Ex-Fiancé Murdered Young Mom in Cold-Blooded Killing

My stepdaughter's exboyfriend is at her. apartment and will not leave. He is not. on the lease. She moved all the way out. here to get away from me. >> Yeah, he's sweating in front of the. kids. >> It was a chilling warning. It came just. 2 days before Donald Bryant would. fatally shoot his ex- fiance Heaven. Glisten and an innocent bystander, plunging a quiet Kentucky apartment. complex into utter chaos. From a SWAT. standoff to gunfire in the woods, we are.

retracing the steps that led from that. first desperate 911 call. And with the. insight of a retired detective. commander, we are asking the question, could this tragedy have been prevented? Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. [Music]. Late on a Sunday night in Independence, Kentucky, police raced to the Taylor. Ridge apartment complex after neighbors. reported gunfire. But by the time it was. over, three people were dead. And this.

included a young mother and a man who. appeared to just be in the wrong place. at the wrong time. But here is the. really chilling part about this. Two. days earlier, two days before this, a. 911 call had already hinted at what was. coming. On the recording, a relative's. voice can be heard telling dispatchers. >> My stepdaughter's exboyfriend is at her. apartment and will not leave. He is not. on the lease. She moved all the way out.

here to get away from me. >> Yeah, he's threatened in front of the. kids. >> And you know what? That call was just. one red flag because just hours before. the victim's death, a family member says. that that same ex sent her a text. message that read something along the. lines of hoping she was ready to have. some fun tonight. So, how did it go from. there, right? To SWAT teams to drones to. gunshots in the woods. And now you're. left with family, friends, a community. left shaken. Well, we got to rewind. This case takes us back to September.

19th and it involves 24year-old Heaven. Glisten, a mother of two who, according. to her family, was trying to start. fresh. She had recently broken off her. engagement with 34year-old Donald. Bryant, the father of her youngest. child. And although they shared a child. together, Glisten had confided in her. family that she was afraid of Bryant. And according to police, she moved into. the Taylor Ridge apartment complex in. Independence to get away from him, to. get distance from him. But police say.

she was only living there for 2 weeks. before Bryant actually showed up at her. door and everything unraveled. And we're. going to get to that. But first, this. trouble started that Friday night when. Glisten and her family called the police. and the dispatcher answered. And the. tension the tension is plain in this. recording. You can hear it. >> Yeah. He followed me out to the parking. lot while I was trying to leave and uh. was trying to get my phone and he. grabbed it out of my pocket and then he.

took off back in the house. >> So, Independence Police arrive and. Captain Mike Brock later described the. situation as a quote emotional crisis. Now, Bryant was still there on scene, apparently acted cooperative, and ended. up leaving without further incident. There was no arrest, but to Glisten's. family, the danger hadn't gone with him. Two nights later, at 11:20 p.m., officers were dispatched back to Taylor. Ridge. This time, it wasn't a call about.

threats, >> but you heard arguing. Yeah. And there. was it was a loud noise. It sound like a. gunshot. A neighbor, Amy Shry, told Fox. 19 that she heard an initial gunshot. before going back to bed, only to hear. more gunshots ring out. Nest camera. footage captures police reacting to the. sound of gunfire on the property. And. police ended up finding this man, 33-year-old Dalen Bradford, outside the. complex with a gunshot wound. He was.

rushed to the University of Cincinnati. Medical Center in critical condition. According to Bradford's cousin, he had. just gone to his car to get diapers for. his baby when he crossed paths with. Bryant and Glisten. And he may have. stepped in if the two were in some sort. of confrontation according to what Shri. told Fox 19, though we can't verify for. certain that that's what happened. But. is this just a case of wrong place, wrong time, absolute tragedy? Yeah, maybe. And after the gunshot, witnesses.

reported seeing Bryant and Glisten run. into this wooded area behind the. apartments. Officers formed a perimeter. They called in drones. They called in. K-9 units. They called in SWAT. The. hours tick by. And then sometime after. 1:00 a.m., police heard multiple. gunshots coming from inside the woods. And by 3:00 a.m., K9 teams located two. bodies, Glisten and Bryant. Both had. been fatally shot. And police later. confirmed that Bryant's wound was.

