her mom
I honestly think she thought in her mind she was still in school. she needs help not be locked up that is whats wrong with America you all rather throw away some one and not acutly look at the problem. she is clearly upset and i do think she has some mental issues and pressure from her parents caused her to brake and every one ignored the signs that she needed help the school and her parents so they are ll to blame they all faild this child. Not saying the mother deserve to die but she was failed by every one
@@jenniferstone3205 looks like a bad actress to me. She knew she wasnt at school. She pretended to be her mom and pretended there was a break in. Thats just called lying and manipulating. Her parents seemed very understanding from Stephanie’s depiction. She could have just told them and they’d help her figure something out. Her mom was her “best friend”
That’s just ridiculous in my opinion, saying she thought she was still at school!!! Come on, she lied and manipulated everyone around her for months, she pretended to be her mom on the phone, she broke a window trying to STAGE a break in. She murdered her mother because she didn’t want caught lying. This is Not ANY OTHER persons fault but her own. You can’t blame her actions on the school or parents or anyone but her. She had very loving and understanding parents. Her actions are solely to blame on herself! She faked the mental illness AFTER she committed the murder. Honestly coming from someone who truly does have real and extremely serious mental health issues in my immediate family I feel someone lying about this kind of illness, it’s appalling and unacceptable!!! She and anyone who tries to claim the cause of their actions is due to mental illness should absolutely be charged for lying about their mental health . I don’t believe for a single second she has schizophrenia either!!! For those doctors that diagnosed that illness, you should be ashamed of yourselfs and fired!!! She is clearly pretending she’s mentally ill. There were absolutely NO signs of any serious illness like that in her history at all until AFTER she murdered her mother, then all the sudden she started saying she had a moment of psychosis. Anyone with common sense can see she’s trying to use mental health issues as a scape goat to not be charged. And of Course her family is going to stand behind her and say the same thing because they just can handle or are not willing to except she’s mentally stable and just murdered her mother out of pure panic of being caught in all of her lies. Mental health is used to often in serious cases like this and it’s wrong!!! Like I said before I have serious mental health issues in my family, including schizophrenia and I don’t believe for a second my family members would ever commit murder, on , or off of their medications. Their are so many people that truly suffer with these types of mental illnesses and would never murder another person, so people need to Stop using mental health as an excuse for committing evil and serious crimes against others. Or be charged with lying regarding their mental state. These lies cause people that truly do have mental illness serious stigma surrounding their mental health issues because it makes people ashamed and embarrassed to admit they need help because they don’t want doctors and other people assuming they would or could ever commit crimes like this based on their mental health. It’s truly a sad reality. There are so many people that refuse to get help for their mental state because of the stigma surrounding the topic due to people like this.
@@theliminalsystemno, It’s about being unaware… I’ve been in psychosis before. You don’t know what you’re saying or doing, and don’t remember afterwards. You don’t have time to think or justify your actions.
I'm not a doctor but I believe she's perfectly sane but just can't handle pressure of what lies she has created. Imagine being born into a family whom are well grounded, successful and friends/classmates who has high GPA and you're the only one who failed and is suspended. She couldn't face the reality of failure and letting anyone know. Her mistake is that she thinks this would ruin her image. Hence why she would go great lengths to hide her low grades and truth to her parents. When the school called and reached out to Brenda, the truth and reality kicked in for Sydney and the only reaction was to kill. It's definitely spur of the moment and not planned but I would not call it a schizophrenic reaction. She acted on a stupid impulse and is now trying to create the "I'm insane" image to hopefully get a lighter sentence. She's perfectly sane and stupid. Life in prison would be perfect for her to reflect on how stupid she is cause I'm pretty sure she's sane enough to understand that now.
She didnt know it was a bad move to act insane, becoz those on the asylum tend to have it rougher than those that was in jail~
Yeah, nowadays murderers are taking advantage of insanity like that fucci dude.
Also like, schitzophrenic episodes won’t lead someone to murder. That takes another factor. And yeah- all the evidence for her being psychotic comes from afTER the murder. It’s also possible for a psychotic break to happen after doing something like this. The defence had a really really bad argument
@@nyxofhadesThe school's involvement with Sydney was a little weird. I went to two small liberal arts colleges and I never saw administrators get so deeply involved with one particular student. A simple email or letter to Brenda would have sufficed.
Well said
That poor husband…I can’t imagine being in that situation. Thank god he didn’t see his wife in that state. That’s something you can’t go back from.
As someone who has struggled with psychosis; I remembered everything, every hallucination, every action, every person trying to bring me back to reality and yes they were terrifying…. If she blacked out then how can she remember so many hallucinations …. Which also sound ridiculous. This is why people think that people with psychosis are violent when they’re usually not.
I agree. I have also been in psychosis and I remember all of it
Same. I go into severe depression induced psychosis and I remember it. Sometimes some memories are a little fuzzy but I remember most of it.
Same here, I’ve only had one moment where I didn’t remember but I don’t know if it was even a psychosis episode because I also have DID (dissociative identity disorder) and was claiming I wasn’t myself. Either way, I can remember the delusions and hallucinations, and I’m not violent towards anyone but myself
The fact she pretended to be her mom, she broke the window, and lied to her dad about someone breaking in screams she knew what she was doing!!!! There’s no way she didn’t. I feel bad for the family, so in denial about Sydney they’re falling for her BS. I’m sure it’s easier to act like you blacked out than admit you killed your mom because of your own lies.
Exactly! She tried to make it like it’s someone else who killed her mother, that’s def not insane! She’s just one spoiled young adult who can’t face reality!
qqqqq 😅and you can have the rest if you’d prefer lol just let us have have it for free if you’d prefer me not liking your tweets or comments on food and i don’t care care for you guys at the end i will do it anyway and if i have have it then then i’ll i’ll do the best you want but if i can be be honest and not óii😊
"so in denial about Sydney they’re falling for her BS" - not really...doing more research, it seems Brenda was a toxic narcissist mom....the family knows what Brenda was REALLY like, hence their sympathy for Sydney snapping.
This is what I was thinking. She may not have been FULLY with it enough to pick a better time (I mean when on the phone? Really?) or cover up (But also had so little time to), but she clearly was aware what she was doing and her best with the tiny time frame that she tried to cover her ass.
The bit about nightmares makes me laugh too. I had a nightmare when my son was 5 months old and he's six now and it still impacts me. Did it make me homicidal? Nah. Did make me vegetarian though. Certain lighting in his room will send me right back and I won't sleep well for a few days. Not enough to make me temporarily insane (And I was diagnosed with PTSD from it, which I thought was nuts itself).
@@staceyhunt6769 She rage killed her toxic mom, and she clearly hadn't planned it (her dad just happened to notice she was home on the app, and went to spontaneously confront Sydney, which sparked the whole incident)....Sydney was a normal girl, and if Brenda was more supportive and understanding (like Mr Powell), this never would have happened. I don't at all condone murder, but i totally understand how this tragedy happened.
I spent time in a psychiatric hospital. One of the girls there was 20 years old, and in university for sports medicine.
She had an stress-induced psychotic break and killed her dog, and injured her brother before she was detained.
