Household of murdered D.C. photographer wonders if his convicted killer acted alone

The investigation of Joe Shymanski‘s homicide started as a lacking individuals case. It was Sept. 4, 2023, at 7:47 p.m. when sheriff’s deputies in Calvert County, Maryland, had been referred to as to the house of the well-known photographer.

His ex-wife, Heather Snyder, met them within the driveway. She would inform authorities she had arrived by automobile at about 7 p.m. from her dwelling in Pennsylvania at hand off custody of their then-8-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son.

HEATHER SNYDER (bodycam video): Um, I used to be imagined to return the children to him.

DEPUTY: OK.

HEATHER SNYDER: At 7 o’clock tonight …

HEATHER SNYDER (bodycam video): … children went in the home trigger he did — he often simply comes proper out, like he is aware of that they are coming.

But no person was dwelling. Heather Snyder had checked with the neighbors and referred to as 911.

HEATHER SNYDER (bodycam video): Yeah, I do not know what I even ought to do at this level. 

HEATHER SNYDER: … all the things about it is bizarre.

DEPUTY: OK.

What occurred to Joe Shymanski?

All the indicators prompt Joe Shymanski ought to be there. His automobile was within the driveway, his keys and telephone had been in the home. Authorities began looking out the property – even utilizing a drone.

DEPUTY (bodycam video): Do you realize if he ever goes out mountain climbing within the woods or something?

HEATHER SNYDER: I imply, I would not put it previous him.

Heather Snyder: I answered their questions on all the things they requested, you realize, the state of affairs …

Among different issues investigators wished to learn about was Heather and Joe’s divorce from the earlier 12 months.

Alison Stinson-Pounsberry: I do know it was very contentious. So there was quite a lot of arguing … particularly the drop-off location for the children was their largest argument.

Shymanski’s neighbors Alison Stinson-Pounsberry and Colton Pounsberry had been dwelling that evening when Heather Snyder knocked on the door.

Alison Stinson-Pounsberry: She had requested me if Joe was right here. I mentioned, no.

Nikki Battiste: How was Heather performing?

Alison Stinson-Pounsberry: So, Heather was performing a bit aggravated … She was aggravated that he wasn’t right here for drop-off after she had already pushed 4 hours.

The Pounsberrys went to Joe Shymanski’s dwelling, telling authorities they hadn’t seen Joe for the reason that earlier afternoon.

COLTON POUNDSBERRY (bodycam video):  Yeah, we noticed him yesterday about 4 o’clock. He was serving to me with some drywall.

DEPUTY: OK.

COLTON POUNSBERRY: We gave him some dinner …

DEPUTY: Any melancholy points?

COLTON POUNSBERRY: None that I observed.

DEPUTY What do you suppose is happening?

HEATHER SNYDER: I don’t know.

DEPUTY: OK. Alright.

The Pounsberrys ended up giving Heather and the children locations to sleep for the evening. But first Heather went inside Joe’s home.

Heather Snyder: I did not have any garments for the children … So it was late at evening they let me go in and get … pajamas.

Nikki Battiste: Do you bear in mind the way you had been feeling once you went inside?

Heather Snyder: Upset … It was surreal. 

HEATHER SNYDER (bodycam video): I’m sorry. (crying)

DEPUTY: No, You’re nice. Absolutely nice. It’s loads to cope with …

HEATHER SNYDER: I simply really feel dangerous for my children. What am I gonna inform them? (crying)

Ted Shymanski: How may he not be there? Especially understanding that the children had been going to be there.

It was about two-and-a-half hours later that Heather Snyder referred to as Joe’s older brother Ted Shymanski and Ted’s spouse – additionally named Heather.

Heather Shymanski: I felt like I used to be like punched within the abdomen.

Ted Shymanski:  So there was no method on the planet that Joe woulda missed … this assembly with the children. … This isn — one thing’s improper.

It fell to Ted Shymanski to ship the information to his sister Mary Shymanski.

Mary Shymanski: When I heard that Joe … was lacking, I fell to my knees and mentioned a prayer. … Because this was such a weird state of affairs it felt like I wanted, I wanted one thing better than me straight away …

And then the morning after Joe disappeared, investigators observed one thing they’d been unable to see at evening. There was blood in his driveway.

Nikki Battiste: Did Joe have any enemies?

Alison Stinson-Pounsberry: Not that we knew of.

An investigator requested Heather Snyder to come back to the station.

