i feel a little bit safer they weren't
human
[Music]
i felt like i was cleaning up a mess
it was thanksgiving day 2012
on elm street in little falls minnesota
where a nightmarish scenario played out
for two teenage cousins
after illegally entering into a home
that was not
their own they would never leave the
house alive
an entire day would pass before police
would learn
of the horrific details that took place
in the house
that day what is up ewoo
crew today we will be dissecting the
case of
byron david smith his controversial
trial was aggressively argued over in
courts and
taverns across rural morrison county
minnesota
as people disagreed over how justice
should be served
is byron david smith a second amendment
hero
as some online believe for standing up
for the right to defend himself and his
property
or is he a calculated cold-blooded
killer
hunting down his unsuspecting victims
drawing them
into his murderous snare during this
2012 thanksgiving tragedy the small town
of
little falls had little to be thankful
for
let's get into it byron david smith
who was 64 years old at the time of the
incident
was a single man living by himself his
house
situated on some of the northernmost
banks of the mississippi river
shows serious signs of weathering where
it is dwarfed by the tall cluster of
pine trees that surround it
little falls sits right in the middle of
the state of minnesota
it is a relatively small but quaint town
that is home to less than 9 000
residents
although smith's home wasn't near the
other houses
neighbors frequently complained about
him they claimed that he always shot his
guns in his backyard
and neighbors voiced concerns that his
stray bullets might hit nearby children
smith a vietnam veteran had worked for
the united states government
as a security engineer with the state's
department for decades
he traveled the globe spending years in
cities such as bangkok cairo moscow and
beijing
at some points he even had more than 50
employees under his supervision
his job with the department was to
protect the united states embassies
around the world against the threat of
terrorism and international espionage
this high clearance position not only
required
serious background checks and mental
health screenings
but it was a job that could only be done
by someone with skills in surveillance
and by someone who is very security
conscious
a spokesperson for the state department
confirmed that
smith retired six years prior to the
2012 incident
his house on elm street was said to have
been burglarized on several occasions
the last break-in reported to the
morrison county sheriff's office
took place the previous october
thieves allegedly stole ten thousand
dollars worth of property from smith's
home
including cash electronics and even
smith's shotgun he was fed up with
multiple robberies
telling police whoever it was that was
breaking into my home was doing it for
so long that i was no longer able to
live in fear
i was far over the edge some of the
other items that were stolen were very
personal to smith
including a watch that his father was
awarded for suffering as a prisoner of
war
and some of smith's own medals because
of these frequent burglaries
smith had installed security systems in
the home in the hopes of preventing it
from occurring again
it would be smith's own home security
system
that would capture video and audio of
the shocking incident in his home
on november 22nd 2012.
as most residents of little falls were
getting ready to
sit down for a turkey dinner hayley
keifer
and her cousin nicholas brady were
scoping out potential targets to
burglarize
knowing that homes sat empty as families
got together for the holiday
smith's security cameras record nicholas
brady
as he snooped around the property
little did he know that this is exactly
what byron david smith
was anticipating smith told police that
he had parked his car at a neighbor's
house to make it appear that he wasn't
home on the day of the killings
in the video you can see him leave the
house and park
down the street before returning
he also unscrewed all the bulbs in the
ceiling lights
presumably for his tactical advantage
and upon returning home he started
recording live audio
within a seemingly empty house smith sat
in his basement
armed with his ruger mini 14 rifle
and beverages waiting for someone to
break in
like a hunter patiently waiting to have
a shot at its unsuspecting prey
smith sat in a cushioned armchair at the
bottom of his basement stairs
it was a frigid winter day in minnesota
and as
smith sat lodged in between two
bookcases
the shadows would form the perfect
camouflage to protect him from an
unwanted intruder
nicholas was the first to enter he
smashed a window in the spare bedroom in
the back of the house and climbed
through
after spending 12 minutes in the house
nicholas made his way
down the basement stairs park to the
north
100 feet north 100 yards north of the
corner
and walk in from the west i realize i
don't have an appointment but i would
like to see one of the lawyers here
at the first sight of nicholas smith
shot his gun twice striking nicholas in