It does happen.
thats really sad. i hope she got better
Maybe it happens, but it doesn't excuse anything. If I did this to my dog and a family member I would try to seriously hurt myself. I've had stress-induced mental "crashes", depressive episodes, hallucinations, memory loss. But doing the kind of thing she did takes a certain kind of person
@@Clara-xk3uv psychotic breaks are real, and they’re not excuses. they’re explanations.
it does happen, but it most likely didn’t happen in this case. mf just didn’t want to get caught.
@@pabloescobarschanclas Ikr she definitely knew what she was doing at the crime spot
I am so fed up with these kids who think killing their parents makes more sense than fessing up that they failed out of college. I myself failed a full semester of college. I was put on academic suspension and had to petition to be reinstated as a student. It may have taken a couple days to tell my mom and dad what I'd done and I sure didn't want to, but I did. They were definitely disappointed and angry that I failed a full course load in only my second semester of college. But I took responsibility, paid out of pocket to take and pass those classes again and finished out my degree with pretty good grades. My parents havent brought up my failure in the decade since this happened. Not once.
And then you have this girl, who BRUTALLY murders her mother as if all this school stuff isn't going to come out anyways! What was the point? That's honestly the main reason I don't feel like this was a planned murder but rather one of passion. Im not normally one to say that, but the logic just isn't there in this particular case. I think she spent 3 months hiding from the consequences and pretending nothing was happening and wasn't planning or scheming super hard how to hide it.... She was hiding from it. I think she got off incredibly light, especially given that it seems she will probably be paroled at the first opportunity given her family is the victims family. 15 years for the brutal murder of your best friend and mother doesn't seem like a lot.
You're fed up with them? You act like it happens every second of everyday.
Yeh but maybe they weren’t “best friends “
@@Moon_Presencedeadasss lmaooo
@@Moon_Presencethere are a few other stories. One was a girl with the last name “Pan” and there were two men - one buried her parents on his girlfriend’s land. He had gone so far as to say he was recruited by SpaceX. My little bro failed out. He ran off and joined the army. My parents cried. He was discharged due to medical issues. He is a lawyer now. He is loaded. My parents definitely put a lot of academic pressure on us. We are first generation and we had to “make their sacrifice” worth it.” But, harming someone is unfathomable.
I have no words for this case. I’m sure her parents would’ve been understanding about the suspension, if she had just been honest with them from the beginning, especially her mother. It’s extremely upsetting that it had to come to this. Rest in peace Brenda.
dont think so.
if they can forgive Sydney after killing her mom, I'm sure they would have been fine with her being suspended. Crazy that it went this way.
@@johnynoway9127 The way it seems is the parents weren't mad, they understood something was wrong. Her dad didn't yell at her when he confronted her
Could it be there had been some episodes b4so it doesnt come as a surprise to the dadthat this happen.. Idk
Imagine having someone grow inside you, give birth to, raise, love... and then it kills you. Literally you gave life to someone that took your own. It's sad and horrible.
You chose to give that live btw. It's not their responsibility (just saying) but it still hurts that's true
Ingratitude & entitlement doesn't get much more extreme.
@@Everythingz127what…..
@@psychedoll.You read it right
@@Everythingz127 I think it's pretty obvious that it's not the time or place for a political argument.
Brenda was a blessing. To have a job like that for 3 decades and commit to it the way she did is absolutely amazing. What an angel ❤
Yeah dude. It’s so crazy to think that even good people who have kids can end up raising ones who are capable of murder ):
What a bummer
I started off with awful grades in college and guess who was literally with me all the way? My mom. It's crazy because she always seemed to be one to want her kids to have good grades (or so I thought). It turns out that although she wanted us to have good grades, she also needed us to be in a good mental space and happy. God, my mom, and an amazing elderly professor at school helped me scale through. I ended up graduating with a 2:1. For anyone out there overthinking their grades, don't sweat it. Talk to your parents, guardians, a good professor...basically, someone with more experience than you. Don't stress to the point of considering violence. RIP Brenda. Thank you for all you did in your life time and for 30+ years with those kids. 💚
I think the "didn't know it was illegal" is such a bs excuse. It's a last ditch effort by the lawyers. It should not be able to be used as an excuse for murder.
You didnt know it was wrong to harm another living person? If thats not illegal then nothing is, i cant believe they even tried it
And the FBI killed the guy who said he will kill Joe Biden. 😂😂😂
"Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal"
Sydney’s family sounds like one of those who value family and the family name so much that it comes before their morals. They’re only being sympathetic to Sydney because she’s apart of the family. But let that had been someone else…….Also, them calling it injustice that she got life in prison is ABSURD. Her mother loosing her life over her daughter having bad grades is injustice. Psychotic or not, the fact that Sydney got so stressed out to the point of killing someone, HER OWN MOTHER, means that she doesn’t need to be around other people at all. I would not feel safe around someone that killed their own mother because of school.
Absolutely. I have been shocked and sickened at her family particularly her father and how they are coddling her.
Exactly! Guess they think well the mom has passed away so now all they could do is try to save the future of the daughter.
But she done that
@notville_Dude why do you keep copying ppl in the replies?
@@SnowwvieMf wants attention
Sydney: Doesn't want to disappoint her parents because of her academic probation.
Also Sydney: Kills her own mother so she doesn't learn about the academic probation.
Makes sense!
I don’t think anyone has ever contributed more to a podcast video without being seen than the guy in these Rotten Mango videos.
Stephanie herself is an EXCELLENT storyteller with a very original style that is easy to listen to, but the questions this guy asks are just too salient. He’s just amazing.
I love her husband (?) (I think they finally got married! Lol )
Her husband always does these with her and it’s so nice to have him ask questions that us the viewers probably have while watching, it personally makes me more engaged with the case
its her husband
The questions he asks are honestly so cringe. Makes him appear slow. Like it had already been explained perfectly. What don't you get?. And the woah's are so dramatic.
The questions he asks are honestly so cringe. Makes appear slow. Like it had already been explained perfectly. What don't you get?. And the woah's are so dramatic.
You know... I actually hid the fact that i skipped college for weeks, that i failed a semester. I was alone and depressed. The pressure to meet parents expectations was high. But my parents found out, the college sent a letter. They didn't yell at me, they consoled me. Instead of feeding into my fear and pressure me more they said that i am going through a rough time but i am still a kid and have my life ahead of me. This will just be a footnote in my life. Nothing else happened, my fear and pressure subsided and i started attending college again. I even failed a year. But they were right, it just turned out to be a footnote in my life. My previous grades.... It didn't matter much in my case, i changed careers, got into interior design and now i freelance projects. My point is..... parents shouldn't pressure their kids too much and kids shouldn't bottle up all their fear and pressure to themselves. Things work out with the right guidance even if you have already failed couple times life gives you plenty of opportunities to seize. It's ok if you miss the first couple opportunities in life, more will come later if you keep working towards it.