INVESTIGATOR JOSHUA BUCK (questioning): Do you realize of anyone that — that’d be, uh, an enemy of his?

HEATHER SNYDER: No …

INVESTIGATOR JOSHUA BUCK: .… are you in any relationship proper now?

HEATHER SNYDER:  No.

INVESTIGATOR JOSHUA BUCK: No boyfriends or —?

HEATHER SNYDER: No.

But Heather Snyder advised them she had lately damaged up with somebody who lived close to her in Pennsylvania.  

HEATHER SNYDER (questioning):  I had a boyfriend however, briefly. But I do not –

INVESTIGATOR JOSHUA BUCK: Recently?

HEATHER SNYDER: Yeah, throughout the final couple months, yeah.

INVESTIGATOR JOSHUA BUCK: What’s his identify?

HEATHER SNYDER: Brandon Holbrook.

Mary Shymanski: The identify Brandon Holbrook entered the scene fairly shortly.

The Shymanskis say Joe advised them he’d by no means met Brandon Holbrook.

INVESTIGATOR JOSHUA BUCK (questioning): How lengthy had been you and Brandon collectively?

HEATHER SNYDER: We had been mates for some time. Um, since 20 – 2022? I wanna say.

INVESTIGATOR JOSHUA BUCK: OK.

HEATHER SNYDER: Or it may need been, like, November 2021.

Authorities then determined to look extra intently at Brandon Holbrook.

They pulled his automobile registration and found a digicam had picked up his license plate close to Joe Shymanski’s home the very day Joe vanished. Investigators now had an individual of curiosity, and headed to Pennsylvania, notifying police there.

A grisly discovery

On Sept. 5, 2023, Sgt. John Chester of the Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, Police Department bought a name that Maryland authorities had been investigating a murder. They wished to speak to an individual of curiosity: Brandon Holbrook.

Sgt. John Chester: We’ve arrested Mr. Holbrook previously.

Over the years, Holbrook had pleaded responsible to at the very least 5 counts of indecent publicity. They approached his home at about 11 p.m. 

An investigator famous Holbrook’s eyes had been bloodshot, and that there was an odd, specific odor — each on him and the coated mattress of his pickup within the driveway.

SGT. JOHN CHESTER (bodycam video):  This truck reeks.

BODY CAM DEPUTY: … man, that smells horrible.

SGT. JOHN CHESTER: It smelled like loss of life.

Holbrook advised authorities he was a driver for a Pennsylvania plant that processes hen slaughterhouse waste. He denied being close to Joe’s home or wherever in Maryland the day Joe disappeared.

Sgt. John Chester:  We knew his truck was in Maryland …

One police report signifies he additionally denied any contact with Joe. Another says he “was not being entirely truthful … and appeared nervous.”  So, within the early morning hours of Sept. 6, 2023, investigators arrested Brandon Holbrook for the homicide of Joe Shymanski.

 By then, Detective Jessica Aurand had reported for responsibility.

Det. Jessica Aurand: I used to be referred to as in once they bought again to the station with him.

Aurand helped them get warrants for Holbrook’s truck and home.

Sgt. John Chester: We nonetheless did not know … the magnitude of what we had been coping with …

In the truck cab, investigators discovered gloves and plastic sheeting and within the truck mattress, one thing described as human blood.

Sgt. John Chester: It regarded like a murder scene.

There had been firearms in the home and plastic rubbish baggage, bleach, Lysol, and moist instruments in a trailer outdoors. 

In the storage, Aurand says, “there was an open tool case.” And subsequent to it, an open package deal of energy noticed blades. But investigators did not spot an identical noticed.

Nikki Battiste: Is {that a} device that is highly effective sufficient to dismember a physique?

Det. Jessica Aurand: Possibly.

Authorities with cadaver canines started following a dust street catty-corner to Holbrook’s home, main into the woods. The subsequent day, they made a grisly discovery in a clearing close to a creek.

Det. Jessica Aurand: They discovered the jawbone … with a number of the ear … and a few enamel nonetheless intact.

Incident studies present there was additionally a burn barrel which smelled of decomposition. Scattered close by — piles of ash. Authorities despatched the fabric off for testing, however they’d a robust hunch they had been human stays, and a robust hunch whose.

Fearing the worst, Joe Shymanski’s household and mates gathered in Washington.

