Trust

0:13 Kim Neptune leaves her brother's apartment and closes the door behind her. She hears her brother lock it as she walks away. It's only a short distance to her place, just down the road. She pulls her coat close, wishing it would warm up already. It's been a month since the official first day of spring, but it's still barely above freezing. Kim hurries now, down the road, and up to her apartment. Her little apartment is one of the many in a cabin-like complex near the banks of the Little River and Zipiak Trail. She loves where she lives.

0:54 Family is important to her. So her brother living so close was a welcome sight. That combined with the unadulterated beauty of Maine's wilderness made her life as perfect as she could hope. She passes her neighbor's back porch and walks up the stairs towards her front door. She can't help but glance at her ATV parked out front. It's her prized possession. She smiles a little, remembering how proud she was when she bought it. The smile is still there when she reaches her front door. She's fumbling with her keys when her phone chimes. She pulls it up from her pocket as soon as she gets inside, closing the door and locking it behind her. It's a message from her friend asking if they could come over and chill.

1:47 She quickly responds with a yes, but says she needs some time to clean up. Kim grabs her razor and shaving cream and hops into the shower. Minutes later, she hops out feeling refreshed and looking forward to her visitor. Across town, her neighbor is at work when she gets an alert on her phone. Motion is detected on her security camera on her back porch. She looks at the time and opens the app. It's 11 p.m. She taps for the live view. From the camera's perspective, above her back door, she could see part of Kim's stairs. But everything seems typical. Except that, through the camera, she can see her own dogs inside her apartment. They're barking, whining, and just going crazy. At midnight, she gets another alert.

2:44 This time, she looks at the clip. She sees someone, a dark figure, coming down the stairs and then going right back up. Her dogs are still barking. She doesn't think much of it. But 17 minutes later, she gets yet another alert. The clip shows the shadows of two figures this time, moving around in front of Kim's door.

3:10 She glances at it briefly, but returns to work. It isn't her business to know what her neighbors are doing in the middle of the night. Later, she checks the app again, just to make sure her dogs have calmed down. She scrubs through the last hour of video and hears the dogs quiet down at around 1am. Good, she thinks.

3:33 Whatever they were barking at must have stopped. Welcome to Sword and Scale Nightmares. True crime for bedtime. Your nightmare begins now. 43-year-old Kim Neptune was the kind of person everyone in Pleasant Point knew in some way or another. You might see her cleaning rooms at Bar Harbor during the summer, catching little eels along the riverbank in the spring, or working long hours making wreaths for Whitney Wreath in the fall. The work was hard, cold, and exhausting, but Kim never complained about it. She had a kind of happy determination. Her family used to joke that she was like a turtle, graceful, calm, and never in much of a hurry. Time didn't seem to matter much to Kim.

5:12 She moved at her own pace through life. Kim was proudest of the ATV she'd finally saved enough money to buy herself. Around Pleasant Point, people were used to seeing her riding the trails with buckets of eels strapped to the back. She loved living there. tucked into the woods beside the river, surrounded by the people she cared about most.

5:36 And most than anything else, Kim loved her family. Her brother Samuel lived only a short walk away from her apartment. And in a place like Pleasant Point, family wasn't just important. It was part of everyday life. The following day, April 21st, 2022, started like any other for Samuel. He got up and got ready for work. It was the assistant supervisor for the Pleasant Point Housing Authority, which kept him busy all over town. That morning, he messages his sister that he's on his way over. He heads to her apartment to drop off batteries for her smoke detectors. It was just a small part of his job. He pulls his truck into the driveway and parks next to her ATV. He hops out with a handful of AA batteries and bounds

6:29 up the stairs. He gets to her front door and knocks. He waits. When she doesn't answer, he tries to peek through a window, but can't see past the drapes. He reaches for the doorknob, but it's locked. He thinks about opening the door with the key she gave him, but he doesn't. He was there on an official capacity, not as her brother. That would be unprofessional He assumes she must be asleep or not at home, so he gets back in his truck and leaves. By the end of the day, he's exhausted and pulls into his own driveway.