Hey. Thanks for this comment. I appreciate your honesty and I relate hard. I withdrew from my first year courses but retained registration because of a friends mental health crisis and I recently lost him to a drug overdose. I’m struggling to get through assignments nowadays but I’m pushing through with the classes I’ve developed a vested interest in. This too will pass and, like you said, this is merely a footnote. Take care of yourself.
Instead of lying she should have just left if her parents couldn't accept it. My parents couldn't accept me and I didn't kill them I just left cause by college age I'm a grown ass adult
I failed in 300L in medical school. I tried hiding it frm my family 4a few weeks but I eventually told them.
I changed course - left Medicine & Surgery 2 Dept of Human Physiology. I graduated 🎓....
Couple years after graduation, I applied & got admission into medical school in d U.S so I travelled out. Left Nigeria 2 America where I attended medical school all over again. Graduated as a medical doctor, being practicing 4som years now. I'm happily married, hv 2 lovely kids - male & female. Right now everything is on course. I'm more dan contented & happy.
Failure isn't d end of life.
this is the same situation w me. I failed 2 classes and my parents were understanding
I never failed classes but I have low grades I still haven’t showed it to my family yet because they really have so high expectations for me that it makes nervous but at the same time most of my low grades are from my minor classes my high grades are most of my majors so it definitely boosts up my gpa so it’s not obvious that I get low scores
I think you nailed it when you said she made her entire identity the "smart girl". Her family treated her like a child that needs protecting and she never learned how to cope with stress and failure, because the family probably never allowed her to fail. She would do anything to keep up the facade, reacted without thinking, and didn't understand the consequences at the time of the murder. The only thing though, the 30 stabs in the neck, I would be curious what the vibe was in the house, because that to me indicates rage. Maybe her mom wasn't the wonderful person everyone made her out to be, but we can only speculate. Hope the family heals, along with those poor administrators who had to witness the murder through the phone, holy moly.
Agreed. High chance this also was a crime of 'passion' / weird in the moment as you said.
I completely agree. I went through the same situation as Sydney, (minus the murder part) and my parents, (my mother) is similar to hers. She’s very kind and caring but she puts incredible pressure on my brother and I to succeed in everything we do. I can picture the vibe in the house, the mom was there to confront her, not to comfort her. She was probably furious at her daughter, and she was completely justified.
Sydney simply didn't want to 'face the music' ... is why she flew into a rage.
"Maybe her mom wasn't the wonderful person everyone made her out to be" - ya, the police interviews with Mr. Powell and Sydney's BF Lauren were pretty telling....she finally snapped at her toxic parent, and having to be the perfect mother's daughter.
@@martindebrois1472 "Sydney simply didn't want to face the music' - no....Brenda was a toxic parent, and her daughter finally snapped from having to be 'perfect' for mommy.
so sad. it seemed like her mother and father would’ve 100% understood her situation and wouldn’t have been mad at her especially considering the fact that it was just a suspension and not a dismissal. she had a second chance. she could’ve went home, used this suspension as a learning experience, spent time with her family, and returned back to college putting in her best effort so she doesn’t lose her scholarship or get kicked out. i don’t understand how her mind immediately thinks of killing her own mom as a solution.
Your videos are addictive. I’m binge watching them. You have a super talent for narrating those crimes without causing your fans to enter into depression like other crime TH-cam channels. I love the way you tell the stories
this case is so sad, it could've all be resolved if they all talked (especially if the daughter explained trouble at school), her parents would've definitely helped, so heartbreaking
Definitely tiger parents putting tremendous pressure on her
@@Johnne009more like coddled overindulged brat that couldn’t take accountability for her own failures!
Not sure about that
replies, stop victim blaming and act as if you knew these people their whole life.
Yeah, it wouldn’t have come to this if they were more hands on with her life when the dad knew she wasn’t enrolled that semester and spoke with the school. If they told her that it’s fine if she failed and got suspended. She was 19 still figuring life and it’s okay to fail and get back up.
I’m tired of heinous acts of violence being pinned on “voices” and “mental illness” those voices never seem to be an issue when they are lying and trying to cover up their crimes
So if you kill a person during an episode where you have no idea what you are doing and you see this after, you'd just come to prison like yup, I did that. No anxiety, no panics, no lies... Just easily go down with it right off the bat? Can you image the trauma of "waking up" and seeing what you did?
@@satamiko yeah. the thing that you described has happened before. a husband suffered from a sleep terror and killed his wife because he thought that his wife was an attacker. when he woke up and came to his senses, he immediately turned himself in and insisted that he should receive the full punishment. he had a sleepwalking condition and this condition had been well-documented before this. his family knew. his wife knew. yet, once he woke up, he declared himself guilty. he couldn't live with himself. he insisted on his guilt even when people kept telling him that it's not his fault. that he didn't mean to kill his wife. it's a pretty popular case. his name is brian thomas. i agree with the original commenter. i think the brian thomas case is actually what it looks like when you actually suffered from a severe mental episode of some sort. when you wake up and find that you killed a person that you love, you'd want to be punished. no lies, no manipulation, no trying to get out of prison. I'm also tired of people trying to blame voices and mental illness when they commit the most disgusting crimes ever.
@@satamiko There's no voices let's stop lying she's just a killer who didn't want her secret out most killers kill for that very same reason, no voices
What she did is already traumatizing if you understand psychology I’m not siding on Sydney what she did was wrong. I can see why she went crazy but i believe she still needs to go to jail.
If you have a single ounce of moral yes. Intentional or not you killed another human being and that should be punished. By this logic people who drink and drive should be excused since they are under the influence@@satamiko
i was diagnosed with schizophrenia a couple of months ago. i think something that is important to note is that myself and other people who have schizophrenia, we're usually violent towards ourselves not other people. if she does genuinely have schizophrenia, i do feel some form of sympathy, but as far as saying she literally murdered her mother because of her schizophrenia ?? like you said in the video, them trying to schizophrenia as an "excuse" as to why she committed such a violent crime stains the very definition of schizophrenia, and it in turn hurts people like me
My ex had schizophrenia & he was extremely abusive. I had to leave and become homeless, my son went to a youth homeless shelter. He would have killed me if i didn't leave, his therapist told me that, so did his probation officer (he had a history of problems with the law). So yes, ppl who suffer from schizophrenia can be violent to others.
@@JBunny7482she never said they can’t as a matter of fact she even stated IT IS A POSSIBILITY. get over yourself. Schizophrenia is an ACTUALLY EXTREMELY stigmatized disorder that is even shunned in “safe spaces “ that claim to be woke and all about mental health. it is in fact an extremely important fact to point out as the majority believe otherwise.
@@JBunny7482 you have about a million different safe spaces , ppl feel pity for you w zero question. ppl w schizophrenia can’t say the same thing, so when they speak up and try to educate others stay tf in ur lane. You can cry about ur ex elsewhere instead of trying to overshadow a very important an EXTREMELY OVERLOOKED issue in the name of whataboutme-ism.