Alton McDougle:  He was an individual that might provide you with his shirt off his again, even in a rainstorm …

Joe Shymanski met Alton McDougle in 2000 after coming to D.C. to show center college historical past and social research. McDougle says Joe turned his mentor, exposing him to new concepts — and to images.

Nikki Battiste:  He taught you methods to see the world?

Alton McDougle: Yes. Through a lens.

They finally turned mates, says McDougle, and partnered within the photograph enterprise at Eastern Market. That’s the place Joe first began relationship Heather Snyder. She was then a single mother of three children and was operating a vegetable enterprise.

Heather Snyder: He was enjoyable … very charming.

Nikki Battiste: And then he swept you off your ft?

Heather Snyder: He did …

Heather Snyder and Joe Shymanski married in July 2014 and acquired a home in rural Calvert County. Heather Snyder gave beginning to a daughter and a son a 12 months later, however Joe’s household and mates say by 2020, the wedding was in hassle. 

Mary Shymanski: Heather Snyder and Joe Shymanski had been by no means on equal footing financially.

Alton McDougle: The spending was undoubtedly an issue …

McDougle says Joe wrote Heather Snyder a examine for 1000’s of {dollars} to repay a debt on a home she owned, then he gave her extra money to assist her launch a brand new enterprise.

Alton McDougle: I used to inform him on a regular basis … she’s utilizing you.

Heather Snyder says that is not true. She was by no means after Joe’s cash. She blames the difficulties within the marriage on Joe, saying he may behave erratically, and that he began pushing her and her older kids away after their very own children had been born.

Heather Snyder: Joe’s consideration was simply on … these two kids. He was virtually obsessive to a level. It was, he cared much less about what I assumed or what I used to be saying … and it was all about these two.

She says Joe was emotionally abusive to her. And there was one occasion, she claims, when he bought bodily.

Heather Snyder: He bodychecked me right into a automobile. And that was after chasing me round the home …

The Shymanski household says Heather Snyder’s abuse allegations do not match the Joe they knew. By 2021, Snyder says she’d had sufficient.

Heather Snyder: I used to be afraid he was gonna snap and harm me after which my kids had been gonna see it …

Nikki Battiste: You simply left?

Heather Snyder: I left.

Mary Shymanski: He was devastated.

Joe’s buddy Anneli Werner observed it too.

Anneli Werner: That spark that made Joe “Joe” was gone, it was gone!

Heather Snyder had moved again to her hometown of Newport, Pennsylvania. She advised investigators that it was just a few months later that she started seeing Brandon Holbrook. All the whereas, say Joe’s family and friends, he and Heather Snyder had been arguing over custody and money. It bought so dangerous Heather Snyder says she started recording their interactions across the children. Werner says Joe was additionally upset and made recordings too, about Heather Snyder, for his or her kids to listen to at some point.

JOE SHYMANSKI (audio recording): Mom has a method of manipulating everybody.

JOE SHYMANSKI (audio recording): Everyone. She’s poisonous. Honestly, I’m actually afraid on your psychological and emotional security.

JOE SHYMANSKI (audio recording): There’s no security in mother for me. It’s harmful to be near mother for me.

Anneli Werner: Joe was in a contentious, ugly divorce.

But Werner says issues had slowly began going Joe’s method. Though he and Heather had joint authorized custody of the children, he had main bodily custody when college was in session. He’d purchased a million-dollar life insurance coverage coverage naming the kids as beneficiaries. And simply weeks earlier than he vanished, the courtroom had decreased the settlement he owed Heather Snyder.

Anneli Werner: Joe had began profitable! …

A haunting dialog

In mid-September 2023, forensic consultants matched the stays that they present in that clearing close to Brandon Holbrook’s home to Joe Shymanski. Mifflin County Coroner Andrea Alcalde.

Nikki Battiste: What was Joe Shymanski’s explanation for loss of life?

Coroner Andrea Alcalde: Uh, he had a gunshot wound to the top.

Nikki Battiste: What was his method of loss of life?

Coroner Andrea Alcalde: Homicide.

INVESTIGATOR: Could you simply state your identify?

BRANDON HOLBROOK:  My identify is Brandon Holbrook.

BRANDON HOLBROOK: This is — factor has my entire head tousled.

Authorities had uncovered proof that did not look good for Brandon Holbrook.

Sgt. John Chester: We knew the white truck had been in Maryland based mostly on … the license plate reader had learn the … tag and the tag matched the automobile that was sitting right here.