self-inflicted. And even more. tragically, by the way, as investigators. processed this scene in the woods, there. was bad news that came from the hospital. a day later on September 22nd. Bradford, who had been fighting for his life, died. from his injuries. To Glisten's family, the events felt like a grim outcome that. they had feared. Right. Christina. Cochran, the grandmother of Gliston's. oldest child, told Fox 19 that Glisten, who was once engaged to Brian, believed.

he was in fact the one, telling. reporters she thought she found the one. In her mind, he was like a night and. shining armor to her rescue. But she. also said that Glisten would confide in. her that Bryant was abusive towards her. Court records reviewed by the outlet. confirm that Bryant even had a prior. assault charge. But you know what is. even more eerie about all of this is. that according to Cochran, Bryant had. apparently sent Glisten a chilling last. message that reportedly said something.

along the lines of, "I hope you're ready. to have fun tonight." Referring to. September 19th. Now, you might think by. watching Sidebar, you know, you've seen. everything. I will tell you, think. again. 50 ways to catch a killer. This. brings you real cases where detectives. had to flip the script to take down. cold-blooded killers. Hosted by 50 Cent. This isn't your typical crime show, okay? It's a highstakes, twist filled. ride into the minds of investigators who. think outside the badge to break the. case. From unforgettable setups to.

shocking reveals, every episode proves. when killers think they got away with. murder, think again. Watch 50 ways to. catch a killer with 50 Cent exclusively. on Fox Nation. Now, there are still some. unanswered questions that remain in this. case, and I want to talk about those. I. want to bring on retired investigator. Will Selar to talk more about this. Well, thank you so much for coming on. It's a really really problematic and uh. distressing case to say the least. But. when you hear a 911 call days before. this shooting, what should law.

enforcement be looking out for as red. flags? >> Well, this this story that we're going. to talk about today, it is age-old. I. have seen so many of them and it just. keeps repeating. The cycle of domestic. violence just keeps repeating. Um, when. you get a call like that, you know, you. you nowadays you get a dispatcher. that'll tell you, listen, this is our. fourth call there or our third caller in. our jurisdiction anyway in Chicago. And. then they'll ask if there's a CCL holder. in there. So, you'll get some. information going into it. But those are.

the things you have to look for. You. have to look for and when you get onto. the scene, you have to look at the, you. know, alleged offender and the victim. and see if you notice any actual. physical signs of abuse. A lot of the. things we run into is the fact that. victims of domestic violence are afraid. to go forward. They're afraid to press. charges. In in virtually every state now, if you. as a police officer witness any type of. uh injury on that person, regardless if. they want to press charges, the offender. has to go. So, these are all things that.

you you have to look for. Also, the. demeanor demeanor is the offender. Demeanor is the victim. Many many times. you'll get to a scene and the demeanor. of the offender will be incred like, "I. don't even know why I'm here. I wasn't. while you're here. I wasn't really doing. anything. So, you got to try to you got. to look for that. You got to see if. there's any other witnesses to uh to. what's been going on. >> And I want to be clear about what can be. expected? What's a realistic expectation. of a response versus, you know, what's. not? And when you look at that first. call, should that first call have.

triggered a different type of response? Could there have been a mental health. intervention? Could there have been a. domestic violence specialist who's. brought on board? What do you take away? >> Again, like I said, it depends on the. history at that house. I mean, every. domestic violence call that we go to in. Chicago, we have a domestic violence uh. form. Whether or not a person makes. report, whether or not the offender is. arrested or on scene or gone, we give. them a form that basically says, "Here's. your options for shelters, domestic. violence hotline, there's numbers and.

there's resources. Bare minimum, everybody should be getting that out. there to folks." Independence police, they described that initial encounter as. a quote emotional crisis and they let. the suspect go. They let the the suspect. leave after he was cooperative from your. perspective. Is that the right call? Look, I know hindsight's 2020, but given. the information at that time, emotional. crisis, let him go. Is that the right. call? >> Whose emotional crisis was it? Was it.