@@magikarp308 you can take that personally and insult me til you turn blue in the face, but no, I didn't have safe spaces, hence the homelessness 🙄 hence California having 30% of the United States homeless population! Numbers don't lie. Also, don't come at me just because you can't stand someone sharing an opposite experience of it, on a public forum, where you also posted. If you want to post somewhere where no one else can put in their two cents, on your personal Facebook there's a setting where you can put "no comments". That should help you "inform people" & let you stand on your soap box all alone unbothered at the same time. ✌️
@JBunny7482 i think the point is that schizophrenia doesn't make people violent towards others, not that those people can't be violent.
There are plenty of abusive partners that don't have schizophrenia. Since there's no real connection between violent crimes and people who suffer from schizophrenia, I would say your partner was just a shit person who happened to be schizophrenic.
Sydney covered her ears because what she was hearing was incredibly disturbing. Whether she did it on purpose or had a mental break, it's not easy to hear about your mom being murdered.
I agree with you. I'm familiar with her body language, and it speaks of trauma/attempts to avoid trauma. Whether she had been sane or had had a psychotic episode, she will still have to live the rest of her life knowing that 1. Now everyone knows she had been suspended from school, and 2. She killed her mom.
I think that most of the issue people have with it is the idea that she should hide that reaction either way (sane or not). I’m not sure if she’s sane or not but I think it would be really really disturbing to have people analyze you and your crime in front of you
Is she wife capable still?
As someone who has psychosis, the ear plugging and everything is absolutely how I would react during a small episode. I have no idea if she suffers with psychosis but we react in many ways to situations we don't wanna be in or hear about. For me it's a ptsd thing, I try to hide from the moment to escape. She absolutely does seem to be playing it up for sympathy.
baffles me that the lawyers decided to go with schizophrenia lol, it doesn’t onset in the span of a day then completely disappear 😭 like bffr
@@alexisvictoria8282 episodes does tho
I was also suspended from school….I stopped going to class and my mental health was so bad….6 years later and I just got my masters and working on my PhD….. as an immigrant I was ashamed to tell my parents but they got that letter and helped me get my mental health back in shape….this story is heartbreaking.
Exactly! My parents went through a divorce my freshman year in college. I transferred from a State University to community college and then back to a university. It was the best decision I ever made. Also, a lot can happen for someone when you just talked to someone else. I learned that from the corporate controller for the biotech company I work for. And never hurts to ask and you never know what kind of help is out there. Sometimes I wonder if just some of these people think they know everything
I don’t see how she could have been totally psychotic when she pretended to be her mum on the phone and then tried to cover up the crime by breaking the window and then phoned her dad back saying everything was fine then suddenly pretended someone broke in! None of that screams someone who is not in control of their actions!
How dumb to think killing your own mum who brought you into this world was a better option than facing up to being suspended!
The thought of killing you OWN mom is heart wrenching. Brenda was happy to have her baby enjoyed watching her grow up. Next thing you know her own daughter killed her. Yeah it hurt physically but it probably hurt mentally more then it did physically. Her mom tried her best to care for her and did everything for her daughter. This video made me BALL this was the craziest and saddest case ever. Her mom never did anything Brenda just wanted to talk and was very calm. ❤Rest in peace Brenda.❤
“Getting stabbed hurts, but what hurts more is turning around to see who’s holding the knife.”
Sydney Powell, 23, of Akron, was sentenced to life in prison for killing her mother by stabbing her repeatedly and beating her with a cast-iron skillet three years ago.
Thanks I've waiting for the verdict in this vid since
As a heads up for anyone considering faking an insanity plea in the future to get out of trouble for something. Reconsider. You are safer in prison. Prison will be the better experience. In a hospital the staff's ability to protect you is incredibly limited, and the other patients there are way more dangerous. The slight benefits do not outweigh the massive downsides. Trust me. I lived near my state's hospital for these exact people growing up and the stories you'll hear from the employees there will scare you out of ever even wanting to live near one.
Also dont they have to be heavily medicated in there?
@@ania3187actually it’s probably not. I spent 6 months in county almost a decade ago for a non-violent charge and I STILL can’t get jobs if they background check and can’t rent a place to live. This country is ALLLLLL about recidivism since our prison system is for profit and our justice system is corrupt AF.
This
@@ania3187um no ppl r not gon want to hire some who just got out of county say you just got of a mental institution they’ll probably want to help u get back on ur feet and use to society
@@ambiasmr297Yeah, and if you somehow faked and made it in, then you gotta be prepared to fake it for the rest of your life. The doctors will keep testing in you out all of the time
The jury got it right. Sane enough to keep it all secret, and sane enough to attack her mom at the VERY MOMENT her mom was about to talk with the school and discover all her lies. Insane enough to overreact so grossly that she killed the person she loved the most after her own narcissism. She was coddled by her school and her family, leading to never having to deal with consequences of actions.
I got put on academic probation in my sophomore year. It felt horrible at first because I was trying my absolute hardest, but the first people I told were my parents because they had every right to know. They were beyond supportive and when I was at my worst, my dad would always ask me "what's the worst that's going to happen? Nobody's going to come beat you up, we're not even mad at you. These things happen, the most you can do is get up and try again." I took advantage of the resources the school offered me and graduated with honors.
Never once did I ever think of lying to my parents let alone ending their lives over it. I'm no expert but I don't think this was psychosis. She was wholeheartedly aware of what she was doing. She was aware enough to pretend to be her mother, lie to the school, lie to her parents about being in school, avoided going home because she didn't want to get caught by her parents, staged the scene, etc. She did everything BUT tell her parents the truth. She seems like someone who is used to lying/creating dire scenarios to get out of things and did a good job of getting away with it. Narcissism definitely seems more like it, especially seeing how she couldn't stand listening to the details of the murder. I think she should've gotten longer but I'm glad she's at least getting jailtime. RIP Brenda.
A true insane person doesn't have the situational awareness needed to care about what others think. However, she proved her cognitive abilities more than once by keeping her college failure a secret and smashing the window to make her mother's murder look like a robbery gone wrong. I hope she is stays in jail because what she did was really messed up.
Sydney seems like a kid who throw tantrums and shouts and throw things at their parents if things didnt go their way
Definitely. The way she covered her ears and started crying while the lady was recounting what she heard over the phone just seems like such child-like behavior. She can't even face her demons.
Agreed and can’t even believe people defending her and blaming her parents, saying they were putting too much pressure on her 🙄 own your actions! Humble yourself and be honest with your shortcomings so you can rebound and rebuild.
@@perfectlyyoubeauty well if her parents put pressure on her, yeah, that could be the cause of her killing them. its not right and not the parents fault, but it can happen and does happen
@@perfectlyyoubeauty no
@@kaitlynmorgan4613 yeah but even if that is the case blaming them is still very wrong.. she needs to own up to her actions
She was living on campus after they asked her to leave several times, and he never thought to call the police to have her evicted? Some people can get away with absolutely anything OMG
Bc she’s white
This case made me cry, I’m currently a college student struggling with grades I’m hiding from my parents. my mom is like my best friend, and It’s so horrifying to see a killer mirror your own life so closely. It’s scary seeing an end stage of a life snowballing when you yourself are halfway through a similar experience yourself.
Edit:
AAAAA YOU GUYS ARE THE SWEETEST OMG!!