And with the noticed blades in Holbrook’s storage, the cleansing provides and instruments in his trailer, and Joe’s stays within the clearing close by, all of it appeared to recommend that Holbrook had killed Joe in Maryland and introduced his physique to Pennsylvania. But for all of the proof investigators had, the case nonetheless contained some inconvenient truths.

Nikki Battiste: Did you discover any of Joe Shymanski’s stays on Brandon Holbrook’s property?

Det. Jessica Aurand:  No.

Nikki Battiste: Did you discover the homicide weapon?

Det. Jessica Aurand:  No.

In addition, data present Holbrook’s telephone had solely pinged towers close to his Pennsylvania dwelling the afternoon and night Joe disappeared. And bear in mind, photographs of Holbrook’s truck in Maryland didn’t present who was driving. And when the blood within the truck mattress was examined, it wasn’t human. It was animal.

Det. Jessica Aurand: Because he had entry to the … hen plant, did he put stuff in there and canopy it up with the hen stays?

Joe’s household and mates had hassle believing Holbrook may have devised such an elaborate plot with out assist.

Mary Shymanski: I don’t consider that Brandon Holbrook is the one particular person concerned in my brother’s loss of life. I believe he was extremely impressed by Heather Snyder. … Heather Snyder is the widespread denominator on this total image.

Alton McDougle additionally thinks Heather Snyder was concerned. Just a few days earlier than Joe went lacking, McDougle says they had been hanging out and Joe advised him Heather Snyder was coming over to drop off the children as an alternative of assembly midway between their properties like they often did. McDougle says he advised Joe that involved him. 

Alton McDougle: I simply don’t desire her to come back to your home, dude … I simply do not belief her.

He says Joe dismissed his concern, however the dialog haunts him to today.

Alton McDougle: I get chills proper now. (crying)

Nikki Battiste: What are you feeling? That if he listened to you, he would possibly nonetheless be right here?

Alton McDougle: I imply, he may be, proper?

Joe’s household and mates acknowledge their suspicion of Heather Snyder was only a intestine feeling, and that the investigation hasn’t turned up any proof of her involvement. Nevertheless, McDougle says he shared his hypothesis with authorities.

Alton McDougle: Heather, at the very least, deliberate it. … her boyfriend had at the very least helped …

He says he and the household discover it unusual that Heather Snyder reported Joe as lacking earlier than he was even an hour late.

Heather Shymanski: You’re leaping to –

Ted Shymanski: He’s lacking … then he is gone … name the police …

Heather Shymanski: — then he is lacking like … I imply and also you’re gonna name 911?

Especially, they are saying, as a result of she had then waited greater than two-and-a-half hours to inform them.

Mary Shymanski: That looks as if extraordinary lengthy time period earlier than she’d let the rapid household know that Joe was lacking.

And they query  Heather Snyder’s habits when she went in Joe’s home with investigators.

Anneli Werner: And she walks in the home … and she or he begins to cry … sobbing over her ex-husband that she would do something to get away from. 

They suspected it was all an act, one thing Heather Snyder denies.

Alton McDougle:  She simply wished to color an image that he was lacking as a result of she knew the plan.

And the Shymanskis consider she was untruthful with investigators about Brandon Holbrook.

INVESTIGATOR JOSHUA BUCK (reprise questioning): … are you in any relationship proper now?

HEATHER SNYDER: No.

Mary Shymanski: She advised the police that … she broke up with him and that they had been now not collectively. B——-.

Janine Shymanski says she suspects Heather Snyder had used Holbrook to do away with Joe Shymanski.

Janine Shymanski: … So she simply wanted it carried out and she or he discovered her particular person that might try this for her.

Nikki Battiste: You suppose Heather Snyder was the mastermind?

Janine Shymanski: Yes.

Nikki Battiste: Was there any doubt in your thoughts?

Janine Shymanski: No.

Holbrook was in custody and authorities had combed the clearing. But weeks later, Mary Shymanski was visiting the location when she discovered extra burnt stays. She acknowledges searchers could have merely missed them within the woods, however she and Coroner Andrea Alcalde consider there’s one other risk.

 Coroner Andrea Alcalde: I believe the extra probably is that there have been stays dumped after the actual fact.

That would imply they had been dumped by another person.

Nikki Battiste: That’s a bombshell.

Coroner Andrea Alcalde: Yeah …

But Alcalde says Maryland authorities appeared skeptical. The Calvert County Sheriff’s Office declined “48 Hours”‘ request for an interview. Still, the speculation that another person was concerned in Joe Shymanski’s loss of life is some extent Holbrook’s attorneys will argue from the beginning of his trial.