the torso which caused him to fall to
the floor
smith pulled the trigger once more
this time hitting nicholas in the head
autopsy reports would later show that
the final shot would travel through
nicholas's finger
before entering his skull presumably as
nicholas tried to shield himself
from the attack the report also
concluded that all three shots
could have resulted with a fatality
smith's audio recording caught it all
smith then proceeded to wrap the teen's
body in a tarp
and dragged him off to a different part
of the basement
which can all be heard on the audio when
interrogators later asked smith if he
recalled what the boy was wearing
he responded he was dressed like a high
schooler
but much too old he had a fancy belt
jeans when nicholas first fell down the
stairs
his shoes came off smith made sure to
point out that he checked the tread on
the bottom of nicholas's shoes
to see if it matched the imprint left by
a previous robber
when they kicked in one of his doors
after positioning nicholas body
smith headed up to the main part of his
home only to hurry back down to the
basement
smith reloaded his rifle and situated
himself back in his basement armchair
on the recording you can hear shortly
thereafter
as haley entered through the broken
window
calling out for her cousin completely
unaware
of what had just transpired only moments
before
as haley descended down the stairs smith
quickly
shot his rifle off again striking hayley
when he placed his finger on the trigger
for a second shot
it jammed smith can be heard saying
oh i'm sorry about that and haley can be
heard saying
oh my god due to his jammed rifle
smith grabbed his secondary firearm that
he had holstered across his chest
one that he carried regularly on him
since the burglaries of his house first
started
he took the 22-caliber revolver and shot
several times into the young girl's
torso before ridiculing her
and dragging her off to where her
cousin's body lay
smith then stacked the bodies on the
tarp
smith later confessed that he used the
tarp in the basement so blood wouldn't
soak into his carpet
you said you put both of them on the
tarp and you
drug both no i dragged him
in on the target yes and then she came
down later
and i dragged her onto the tarp
afterwards okay
yep that was mostly just to minimize the
amount of blood in the carpet but i'm
going to replace the carpet anyway
okay and then you drug her back in right
by him is that correct the mailbox
shut the door so i didn't have to see
him okay and that's where they both
uh that's where we're at when we came to
your house and you
pointed out to us showed us that's where
they were correct
with haley clinging to life while laid
atop her cousin
smith positioned his pistol under her
chin
with one last shot he fired up towards
her cranium
he later admitted to police that he shot
the teen intruders more times than he
needed to
but that he wanted to put them out of
their suffering
in the audio clip smith can be heard
talking to himself
right after the shootings
cute i'm sure she thought she was a real
pro
i feel a little bit safer not totally
safe i'm still
shaking a bit but a little bit safer
while standing over the dead bodies
smith
also can be heard on the recording
practicing what sounds like his
statement
to police
i felt like i was cleaning up a mess
i was doing my civic duty
they weren't human i
[Music]
after the incident smith waited 24 hours
before notifying police
smith claims he didn't want to bother
them during the thanksgiving holiday
right after everything happened okay
it's gone
sat there for maybe two hours the blood
was pounding in my ears
where did you sit back in your back in
the reading danger oh okay
and then after two hours then what'd you
do were you home the entire time
i was in the basement hiding in the
basement that you're tying up the entire
time
okay did you leave the residence at all
from when the incident
happened up into our my arrival at your
home no
okay that was the first time i unlocked
the door okay so you were home the
entire time
in fact i was afraid to go upstairs
because i thought there might be
somebody with the gun looking in the
windows
on november 23rd police placed smith
under arrest and took him in for
questioning
it was noted at the time smith was
dealing with duress with the sudden loss
of his mother
meanwhile haley and nicholas family
wondered why the two cousins were absent
from their family gathering
but what had driven them to attempt to
steal from
smith on that chilling thanksgiving day
to know that
we must first find out what kind of
people
they were haley an all-american 18 year
old had spent her entire life
in little falls she was in her senior
year of high school
haley could be described as a born
competitor in sports
and a hard worker holding jobs at
various fast food
establishments haley's swim coach carly
davich
says of the 18 year old she was always
happy
she had a way that just made everyone
happy a lot of the swimmers and divers
looked up to her
nicholas was also well liked and was
known for his unfading smile
nicholas's sister crystal schaefel said
that her 17 year old brother