Surprisingly time-wise my mom called me a few minutes after I finished and I told her everything and how it the story rattled me. We worked everything out and cried a lil together, but we settled on a change of major into something i enjoy and calling check-in’s to make sure I’m doing okay academically & mentally. Thank you guys for all the love 🥹🥹🥹
Maggie, I am a mother of 4 adult children ranging in ages from 23-38. As a mother, I would rather have my daughter come to me and say, "Momma, I'm really struggling at school and my grades are showing it. I'm not sure what to do.", than to hide it until it was too late.
Talking to your Momma would also take a lot of stress off of you. I'm sure your mother will be willing to listen and understand more than you think dear. Remember, as hard as it may be to believe, your Momma was your age once too.
God bless you dear Maggie 🥰🤗❤️
There is a saying " we are as sick as our secrets " Bring it out into the light, talk to your Mother be honest with her. You can do this, you can do hard things. Prayers up for you my friend 🙏
i also hid my grades from my immigrant mother my second semester of my freshman year of college after being a straight A student my whole life (including that first semester). i had a bit more traumatic of a reason why i was failing but i ended up making straight Fs (and one D! 😝) and getting suspended too. i had to tell my mom of course and move back home and my mom certainly gave me SHIT for it but you’re right it is so scary to think like woah 😳 what if things had been different or something? like i almost understand how she feels having academic achievements be your whole identity which is so scary lol like uhhh i promise i would never do this 🥲 maybe it was psychosis because grades alone couldn’t have been the reason or im too logical 😭 anyway yeah way too close to home this one
@@sonyaclawson1514So beautifully said ❤ You touched my heart and the comment wasn't even for me!!! Thank you for sharing your comment ❤
Same haha, I was a stellar student in HS and now that I've graduated from an associate's to a BA, I'm ruining my grades and my life :((( I don't know what to do or how to fix it and everything seems out of control lol
this case is so crazy to me. I really struggled at my first college and got bad grades for a number of reasons. i am now at a new school and haven’t gotten anything lower than a B in a class. it’s uncomfortable having those conversations with parents and academic advisors when they are clearly disappointed, but you know what’s even worse?? killing your family member over it. it’s just like marriage killers. like divorce is hard but 100% a better option than taking a life. getting high scores and getting your grades up is hard but much better than the latter. so sad she took away such a kind soul.
What has irked me a few times is multiple ppl saying ‘Brenda would’ve wanted Sydney to be taken care of.’
Brenda can’t speak because she was brutally mudered. Wtf
I thought the same when her lawyer confided that's what he had said in her ear.. What a liberty. .
I don't really like when people put words in deceased people's mouths, yes sometimes it makes sense because it's things they told you during their lifetime anyways (and you obviously had nothing to do with their death), but in a case like this it's just a pathetic attempt at comforting a literal k*ller. Brenda was a mother, a wife etc, but she was first and foremost a human being whose life was brutally taken from her. Really irks me
This case is so insane because you’re describing the relationship I had with my mom, we were so close, like besties. So, when I did terrible in my first year at Uni she was the first person I told and she was so comforting about the whole thing. I just don’t understand why Sydney thought killing her mom would be easier than just telling her the truth 😢. May her soul rest in peace 🙏🏽🕊️
Maybe just MAYBE she was not as close to her mom as we seen. Maybe she was forced to be close to her. Not defending her, she should be punished. Just saying that her mom and her were probably not close.
@@davhot4107 it’s a possibility because everything about the family seems perfect so I guess we don’t really know 🤷♀️
My experience was quite different. I usually got really good grades, but in my high school finals (the exams that would decide which college I would join), I didn't do as well as everyone around me had hoped. My mom was really disappointed and she didn't talk to me properly for months. This really fucked me up mentally because I was really close to my mom back then. To make her happy, I ended up doing a degree that I wasn't really interested in. After I enrolled in the college of her choice studying a course that she wanted me to study, my mom started acting normal with me again, but I couldn't look at her the same way. I also kind of lost the motivation to study. So in college, I would often sit for exams without studying and it would reflect in my grades. I wasn't failing, but my grades weren't spectacular either. I was severely depressed throughout my late teens and early twenties because of the pressure my mom put on me. I still suffer from depression, but I'm high functioning. My mom tries to control my life even now, but I'm better at enforcing boundaries as an adult. Being in physical proximity to her seemed to trigger my mental health issues, so I used to live away from her in another city until last year. I have moved to another country now. So basically what I want to say is, parental issues can follow you to adulthood and really fuck you up. Maybe that's what happened with this girl. Idk.
@@MinSugaCheonjae oh I’m so sorry you went through that, I hope you’re doing much better now. I can see how from your point of view it makes sense for this girl.
I kind of get their relationship, though. (Not the murder!, But the fact that she seemed to resent her mom after being so so close with her). My mom used to be my bestie when I was a teen, but as soon as I did something she didn't agree with, she turned on me. And I knew, when we were close, that I needed to do some things she liked in order for us to be close.
(long time viewer who accidentally unfollowed here) i love the way you tell the more intrinsic details in cases like this one, i'd like to add that i myself suffer from psychotic breaks since i was younger due to stress and her story has many sketchy parts that if you lived through a psychotic break you know she is lying about it and telling the general public view on what a psychotic break is... the first thing is you black out and with time can only remember a few days before and after the break... all psychotic breaks i've ever had i only know what i saw because my parents told me. it's really hard seeing people doing bad things and then blame on illnesses that when people actually have it they don't hurt anyone or if hurt anyone is only themselves but the respect you had to ppl w mental illnesses while telling this story is something that i love about you and missing on other true crime channels
It really sounds like she had a huge issue with avoidance. As someone who struggled their whole life((and still do sometimes)) with intense avoidance tendencies, I can empathise with her avoiding until the very end about her school issues. I remember stealing our mail growing up to hide my report card or not telling my parents about parent-teacher conferences or even faking signitures. Where she completely looses me though is the second she attacked her mother. Out of all the crazy ways I've tried to weasle out of things, never in my mind did hurting someone ever even occurred to me. She obviously has some MAJOR issues to be delt with but that should not stop her from receiving punishment.
as a psychology student currently doing my third year of psychology this case is extremely interesting and it seems as she wasn't completely psychotic or had a psychotic break but instead just burnt out and had a horrible solution to it to take the pressure off her shoulders
Can you give preventive measures,please?
@@sarafmedha5753 keep a balanced schedule(balance between eating, sleeping, studying and outside activities) aswell as if you feel like you are getting exhausted or are permanently exhausted get a therapist early so you can reverse the pattern.
@@sarafmedha5753everything happened so fast it was a snap she felt cornered I'd say temporary insanity you apply to much pressure and something has to give
Is there a term for obscenely well compensated licensed medical professionals' diagnoses conveniently aligning so perfectly with the desire of the legal side that hired them?