7:13 He turns the engine off and steps out of the truck. It's already dark out, and the little yellow porch light in front of his apartment is beckoning him inside. He's through the door and flopping on the couch in seconds. It feels good to relax. He pulls his phone out of his pocket and sets it on the coffee table as he reaches for the TV remote. That's when he remembers his sister. She never responded to his text. He climbs to his feet with a tired grunt and starts walking to his sister's. It only takes a few moments to reach her front door. Just like that morning, there was no response from inside, and the door was locked.

7:58 Samuel flips through his keys, looking for the one his sister gave him. He slides it into the lock and opens the door. Inside, it's pitch black. He feels for a switch and flips on the lights. Samuel can't believe his eyes. His sister's apartment is usually neat and tidy, but right now, it's an utter mess. He calls out for his sister as he walks inside. The home is eerily silent. He walks through the living room and up the stairs to the bedroom. The door is closed, so he knocks softly as he pushes it open just a crack. Kim, he calls as he turns on the lights. Kim's room was a disaster, far worse than downstairs. There were things all over the floor. The contents of her dresser were dumped everywhere. onto the ground what the hell he starts

9:01 to exclaim but stops when he sees it sticking out of the pile are two feet Samuel's stomach sinks and he runs to the pile he frantically starts to unbury his sister peeling away the layers covering her no no no he repeats over and over. He reaches the last layer. A blanket. He peels it back. His sister is cold and stiff. He feels for a pulse and then falls back and realizes she doesn't have one. He reaches for his cell phone but remembers he left it on the coffee table. He springs to his feet and runs out of the apartment. His breath is quick and sharp. His heart beats like a beat. a drum, and he runs as fast as he can for help. Detective Anderson steps outside his patrol car and walks up the stairs to

10:37 Kim's front door. He stands in the doorway a moment before walking inside. The first thing he notices is blood. A lot of it. The doorknob and the deadbolt have blood on them. The light switch next to the door has blood also. But Anderson doesn't see that. He can't take his eyes off the set of bloody footprints going up and down the stairs. He stops carefully around them, making his way upstairs. He looks around the room. The amount of blood seems unnatural. The blankets on the bed were stained red. Even the pillows had blood on them.

11:21 One looks like the killer used it to wipe his blade. The trail of blood leads to where Kim now lies. wedged between the bed and her dresser. The blanket she's wrapped in is saturated with her blood. And it's no wonder. Her body is riddled with stab wounds. He can't tell how many, but they are all over her legs, stomach, neck, and head. Anderson takes a step back and looks down at Kim's lifeless body. He's worked for the Maine State Police Major Crime Unit for years... and has never witnessed a scene so brutal. Whatever happened, it was ultra-violent. Anderson turns his attention to the other clues left behind by the killer. A bloody hand reached between the mattress and the wall and left a smear. Bloody hands turned all

12:21 the pockets on Kim's clothes inside out. This has all the hallmarks of a robbery gone wrong, he thinks. Even her cell phone and bank cards are missing. Anderson is left scratching his head. The sheer brutality of the murder implies it was committed by someone close to Kim in the heat of passion. Her body being covered supported that theory.

12:49 But those types of murders typically didn't involve simple robberies. By 9.30 the next morning, the autopsy was complete. The medical examiner explained the severity of the crime, and it was worse than Anderson expected. Kim was stabbed a total of 484 times, mostly to the head and neck. Many of the wounds were inflicted after death. Her carotid artery, lungs, and abdominal cavity were all penetrated. She had defensive wounds on her hands. But what killed her was the blood loss.

13:30 She died slowly as she bled out. Anderson sent off samples for DNA analysis, tried to ping her phone, and put in a request for Kim's debit card activity. But the first real lead came from Kim's neighbor. The alert she got the night of the murder gave detectives something of a timeline. The dogs barked uncontrollably from 11 p.m.