Defense Attorney Brendan Callahan: Only one particular person’s life is best in the present day than it was earlier than the homicide of Joseph Shymanski. And that’s Heather Snyder. 

Nikki Battiste: Did you may have something to do with Joe’s loss of life?

Heather Snyder:  I didn’t.

The trial of Brandon Holbrook

On March 31, 2025, the trial of Brandon Holbrook for the homicide of Joe Shymanski bought underway. Prosecutors wished a conviction on premeditated homicide. They argued Holbrook fatally shot Joe Shymanski in Maryland, drove him again to Pennsylvania, put hen elements in his truck to cowl his tracks after which disposed of Joe’s stays in that clearing close to Holbrook’s home. And they introduced within the barrel searchers discovered, suggesting it was used to burn him. But Holbrook’s protection workforce says it was a tactic.

Defense Attorney Brendan Callahan: It was there for the emotional influence.

There had been no cameras allowed in courtroom. Defense lawyer Brendan Callahan tried to show the jury’s consideration away from Brandon Holbrook and in the direction of Heather Snyder. She was talked about greater than 400 occasions at trial, although she hasn’t been charged with a criminal offense.

Defense Attorney Brendan Callahan: The solely particular person with an apparent motive … was Heather Snyder. She was in a — a heated custody struggle that was not going effectively for her …

And Callahan advised the jury Heather Snyder had 1,000,000 different causes, too. If Joe Shymanski was lifeless, Callahan mentioned, she would possibly stand to achieve management of his life insurance coverage payout since her kids, the beneficiaries, are nonetheless minors.

Defense Attorney Brendan Callahan: When you throw in … a million-dollar life insurance coverage coverage … the — the motives write themselves.

Heather Snyder advised “48 Hours” she knew nothing about Joe’s life insurance coverage earlier than he died.

Prosecutors stored the deal with Holbrook. They launched movies of his truck close to Joe’s home in Maryland the day Joe disappeared, Holbrook purchasing for cleansing provides in Pennsylvania the morning after, and video that is exhausting to see, however that they are saying exhibits Holbrook close to his white truck dumping one thing which turned out to be burned human stays. It put the protection in a nook.

Defense Attorney Brendan Callahan: There’s proof that he’s concerned sooner or later, however there’s little or no proof that he is the one who dedicated the precise homicide.

And whereas Holbrook’s truck may need been noticed close to Joe’s home that day, Callahan says another person may have been driving it.

Defense Attorney Brendan Callahan: Brandon Holbrook had completely no cause to kill Joseph Shymanski.

The state contended Holbrook did have a motive: love for Heather Snyder and hate for Joe Shymanski intense sufficient that Holbrook took issues into his personal arms.

Mary Shymanski: This man was obsessive about Heather Snyder …

Prosecutors painted an image of that obsession — exhibiting a picture taken almost seven months earlier than the homicide, of a automobile Holbrook additionally owned, close to Joe Shymanski’s home. And they confirmed a textual content change between Heather Snyder and Holbrook from Jan. 21, 2023, additionally months earlier than the homicide, by which she is complaining about Joe. “… I’m just tired of the abuse.” Heather Snyder advised him, “It’s been years upon years. …” Holbrook later prompt she see a therapist however added:  “I have other solutions in mind, but probably not the best way to go.”

Defense Attorney Brendan Callahan: That may imply quite a lot of issues. I imply it’s extremely simple to learn in it – the  most nefarious intent and that is what the State tried to do on this case. But it may imply absolutely anything. It might be a joke.

Whatever it meant, Heather Snyder did not reply to Holbrook instantly. She later texted him:  “I’m looking for a therapist.”

Nikki Battiste: Do you suppose, how may Heather Snyder probably not know?

Defense Attorney Brendan Callahan: There’s loads on this case that you possibly can say that for about Heather Snyder … and her habits across the … time of the incident is total very suspicious.

Callahan’s co-counsel Thomas Mooney factors to texts between Heather Snyder and Holbrook suggesting they had been nonetheless concerned shortly earlier than the homicide.

Defense Attorney Thomas Mooney: She indicated to the police that … the connection had —

Defense Attorney Brendan Callahan: On the outs.

Defense Attorney  Thomas Mooney: — had cooled.

INVESTIGATOR JOSHUA BUCK (questioning): No boyfriends or —?