@@RizztrainingOrder yes, biased opinion
One of the things that irritated me THE MOST was when she was covering her ears during the admin’s testimony (the one that heard everything over the phone). All her lies and stupid decisions just to avoid solving the problem. You don’t get to cover your eyes and your ears just because you don’t like it and it’s so pathetic
For real 😒 killing her own mom
Who raised her since birth
I think this is why we shouldn't be seeing footage from court when it's about cases we are not personally involved in, though. She might not have been psychotic, but she might believe she was, and she might regret everything so bad she covers her ears to protect whatever little self-dignity she still has left. She's convicted and sitting in jail, getting punished for what she did, and that's all we need to know. We don't need to give diagnoses to her facial expressions in court, because we will always have a confirmation bias. Everything she does or says from now onward is going to be seen as manipulative or childish or irresponsible, and maybe she deserves that, but it doesn't do US any good to think we are apparently that good at knowing what someone is thinking. The chances are, we get it wrong every time.
@@kiriragannaagreed
@@kiriragannaboohooo the murderer is getting clowned on by the internet, someone call the police 🙄
@@RedxRiot Who cares about what happens to the murderer? I am talking about the fact that it's harmful to US AS AN AUDIENCE to assume we know what is going inside someone's mind based on some video clips. That it only makes us arrogant and doesn't serve us in any meaningful way whatsoever.
I just feel bad how Brenda in all of this just seems like her suffering is being totally thrown out the window. I get how hard it is to deal with academic issues and disappointment from family. My father was the kind of person who was extremely hard to please and if he wasn't, he got abusive in numerous ways. The pressure of that definitely weighed on me a ton but it never drove me to murder. I had a lot of other medical issues both mental and physical health-wise which thankfully was uncovered, but it definitely did not drive me to murder and especially not someone who seemed to care. I know that it seems like life at home was picture perfect but I just wonder if that really was true or not. I hope that for Sydney's sake she had a good life. I get the pressure, but I can't behind the murder and I hope Brenda rests in peace.
18:20 I went through something similar without any reason. Turns out I was burnt out. So, I clocked out, then returned to university 3 years later at 24 yo. I graduated at 27 and I'm very happy of the outcome. We don't need to murder anybody just take a step back kids. Your parents love you and will always understand.
Listening to this case got me thinking how low some people will actually go to keep their secrets buried. To kill the mother that carried them for 9 months, through all the pains and struggles but clothed you, fed you, kept you safe all these years just to be killed in a horrifying way with multiple stabbings. The sense of betrayal that mother would have felt in her last moments, I just can’t imagine. She deserves the worse punishment
Right?! Ive had secrets revealed, and found out even things kinda bad but murder was the last thing on my mind , only embarassment, so yeah it really is mindblown
but like i cried when they said the daughter killed the mother like the mom was so nice
@@faithhalk2133 Can I ask how you know if mom was nice though? Not agreeing on the murder, but like... People who have never seen the family just say mom is nice why did she do this... If the parents seemed to see that something was wrong with their daughter, why didn't they check in? Why does one believe what outsiders say so easily just by sheer amount over possibilities?
Not saying she was bad. But there is no people that could say she was bad or good for sure...
@@satamiko there are outside accounts about the mother's character mentioned in the video, all positive
@@kentucky_ky_khicken All outside accounts will tell you my father is good while he is an abusive narcissist at home. Get a reality check. People need a good social status in public, most vicious people look good outside their home.
you are literally an angel for sharing stories like these and humanizing them as well instead of leaving the victims as just a stat
Literally an angel has to mean that Stephanie is dead
I also watched boze's video about this where she watched the trial. It is also a good watch if you want commentary alongside watching the trial hehe.
@@Johnne009ok language police
@@meromero3743 ooh thx!
the thing that stuck with me the most was the fact that she grew up a pretty loved and honored child and was even an honor roll student. that amount of self esteem boost and self value could've been the reason she lashed out like that causing her to murder her own mom. the feeling of losing the only thing that made you loved or "special" must've broken her down. I'm pretty sure she was sane throughout the whole process but i do believe the murder was a bit impulsive. anyway i think the sentence makes perfect sense and if she was really having problems mentally then she should have regular appointments with a therapist or some sort of doctor. ps i think if she just found herself drowning in her series of lies and there was no going back thus acting impulsively.
I look at all the support she has from those in her life and it brings tears to my eyes because I've never had that. If only things could've turned out differently for her so she could appreciate the beautiful things she has. I truly hope she gets the help she needs.
Not the first story ive heard of a non student killing a parent or both parents to hide the fact that they arent attending. Crazy.
Jennifer Pan
Chandler halderson
Menhaz Zaman
How infuriating is this 😢 Rather than being an adult and facing the consequences of your decisions these people rather choose way worse path not just for themselves but also for their families 💔
Right ...ive been caught in lies before or in trouble and that was the last thing ever on my mind, only embarassment and shame. Ill never get how people can get MAD at other people for finding out they were lieing. To me its a sign of narcissism
Definitely tiger parents putting tremendous pressure on her
@@Johnne009 I agree there’s a lot of pressure to not disappoint the parents in tiger parenting and the child sometimes feels like they can not share their feelings but it does not mean that one could resort to violence especially against those that are working their ass off to build your future.
@@sabrinaleedance That’s what parent child relationship should be. I mean if we have no authority figure in our lives that could hold us accountable for our actions it raises entitled adults that are also detrimental. Parenting is a hardest task it’s a delicate balance between being a safe person and being hard coach at the same time.
@@Johnne009 They don't seem like tiger parents, lacking the aggression... rather their daughter is the aggressive one
I can’t ever understand the logic of ending my parents over school or some grades. I dropped out and went back to school so many times.
Just because it’s her daughter doesn’t mean you can’t feel a type of way. As a mom you bring the child into the world care and love for them only to be betrayed by them? No there’s no excuse
Agreed that she’s not insane. Very sad to hear that Brenda’s own family didn’t want to protect her and fight for her, but to fight for her murderer.
poor brenda. she seems incredibly sweet. the fact that she was so excited to see her daughter and go shopping with her and seems to be so loving and understanding with children. hearing about how she worked with children that have cancer for 30 years... my heart aches so much for that sweet lady
im also incredibly torn about this case. she seems to have lost awareness and needed help, but at the same time it seems like she could be reaching for the insanity plea and forcing it. with an insane person moods can quickly change, but her being so calm on the phone and then realizing again what she did and starting to lie about someone breaking in... idk it definitely seems like manipulation and trying for a plea, but also insanity looks different on everyone.
I just want to say to parents make sure your kid knows i5s okay to fail and they don't have to be perfect and run 100 percent all the time. It's important.
Obviously this doesn't excuse the act just in case I need to say that
Amen.
"Why do we fall? So we can learn to get up."
Definitely tiger parents putting tremendous pressure on her
She would have tried to kill someone else, she is a danger to society
You’re an amazing storyteller. I’ve already heard this story but you’re so colorful in how to convey the details it’s so engaging. ❤❤❤
The high school teacher is basically describing a panic attack. Which according to my education is not psychosis. Millions of people genuinely suffer from serious problems with their mental health, but never commit homicide. The concept that she didn't want to disappoint her mother, well I personally cannot think of anything more disappointing to a parent is to realize your child is a murderer...🤔
I typically don't comment on videos, but this time I couldn't resist expressing my gratitude and appreciation for Stephanie. I used to wonder how people could become attached to TH-camrs or celebrities, but now I understand. It's become a cherished routine for me to unwind after a long day at university by preparing a meal and watching Stephanie's videos. I almost feel like we're friends because she creates such a cozy atmosphere and instantly lifts my mood with her bubbly personality. So, Stephanie, thank you for everything! Sending lots of love, Inass. ❤️
Very sweet comment 😊
Inez are u In atx at goodkind? Or I’m wrong
@@IdkFoxii I have no idea what ur talking about so I guess no
It shocks me how many cases there are about honour students rebelling or kids lying to their parents...