worked for their father trimming trees
and made decent money
schaefel speculates that the two were in
search of prescription drugs
since she claims that haley had stolen
adderall from her household in the past
haley had a known history of substance
abuse
but was on the road to recovery and
trying to straighten out her life
however at the time of the break-in
toxicology reports
show that haley had both marijuana and
the chemical components of cough
medicine in her system
in levels that would render her
intoxicated and
capable of hallucinating smith claims
that haley
laughed at him after his gun jammed
prompting him to retaliate
more severely he jammed
trigger clicked and she laughed at me i
just
pulled out the 22 and shot her and shot
her when police brought smith in for
interrogation
he calmly recollected the series of
events
he did so in a matter-of-fact way that
didn't align with the weight of the
situation that just took place
for the past month my life has been very
unhappy
i haven't slept very well and i'm
keeping everything locked up all the
time because i'm being victimized again
and again and again
and uh in the past couple weeks i've
gotten into the habit of
carrying my guns with me inside my house
because i don't know who's going to
break in when
so i'm sitting there and i hear the
steps
come down the hallway these are people
who have stolen my guns
i figure they're willing to use guns if
they steal guns and i decide
that i've got a choice of either
shooting or being shot
which is sort of what i came to when i
was sorry carrying with me
this past month i felt very threatened
okay inside my own home
and the guy came down the stairs and i
shot him
after i shot him i sat down in this
chair and uh
i was just tingling adrenaline i hate
adrenaline
and my blood was pounding in my ears and
i just
wanted to calm down more than anything
else and maybe
it's hard to judge the time two minutes
maybe five minutes i'm just sitting
there with the blood pounding in my ears
and i hear more footsteps coming down
the hallway
and somebody else starts down the stairs
and thinking back on it
what happened was everybody has red
buttons
everybody has and i've known since grade
school that being ganged up on is a sore
spot with me
i just couldn't think i didn't think i
wasn't thinking i was just
they're ganging up on me so i killed her
too
okay according to smith he had no way of
knowing whether or not
the intruders were armed and if his life
was in jeopardy
smith also feared that he could
potentially be shot with his own
previously stolen gun i assumed she had
a gun
okay either inside something or in the
purse or in her hand
or whatever and and i'm i'm not gonna
wait for her to
i'm not going to ask her if she has a
gun right understandable
i'm not going to wait until she shows it
or if i
if she uses it while i'm looking for it
i had already determined
that both of them i knew they were both
gun thieves as far as i was
concerned they were totally dangerous
depending on what u.s
state you live in the law entitles you
to protect yourself and your property
to different lengths known as the stand
your ground
laws or in this case the castle doctrine
it allows someone to protect their
property with lethal force
under certain circumstances depending on
the state
but where does the law draw the line on
what constitutes a reasonable threat
or if excessive force is used according
to minnesota law
you are able to use lethal force if
someone breaks into your home
and the homeowner claimed that he was
acting in self-defense
however prosecution disagreed saying
that
byron david smith crossed that line
smith's trial began on april 21st
2014. the trial lasted only a few days
before the jury deliberated on april
29th
it took the jury only three short hours
to come to a conclusion
byron david smith was found guilty on
two counts of first-degree murder
and was sentenced to life in prison
without the possibility of parole
one of the 12 jurors said the audio
recording of the actual killings
pretty much convinced me that we were
dealing with a deranged individual
smith's lawyers filed an appeal to the
minnesota supreme court
to no avail the court upheld the
previous ruling
as did a federal appeals court on
november 20th
2020 almost eight years to the day
of the thanksgiving day killings smith
filed an appeal
with the supreme court of the united
states as of today
this appeal is still pending social
media pages have been set up to rally
for his freedom
one facebook page referred to smith as a
hero
a commenter on the page wrote those kids
were punks
the girl was a drug abuser the boy was a
thief
if they had been home like they should
have been this would never had happened
another commenter responded he's a
cold-blooded murderer
a coward he needs to stay in prison
until he dies
jurors declared smith a murderer and
whether or not a different verdict will
be conjured through a new court case in
the supreme court
is yet to be known one thing
is for sure as byron david smith
sits locked behind bars for the rest of
his life
the one place he won't be anytime soon
is home
for the holidays