HEATHER SNYDER: No.

Defense Attorney Thomas Mooney: … however the textual content messages appeared to recommend in any other case.

Six days earlier than the homicide Holbrook wrote: “I like the smell of your hair on my pillow …” And later within the day, she texted: “… Wish I was in your bed.” The subsequent morning, he wrote again: “You can come to my bed anytime. Xo”

Mary Shymanski: Heather Snyder is … mendacity to the police and saying that she did not have an involvement with Holbrook.

In one other textual content, Heather Snyder complained particularly about her custody settlement with Joe: “… I keep thinking karma is going to catch up with him,” she wrote. “But I’m tired of being patient.”

Defense Attorney Brendan Callahan: Anything that means that there have been different folks concerned makes Brandon Holbrook’s function on this unclear. And due to this fact, is suggestive of his innocence …

But prosecutors launched texts suggesting Heather Snyder was shocked to seek out Joe lacking when she bought to his home. “I have no idea, where he is” she wrote to Holbrook. “The car is here …” Both the protection and the prosecutors wished to query Heather Snyder below oath. But when she was referred to as as a witness, she declined to testify — invoking her Fifth Amendment privilege.

Nikki Battiste: What does Heather Snyder pleading the Fifth say to you? 

Defense Attorney Brendan Callahan: That a truthful reply may are inclined to incriminate her.

And Callahan wished the jury to contemplate one thing else about Heather Snyder.

Nikki Battiste: She had a gun?

Defense Attorney Brendan Callahan: She did …

Heather Snyder had advised authorities a couple of gun Holbrook had given her earlier than the homicide however there have been by no means any bullets or casings discovered, so it might have been inconceivable to inform if it was the homicide weapon. Still Callahan says authorities had been sluggish to gather it from her.

Defense Attorney Brendan Callahan: That wasn’t investigated till … weeks earlier than the trial began, though they knew about it.

And he says they didn’t ever search Heather Snyder’s dwelling or property.

Defense Attorney Brendan Callahan: She has acres of land that the police are on that land, and so they do not even ask to go searching. They simply take her phrase for all the things.

Prosecutors say there was an intensive investigation and so they saved what may be essentially the most explosive proof for close to the tip of their case. There’s no method Heather Snyder may have killed Joe Shymanski, they are saying. Why? The afternoon Joe disappeared, you possibly can see Heather Snyder on video, shopping for pizza in Pennsylvania about three hours away.

Nikki Battiste: Heather Snyder has an alibi. I imply, she’s on surveillance video shopping for pizza … miles away.

Defense Attorney Brendan Callahan: Yes.

Nikki Battiste:  She could not have bodily gotten there in time.

Defense Attorney Brendan Callahan: Yes. … however … there are all kinds of various roles that one can play in a criminal offense.

Callahan says Heather Snyder may have inspired Holbrook or at the very least identified about his plan. Holbrook would not take the stand however in closings, his attorneys remind the jury there is not any proof he was even in Maryland that night, not to mention at Joe Shymanski’s home.

Defense Attorney Brendan Callahan: The burden is on the state … and we thought that they offered … a robust case that he was concerned after the actual fact, however we’re nonetheless ready on the proof that he was ever in that driveway.

But it took simply 80 minutes for the jury to achieve a verdict. Brandon Holbrook is responsible of the first-degree premeditated homicide of Joe Shymanski.

Nikki Battiste:  How are you feeling?

Janine Shymanski: Extremely joyful.

Joe’s family members had been joyful however not happy. At sentencing, Werner offered a photograph montage of Joe, that additionally included a few of these audio recordings about Heather Snyder that he made for his or her kids: 

JOE SHYMANSKI (audio recording): And I’m anxious about you guys rising up in a world the place you are afraid of mother. She takes her love away from you and for those who piss her off you are carried out …

And then various family and friends addressed the courtroom — suggesting Heather Snyder may be at the very least partially in charge for what occurred. The decide gave Holbrook life with out parole and mentioned he was not closing the e-book on the case.

Nikki Battiste: You’re on the heart of this case.

Heather Snyder: I’m.

A dialog with Heather Snyder

Nikki Battiste: Do you bear in mind the final time we noticed one another earlier than this story reconnected us?

Heather Snyder: I consider it was at homecoming in 1998.

It was greater than 25 years in the past on our highschool sports activities fields in tiny Newport, Pennsylvania. Heather Snyder and I had grown up collectively. In reality, I used to be the 1997 homecoming queen and she or he was my successor.