That's why old generation parents need to stop putting so much pressure about fucking grades. Schools and kids would be feeling less stressful then.
@@bwingbwinggwiyomi I AGREE!! My parents haven't stressed me about school almost at all and I just won an academic award a few months ago without any pressure or stress from them
@@dollazziher parents were trying to talk to her and tell her everything was ok and she still killed her mother. This isn't your average case.
Stress makes people do crazy things
@@hmmtea7438 also true, the parents in this don't seem like most of the cases eg. jennifer pan
A lot of people are wondering why she thought killing her mom would be easier than telling her the truth. I think the reason why is when her mom called the school and asked what was really going on, I suspect that whatever story Sydney tried to spin, her mom was not buying. Sydney so badly did not want her to know the truth, she hit her with the frying pan to stop her. Then she didn't stop until her mom could never know what happened. Finally, she did what has been doing for months, lied and tried to cover her tracks for her fake story.
The verdict is the correct one. This is not a premediated crime but definitely a crime of passion.
I went through a similar issue in college and i never thought about hurting anyone if anything i thought of harming myself. I hid it for a while as well but i again never felt the urge to harm someone to keep my secret hidden for a bit longer.
Putting myself in her shoes.. if I loved my mother as much as I’m sure she does, I would PLEAD GUILTY and hope they lock me away forever. I couldn’t even imagine doing this to my own mother, who I wish was my best friend so badly… AND MY MOTHERS NAME IS BRENDA as well!!!!
😓 RIP Brenda. You are a beautiful and strong woman.
I have an aunt with that name 😅 but I agree though I'm not close with my mom it would never happen my mom struggled all her life to take care of me and my sister we had a roof over our heads but one wrong step and we'd have been on the streets and my best friend practically was, my friend and her sister lived with us for 3 months
This case reminds me of Chandler Halderson, the 25yo who killed & dismembered his parents right before all HIS lies were about to be exposed. He lied for years about NOT going to college, NOT having a job, NOT having a job at SpaceX waiting for him once he pretend graduated, & on and on. His parents, like Sydneys, seemed like there wouldn't have been a major blowup once finding out, disappointment, yes, but both would have helped their child. Please cover Chandler Haldersons' case. The trial & his interrogation are fascinating to watch. There's also footage of his ride in the back of the cop car on his way to his interrogation! Watching him sweat & squirm is truly a sight. I think Sydney knew what she was doing at the time of the murder & I'm afraid that if she's out in 15yrs & not rehabilitated, well, all I can say is, I'm glad I don't live in her state! These stories break my heart. I have a 23yo who is currently enrolled in a Masters Program for clinical psychology & I can't imagine for one minute him doing anything even close to this. Stephanie, I adore you & your story-telling abilities! I would love to see your take on the Halderson case! Thanks to you AND your brilliant staff for all that you do. Sorry for the long post! 😊
I remember hearing the Chandler Halderson case and thinking to myself, this case of Sydney reminds me of another case but I couldn't remember which one it was! Thank you for bringing it up 😊
This is EXACTLY what I was thinking.
I came here to say this
@aviltarcher2305 I'm glad my long post made sense to others! I can get long winded sometimes 😁
Jennifer Pan and Bart Whitaker are both people who killed or attempted to kill family members after they were caught lying about going to college!
That poor mother was giving her all to raise a child and all she got was injustice from her own family. Truly heartbreaking.
It will be interesting to see if she is taking meds for schizophrenia while in prison.
Those meds are strong, and I can’t imagine what they would do to someone if they were faking such a diagnosis. Her diagnosis and treatment while in prison should play a huge role in her chances for parole…
I never understand these people who kill others so their secrets don't get found out, cause they always get found out and now you're not only known as a cheater etc but you're also a murderer.
For real
Yes, no matter what you do, who you try to silence, your secrets will always come out. People need to realize that MOST of their secrets if they come out will only result in embarrassment or a little bit of shame those are all temporary.
@@Princess-Ammonite 100% yes
sooner or later.
And also the whole world knows lol
Yeah, no, I don't buy the "she blacked out and was insane at the time". Her picking up the phone and pretending to be her mom is a dead giveaway: That requires a level of manipulation and planning you are fundamentally not capable of when you're hysterical.
She can’t claim insanity because she tried to cover it up, so she clearly knew that she was committing a crime. I can’t imagine what her poor mother’s last thoughts must have been
Armchair psychologist here. She sounds eerily similar to my ex that started showing schizophrenia symptoms a few years in and had a psychotic breakdown at the end. He was also a narcissist which is pretty closely related to the disorder. He had very vivid dreams that he would be very angry at me for, because he claimed he couldn't always tell what were dreams or reality. He started "daydreaming" also. In these dreams I would grossly verbally abuse him which I think caused him to start hating me. He had the brain of a 15 year old and a very overt narcissist as his symptoms worsened. He did some messed up things. I could've very easily seen him hurting someone. However, I would also say that in his worst states he would've still known he was murdering them.
The only missing pieces to this story is the family background, they presented a loving, wholesome family to the public but the lying about school, attending classes despite being suspended, her dad had already caught her in the lie so once her mom got home the feeling or fear of being “confronted” about her lies should already dissipated. My opinion is that attacked her mom out of pure rage, not mental illness but rage. The real question the prosecutors should have asked was where did that raged stem from. The fact that the family rallied around her after gruesomely murdering her mom tells me that they aid and abide in not taking accountability for her actions and going along with the “mental illness troupe for reasons only THEY know as a family with its own secrets. It’s giving Casey Anthony and Jody Aries
Right? It sounds like the family could be hiding many things if not abuse. Why couldn't she talk to them, why didn't they talk to her earlier...
Yea as many times as she pierced her mom and the covering her ears during trial is interesting in view of your opinion...
Also Grandma has 100 acres that's money... Something going on
@@satamiko by all accounts Brenda was a loving, very involved mother as well as a dedicated nurse, she specialized in working with children dealing with serious health ailments and other issues, it we are to believe this girl was experiencing delusions, sleep paralysis, “voices” and she didn’t address these concerns with her mom who had over 3 decades of medical experience under her belt? We all have (most of us) medical professionals in our family and the moment we cough, sneeze or fart funny they are the first people we go to with our symptoms. That’s why I get the feeling that there is so much more to this story and a lot is being withheld about this young lady. It’s one thing to support your children when they mess up, it’s quite another to claim they should not be held accountable for their actions and come out making excuses for her. She didn’t “hear voices” and push mom mom down a flight of stairs, she went and got two weapons from the kitchen, went back upstairs to her moms room, hit her with the frying pan then 🔪her over a dozen times. My rule of thumb when it comes to murder is that, the body and crime scene tells the truth even when the guilty attempts to hide it. Bludgeoning and 🔪 a loved one, your own mother to death is very passionate and brutal murders, it’s personal and filled with malice. In a punching motion strike one specific area 30 times….Though it may have not been planned, a crime of passion in the heat of the moment, an argument is still a crime…not mental illness
@@thanaaabdullah3452 Cool story, bro, why are you answering this to the comment where I say nothing about what you are telling me... And where I literally just speculate with the commenter above that the family is suspicious?