13:56 to 1 a.m. Figures were seen on Kim's stairs shortly after midnight. It was a start, but far from the clue that would break the case open. Then, Anderson went further back in time. Two days before the murder, the neighbor's camera caught something suspicious. A person wearing an oversized dark jacket was caught on camera. They walked towards the apartment, stopped, turned around, and then quickly walked away. The person's behavior was odd, but it was something else the person was wearing that really stood out. They wore a very distinctive bandana over their mouth. On the bandana was the depiction of a toothy smile, kind of like the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland. Anderson now had a vague description

14:53 of the person who did this. Hopefully, someone would recognize them. A few days later, the entire community knew about the crime, and the pressure was building to solve it quickly. Luckily, a member of the community had a tip. He gave the detective a group of four photos. Anderson recognized the bottom two photos as still images pulled from the neighbor's security camera. The top two, though, he'd never seen before.

15:25 The tipster explained he pulled the top two photos directly from a woman's Facebook page. Anderson was taken aback by the resemblance. The woman was wearing a bandana with a toothy grin, and the woman's name was Kaylee Brackett. one of Kim's closest friends. Before Anderson could move on this information, he got another tip. Someone recognized Brackett from the grainy images released to the public. Anderson was convinced the figure was indeed Brackett. But that didn't mean she committed the crime.

16:03 All he knew for sure was that she was seemingly casing the joint in the days leading up to the murder. But that's when another tip came in. A couple of days before the murder, a woman named Haley Levesque overheard a conversation of Kaylee Brackett's. She told several people in the store that Kim was going to pay for the money she stole. Haley's husband heard it too. To Anderson, it sounded like a motive or a threat. Brackett was shaping up to be the main suspect. That is, until the DNA results came back. None of the samples sent to the lab were Kaylee's DNA. They belonged to Donnell Danas.

16:55 Detectives Austin and Lindsey sat down with Donnell, seven days after the murder. Donnell is escorted into a room and sits at the table across from detectives. When detectives start asking questions, Donnell answers. Kaylee, he says, is the love of my life. We have a son together, but we're not a couple. He explains he knows Kim also. I even lived there for a couple of years, sleeping on the couch. But, he continues, I moved out and returned my key months ago. I don't know what happened to her, he says, but I wish I did. That's when detectives start asking about his whereabouts on the night of the 20th.

17:39 and Donnell's cooperation or memory or both start to falter. First, he says he was in the hospital and his family could vouch for that. Then he changed his mind and said he could have been at his mom's house. He couldn't remember. He claimed his head was foggy. He could have been at Kim's or his mom's or both. Who knows?

18:07 Maybe he's a particle from the quantum realm that can exist in two places at once. He just didn't know. The detectives lean in so Donnell can sense their seriousness. We found your DNA all over the murder scene, Detective Austin says. Can you explain how your DNA is in her apartment? Donnell says he has no idea. Not a great look, if you ask me. Donnell, Austin says, do you know whether or not you killed Kim? He's quiet for a moment, then replies, I didn't kill Kim. But the detectives hear anger in his voice now. Donnell angrily shouts, fuck off, then jumps up from the table. He looks at the two detectives with his jaw clenched. He points and says, go fuck yourselves. before turning, punching a hole

19:10 in the wall, and leaving. But later, Donnell returns with a family member in tow. He's much calmer than earlier, and asks to speak with the detective. He tries to explain that while he couldn't remember, his mother and niece both said he was at his mom's house all night. Kaylee had dropped off their son earlier that evening. He further explains that a year previously, He had bled in Kim's house, and maybe that's why his DNA was in her home. When asked, he defended Kaylee, saying he's never known her to be violent. and that he loves her.

19:52 Detectives then asked if he would let them check his body for scrapes or marks, and he agreed. Detectives discovered three linear scratch-like marks on his chest, marks on both his legs, and a mark on his right ear. The interview ends and Donnell is free to go. But the next day, a witness comes forward with information that seems to explain everything. Everything. Christy Longfellow came forward with information about the case. She said she had spoken with Kaylee and Donnell separately on two different occasions. And what she claimed they told her explained what happened to Kim that night.