Nikki Battiste: I put a crown in your head and now right here we’re.

Heather Snyder: And we’re again.

We hadn’t communicated since then, till reporting this story introduced me again to a number of the most acquainted terrain of my life. But it is taken me into uncharted territory within the course of — confronting somebody from my youth. Heather Snyder advised me she wished to set the report straight. She agreed to the interview with no questions off limits. She acknowledged she was upset with Joe Shymanski throughout their custody struggle.

Nikki Battiste: … did you ever say to Brandon Holbrook, I want Joe had been lifeless?

Heather Snyder: No. … The most I mentioned to Brandon was that I assumed Joe ought to be in jail for the way in which he was performing.

Nikki Battiste: Did Brandon let you know he wished to kill Joe?

Heather Snyder: Nope.

Nikki Battiste: Did you assist him cowl up?

Heather Snyder:  Nope. Nope.

So what about these texts between her and Holbrook, like when he mentions “…other solutions…” to assist cope with Joe?

Heather Snyder: I assumed it was a — only a joke.

Nikki Battiste: It did not cross your thoughts for a second —

Heather Snyder: No.

Nikki Battiste: — that he would possibly harm Joe?

Heather Snyder: No.

As for her textual content about karma catching up with Joe, by which she wrote she was “… tired of being patient” —

Heather Snyder: That’s how I used to be feeling …

Nikki Battiste: Do you suppose … which will have triggered Brandon?

Heather Snyder: I do not know.

Heather Snyder, who on the time was in that custody struggle with Joe, says she ended her relationship with Holbrook a couple of month earlier than the homicide when Holbrook had been arrested once more for indecent publicity.

Nikki Battiste:  What was the rationale that you just advised Brandon you wanted to finish the connection?

Heather Snyder: Because of his cost.

The Shymanskis suspect Heather Snyder was really anxious if Joe heard she was relationship a intercourse offender, she would lose custody of their children. They consider Heather Snyder continued to secretly see Holbrook.

Nikki Battiste: About every week earlier than Joe went lacking, Brandon Holbrook texts you. “I like the smell of your hair on my pillow.”

Heather Snyder: He did. Mm-hmm.

Nikki Battiste: Were you with him?

Heather Snyder: … I finished by his home …

Nikki Battiste: It sounds such as you’re nonetheless concerned.

Heather Snyder: We had been mates.

Nikki Battiste: … that you just had been intimate then.

Heather Snyder: We had been mates.

Heather Snyder additionally texted Holbrook “… Wish I was in your bed.”

Nikki Battiste: Weren’t you and Brandon nonetheless concerned this entire time?

Heather Snyder:  We weren’t. We weren’t.

Nikki Battiste: People are gonna watch and say you are mendacity.

Heather Snyder: We had been mates … it was exhausting to surrender a buddy.

Nikki Battiste: Why was there a odor of your hair on his pillow?

Heather Snyder: Because I used to be most likely laying on his pillow.

She says they had been solely speaking.

Nikki Battiste: What did you speak about?

Heather Snyder: That was the final time. It was similar to, it was virtually like a goodbye, actually.

Nikki Battiste: … what did Brandon say? Was he upset?

Heather Snyder: We had been each upset. We had been each crying.

Heather Snyder advised us that even after Joe’s homicide — 

Heather Snyder: I nonetheless have love for Brandon …

Nikki Battiste: Wow. 

Heather Snyder: Wow is true.

Nikki Battiste: How?

Heather Snyder: I do not — I believe clearly, psychologically, he snapped over one thing. …. It’s not like I do not suppose he ought to be in jail. I believe he did one thing horrible, horrific. He harm my household. He harm me.

Nikki Battiste: If you possibly can see him head to head, what can be your first query?

Heather Snyder: Why? What occurred?

And whereas she hasn’t seen him in particular person, she did have an opportunity to ask him. Shortly earlier than his sentencing, she accepted his name from jail.

Heather Snyder tells Holbrook she believes Joe’s household is attempting to incriminate her. 

HEATHER SNYDER (jail telephone name): The Shymanskis try to show that I did one thing improper …

BRANDON HOLBROOK: … by no means in 1,000,000 years would I say you had something to do with this. I — I swear.

HEATHER SNYDER: Mm, effectively, trigger I did not. I simply want I knew what occurred. I simply need the reality.