I feel sorry for the dad, but he is clearly giving, "My wife is dead, I don't want to send my daughter to jail too"
this is crazy. i feel like this is even disrespectful to people who actually suffers from psychosis. it’s so funny to see a bunch of adults sitting and trying to convince the judge she was out of her mind or hallucinating by giving the most casual stress examples. like no shit, it happens to almost everyone at some point in their lives. and was she so out of her mind while lying to his dad about the “my mom’s on the phone, no wait someone broke in!” or answering the phone by saying “this is brenda” like what the hell?? i think the only reason she didn’t try to escape was her accepting the fact that running away will only make the matters worse. she just panicked about what her did and made a stupid excuse which then she didn’t have any time to proceed to make it look more believable because cops were already on their way. also, i believe any average person who just murdered someone without planning it would just freak out like that. she knew she was guilty, she lied prior to this for months and made a big deal out of it. she could’ve literally just sit and study while she had the time instead of making a whole ass plan about acting like a student. i’m sending my condolences to the family, this is so sad, brenda literally didn’t deserve this. hope the dad and the brother recovers from this. 🙏🏻🙏🏻❤
The title reminds me of Jennifer Pan.
She had lied to her parents about school and even her college. She dated someone who her parents didn't approve of. I don't remember what was the tipping point but she hired men to come to her house and kill her parents. At the time, she also acted like a victim. But after pieces didn't add up, she was questioned.
Plus her dad managed to survive and tell them that Jennifer had a part in the murder of his wife.
I cook with cast irons on a daily basis and I just wanted to point out that I think she cracked the skillet. It really makes me cringe thinking how hard she must have swung that Skillet because Lodge skillets are some of the thickest and heaviest on the market.
Narcissism or even perfectionism always comes from a deep sense of shame. As someone with personal experience with a parent that acted one way with the children they worked with and who also took ECD in college, but acted a completely different way at home or when other people weren't around, I have no doubt that the pressure she was feeling was through the roof. It's not an excuse, I believe she was acting and have no problem with her being held fully accountable. But parents still need to do better. Marsha Linehan has great information on how invalidation affects children, especially with her 'fire on the stage' allegory. Brené Brown's research is so important and I don't understand why it's not being taught in all public schools. You can punish these adults all you want, but it's not going to prevent it from happening again if people continue to parent the same way and not acknowledge their loved one's needs and feelings. I'm sure her mom was experiencing compassion fatigue after working so many hours and putting so much effort into being a mom for the children at her work and the other employees.
❤❤❤ I love every video that Stephenie posts . Honestly, what I look forward to and I am obsessed they way she tells the stories ❤❤❤
So thank you Stephanie for always taking time out of your day and ideas to share with us !!!
•She smashed the glass AFTER killing her mother (Brenda’s blood being found there)
•After the murder (I believe immediately after) pretended to be here mother on the phone
•In a seemingly calm manner lied about nothing being wrong (at this point Brenda would have been dead and bleeding) and then have a sudden burst of “THERES A BREAK IN”
To me, without any indication of her having any kind of mental illness, from what i’ve seen no one mentioned her having any experience with it during childhood and up to that point, no indication from the people she lived with and saw regularly…how can she suddenly claim to have a psychotic break? I’d imagine having such a break to the extent of committing a crime would have had a previous incident leading up to it.
(There was a case of a woman who ended the lives of her children in a bathtub and she was previously hospitalized for incidents relating to her pp and then she suddenly had a mental break. I say this because to ME that would be how i would imagine a sequence of events leading to such a tragedy would go)
Love how Stephanie covers a lot of cases that I haven't heard of before.
This case is fascinating..horrible, but fascinating
Interesting that the dad believed her tech excuse. But the mum was already texting her "I hope you're not scamming me".
As a professional working in mental health for 10+ years, I can attest that patients with schizophrenia will sometimes blast music in their room or on their headphones to drown auditory hallucinations. She may be covering her ears for that reason. Also, she comes across as someone with borderline personality which explains narcissism and cluster B & C traits.
I have seen some really brilliant students have a psychotic breakdowns that are brought on by stress. I have seen forensic cases such as these before, NCR or non criminally responsible can be tricky but again that's for the professionals to decide..just my two cents.
Thank you for bringing light to these cases and letting the world know about them!
I never truly got the " reason of insanity" thing. I get that people are sick but I'm pretty sure those trials are to insure other people's safety. Telling me that someone killed a person but do not realize or remember it doesn't make me feel safer then if they did. I get the reasoning behind it but I don't want them out on the streets. Of course you can send them to a mental institution and not let them outside of it, which is basically a jail.
True. Becuase they have hurt people either way
I think sending lying manipulators to mental institutions is a bad idea, especially one as sneaky as Sydney. She didn't even have a key card but still managed to get into every campus building.
if they will be able to prove insanity she will be locked in psych for long time, it is not an easy escape card
That’s the thing insanity isn’t get out of jail your in the institution for years mabey ur whole life.
Remind me of a time my dad told me is okay to fail when I was younger, it's those who have never fail before fall harder in life after
Boreline for sure. That parent child relationship was probably dark behind the scenes
lets say for the sake of saying that she was "temporarily insane" she wasn't insane when she lied to her dad about the tuition, she wasnt insane when she refused to move out, she wasnt insane when she was booking hotels to stay in to avoid her parents and their questions, and she wasnt insane when she tried to force her way into her old sorority. she just didnt want to take accountability for her actions and MANY killers when you boil down their motivations kill for that reason.
You are the best story teller on any platform, hands down! Thank you for being amazing!
It's not a story she's telling this isn't baking a murder you can find the story retold on any other crime channel that doesn't read off a projector she's Kate Annie Elise covered this months agos but didn't talk about it like it was a kdrama
Why did this video hit close to home 😅. I always have to remind myself that my grades don’t reflect who I am. There’s days were I cry horribly because the work is to much for me and I just wanna drop out but then (thank god) my brothers always remind me not to worry that you can always always always try again. That your grades don’t define how smart you are. Sadly she was under so much pressure that she made a horrible decision. she had no one to support her which lead her to do what she did. My parents love putting me under so much pressure but I thankful I have my brothers to support me and remind me of my worth ❤.
I only just started listening to rotten mango the other day but I love it and how much effort you put into this. This is my new favorite true crime channel!
I definitely think she knew exactly what she was doing and her family is in denial and I’m upset that nobody seems devastated by this terrible crime it’s so frustrating and weird to me
Right. Making excuses for her. Smh!