21:12 Longfellow claimed that Kim was at home alone when she got a text from Kaylee saying that she had a babysitter and wanted to come over and chill. The two were sort of seeing each other. Kim agreed and hopped in the shower before she got there. Just before 11pm, Kim answered the door, but Kaylee wasn't alone on the other side. Donnell was behind her on the stairs. Kim was surprised. She didn't expect Donnell to tag along. She told Kaylee she didn't want Donnell there. That's when Donnell rushed past Kaylee and attacked Kim. The neighbor's dogs started to bark. The whole plan was to rob Kim. The pair knew she had a couple thousand dollars on her and that she had just bought a couple hundred Xanax pills.

22:11 But when Danelle attacked her, he lost control, as people with low IQs often do. He beat Kim in the face and dragged her upstairs. He was jealous of the relationship Kim had with Kaylee, the woman he loved. The fight got out of hand. Donnell claimed it went overboard by accident, as if he couldn't control himself. When the fight was over, Kim was making noises and blood was everywhere.

22:45 He couldn't stand the sight of what he'd done, so he wrapped her in a blanket. Kaylee grabbed the pills, some jewelry, the security camera, and Kim's money. When the robbery was done, Kaylee stabbed Kim five times, aiming for her vital organs. When they checked her pulse and were sure she was dead, they took turns stabbing her dead body.

23:11 The neighbor's dogs stopped barking. Detective Anderson compiled all the evidence and applied for a search warrant. It was granted, and Kaylee's car and home were searched. Detectives found footage of Kaylee using Kim's bank cards at two ATMs and a family dollar the day after the murder. Donnell Dana's DNA tied him to the crime. He was in that apartment.

23:43 He had relationships with both Kaylee and Kim. Kaylee Brackett was tied to the scene through the security footage. She went on a spending spree with Kim's money. But none of that put her inside the home during the murder. That is, until the state found an expert to analyze the bloody footprints from the scene. You see, these weren't shoe prints. These were prints of a socked foot. And just for a moment, think about that. Looking for things to steal all the while sloshing around in blood-soaked socks.

24:26 What a fucking horror scene. Both Kaylee and Donnell were arrested and charged with murder and robbery. Both were involved, but they couldn't say who did what. I guess it didn't matter much anyway. Regardless, Kaylee was convicted of murder and sentenced to 55 years in prison. Donnell's trial, on the other hand, was declared a mistrial after days of deliberation.

24:56 He wasn't innocent. The jury just couldn't agree on what he was guilty of. That's some bad lawyering right there. Rather than have another trial, the state gave Donnell a plea deal, dropping the murder charge. If you think the government is there to help us, you are wrong. Seriously out of date with your information. Some overworked attorney that couldn't hack it in the private sector is now buried under cases trying to get through them as fast as possible in any way they can. The hell with justice.

25:33 That's somebody else's problem. Donnell ended up pleading guilty to felony hindering apprehension or prosecution and was sentenced to get this. 364 days in jail. He'd already been in jail for 19 months, so he was just released. Just like that. Out on the streets. Person like that. Person capable of murder.

26:00 Just walking around because somebody couldn't do their fucking job. And if he complies with a long list of conditions for a year, the conviction will be reduced to a Misdemeanor. In this country, you can murder someone and get a misdemeanor with time served. Unbelievable. Then the case took yet another unexpected turn. On appeal, Maine's highest court ruled the footprint testimony should never have been admitted. The experts' methods lacked a good enough scientific foundation, they said. And Kaylee Brackett's conviction was vacated. Today, Kimberly Neptune is still dead.

26:56 Danelle Dana avoided another murder trial and got off with just a misdemeanor charge. Kaylee Brackett was convicted, but that conviction was overturned. Prosecutors maintain both were involved, but no one knows exactly who did what. Somewhere between barking dogs, a smiling bandana, and 484 stab wounds lies the truth of what happened inside Kim's apartment that night. The only thing that is certain is that Kim didn't let her killer in. She let in someone. She trusted. If you enjoyed the show, please consider joining PLUS at swordandscale.com slash PLUS.

27:56 But if you can't, consider leaving us a positive review on your preferred listening platform. Sweet dreams, and good night.