Holbrook tells her:

BRANDON HOLBROOK (jail telephone name): I’d like to let you know all the things that I do know … however I’m not going to do it on one in all these recorded traces.

And then he denies killing Joe Shymanski.    

BRANDON HOLBROOK (jail telephone name): I’ll let you know one factor for positive … I by no means noticed Joe, talked to Joe, had any interplay at in any way with Joe, his total life. I promise you that.

Heather Snyder says Holbrook by no means confessed to her – and she or he by no means had an inkling of his plans. She says there may be nothing suspicious about her calling 911 so shortly when she did not discover Joe on the home. She says it was her divorce lawyer who suggested her to make the decision and a prison lawyer who suggested her to plead the Fifth within the trial.

Nikki Battiste: Did you may have one thing to cover?

Heather Snyder: No.

Nikki Battiste: If you do not have something to cover, why not simply rise up there and testify?

Heather Snyder: People twist your phrases.

And the phrases Joe used to explain Heather Snyder in these audio messages? 

Heather Snyder advised us Joe was twisting actuality on the time. She says Joe was the harmful one. And she created a web site, “Heather’s Abuse Story,”  detailing her aspect.

We additionally requested Heather Snyder about that gun she says Brandon Holbrook gave her earlier than Joe’s homicide. She says it was just for goal observe.

Nikki Battiste: is there any likelihood that gun is the homicide weapon?

Heather Snyder: I do not — no. No. I imply, clearly it was locked in my closet.

Nikki Battiste: Is there something … you are not telling us?

Heather Snyder: No.

Nikki Battiste: Look me within the eye. Are you mendacity about something?

Heather Snyder: I’m not.

Nikki Battiste:  Either you are a bold-faced liar or you’re terribly unfortunate.

Heather Snyder: I’m unfortunate.

Heather Snyder says her focus is on elevating her and Joe’s kids, and she or he’s unhappy that they’re going to develop up and not using a father.

Heather Snyder: They have very joyful recollections of their father and I attempt … I attempt to do what I can to honor and hold that protected.

She is aware of the Shymanskis wish to see the children however says Joe’s relations cannot count on a full relationship with them whereas publicly pointing a finger at her.

Heather Snyder:  There must be a spot we transfer on aside from this, the place they’re continuously blaming me for one thing that I did not do.

Nikki Battiste: Are you afraid authorities will come for you?

Heather Snyder: No.

Nikki Battiste: Not in any respect? …

Heather Snyder: I’m not anxious in any respect, no …

Ted Shymanski: If Joe by no means met Heather Snyder, Joe can be alive in the present day. (crying)

Heather Shymanski: Alive.

Calvert County, Maryland’s, prime prosecutor Robert Harvey declined “48 Hours”‘ request for an interview, however wrote to us that there was “… a thorough and exhaustive investigation …” into Mr. Shymanski’s loss of life. “Mr. Holbrook received a fair and impartial trial … Because Mr. Holbrook’s case is under appeal … it remains open. Therefore, I am not going to respond to questions regarding the investigation and I am not going to speculate on what may or may not happen in the future.”  

And once we requested Pennsylvania authorities about Heather Snyder —

Nikki Battiste: Is there a present investigation into Heather Snyder?

Det. Jessica Aurand: I am unable to reply that query.

Nikki Battiste: Should there be?

Det. Jessica Aurand: I am unable to reply that query.

Nikki Battiste: Do you suppose Heather Snyder is concerned on this crime in any method?

Det. Jessica Aurand: I am unable to reply that.

Nikki Battiste: But you do know the reply.

Det. Jessica Aurand: Yes. But I’m not allowed to say.

Nikki Battiste: So many individuals watching are gonna be annoyed –

Heather Snyder: Uh-huh.

Nikki Battiste: — and so they’re gonna suppose it — it simply — logically, you must had identified one thing.

Heather Snyder: Right. But I did not. That’s the torturous half, as a result of folks will — it is virtually like they wish to consider that I used to be concerned with it. They need that true crime narrative. And it simply merely wasn’t the case.

Brandon Holbrook is interesting his conviction. 

A scholarship has been established in Joe Shymanski’s identify for images college students in Washington D.C. public excessive colleges. 

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Produced by Josh Yager. Shaheen Tokhi is the sector producer. Michelle Sigona is the event producer. Atticus Brady is the producer-editor. Michelle Harris is the editor. Patti Aronofsky is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the manager story editor. Judy Tygard is the manager producer.