Footage shows the chilling moment Brian Cohee admitted to having the severed head and hands of a man in his bedroom closet.
Cohee, from Colorado, US, was 19 when he killed 69-year-old Warren Barnes in 2021, and in 2023, he was later found guilty of first-degree murder, two counts of tampering with a dead body and tampering with evidence and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
A look into his horrific case was explored by a YouTube true crime documentary by the EXPLORE WITH US channel, titled Parents Discover Teen Son's Horrifying Secret, where police dash cam footage revealed the moment he admitted to the murder.
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Prior to his arrest, his mother, Terri, made a grim discovery in his bedroom and called the police after uncovering a bag of body parts which were later confirmed to have belonged to Barnes
She described in the documentary the moment she came across the bag, saying: "I saw a plastic bag and I was like what in the world is this, I picked it up and it was heavy and I held it in my hands, maggots covering it.
"I take it to the sink, it was double bagged so I opened the first bag, and I didn't open the second bag. I called his father and said ''you need to get over here right now'.'"
It was later found that Cohee dismembered, decapitated, and mutilated the 69-year-old's body before keeping his head and hands in separate plastic bags in his wardrobe.
A further investigation discovered that he had attempted to get rid of Barnes' body by putting it into the trunk of his car and drinking it into the Colorado River.
After being called to the residence, police had a chat with Cohee, who admitted that he'd murdered Barnes 'with a knife'.
The police say in the video: "Your parents have concerns over some stuff they may have found in your room? What would that be?"
To which Cohee replied: "Yeah, I believe so, a human head and hands. From that fella that went missing. I murdered him with a knife.”
When asked 'why would you have done that', he replied: "I always wondered what murder would feel like.”
However, the extent of his planning would soon come to light.
Cohee revealed that it was six months in the making, as he said: "I was driving around and I see a shape and I am like 'oh interesting'. I'm like that's a homeless person, so I grabbed my knife, I put on three layers of gloves because plastic gloves can betray their users because they're so thin, I took the knife I pulled back the canvas and I stabbed his neck.
"He was panicking at first in, he was saying what are you doing, what are you doing why, why, and I just kept on stabbing his neck.”
He later claimed he'd killed Barnes because he ‘wanted to’ and also decapitated him for ‘the hell of it’.
Topics: Crime, True Crime, US News
Britt Jones