her emotional crisis or was it his. emotional crisis? Or was it a. combination of the both? And as law. enforcement, we're not social workers. Although we do a lot of social work, we're not social workers. We really. don't have the authority to detain that. person unless we have probable cause for. an arrest. So, we could try to reason. with the person to ask him if he wants. to go into a facility, he wants to go to. a shelter, wants to go to a hospital. We. can ask those questions, but we cannot. forcibly detain them unless we see. evidence of a crime or um we could sign. him into a mental health facility if we.

show signs that he is dangerous. on that. first call. I I don't know what they saw. there, but it sounds like she didn't. want to press charges and he uh he. convinced the coppers that he wasn't he. wasn't a problem. And again, you can't blame the victim for this. ever. >> No, they're afraid. They have children. They're, you know, they're worried about. all kind of different things. So, more. than likely, you know, she's under. emotional distress. So, you know,

potentially maybe we could have helped. her a little more. Well, let me ask you. this. You mentioned someone accompanying. police like a social worker, mental. health specialist. Does that is that. common place? I mean, does that ever. happen? >> They're trying it in Chicago. >> Okay. >> Uh social workers writing out on calls. and and this is a and this is a. situation where I don't even know where. I am on this. I get the idea that police. officers aren't social workers. I just. said it. We're not trained to do that. kind of stuff. We talked to a lot of. people. We're not, you know, really. trained to do that. Um, but then again,

you bring a social worker out there. What if it escalates into a violent. situation? The social worker is not. trained to be a police officer. So, you. worry about, you know, the safety of. everybody. And in this case, the guy. came back, you know, a couple days later. with a gun. So, you worry about, it's a. good idea, I think, in pra in theory, but in practice, it's a little more. difficult to get it out there. >> Wayne, how do officers. analyze threats in general? Threats to. others, threats to themselves. I mean, the person making a threat, uh, you. know, threats of self harm. How do.

officers assess that? >> Well, you assess everything from the. minute you get out of that squ from you. take the call. You get the information. you get from the caller. When you get to. the scene, you're not supposed to park. in front of the house. You're supposed. to park a little bit down the street so. you can have time to assess what you're. walking into. So, you use your visual. skills, you use your experience, and you. use the information that was given you. by the dispatcher and also what you see. as you're walking up to the scene. This. is a case um that unfortunately one we.

cover a lot of right a case involved an. exartner reportedly had a history of. abuse prior criminal charge assault. charge here. How often do you see. escalation after a breakup in these. kinds of cases? >> It always escalates. It always escalates. into one of two two uh one of two things. happens. the the victim is separated. from the situation. I should say three things. The offender. goes to jail. or what we saw that happened in.

independence happens and you know you. see that one time is too many times. um we see it too much that the situ and. again when we talk about orders of. protection and protection orders and. things like that when you get an order. of protection against somebody when you. when the judge signs that order of. protection and puts it in he doesn't. assign a police officer with you to go. with you everywhere you go. So that's. where the problem is. If a person is. bent on doing bad if we can't catch him.

before he does an evil deed in order. protection is useless. >> Yeah. Is is there a push? Look, limited. resources, limited uh financial uh. capabilities to make that happen, but. has there ever been a push that you've. seen to try to add that extra layer of. protection for somebody who is the. subject of a protective order? >> So, and and again, here's another thing. about protective orders. Unless the. person is served and knows, you really. can't enforce it. So, they have to know. that there's a protective order against.

them. And that could be the first time. that they show up. Hey, listen, you. can't be here. Here's the order. or. someone can serve them. Again, like you. said, depend on the resources and and. who they have to serve these orders. Um, you know, the extra layer of protection. is how many how many domestic violence. calls are we getting? How many people do. we have to try to protect? And like you. said, there's limited resources. Even in. a city as big as Chicago, there's. limited resources as to providing that. next layer of protection. Again, it's. it's a it's a terrible problem that that.

continues to happen. And um boy, I wish. I could come up with another layer of. protection for for these vulnerable. people who are are victimized by these. brutes. >> Talking about response, by the way, on. the night of this shooting, police. deployed drones, they deployed canines, they deployed SWAT. What does that tell. you about the seriousness of the threat. that they believe they were facing. there? >> Well, based on the evidence they had, they have a person shot in the parking. lot. you have uh witnesses saying that. someone was dragged into the or. escorted, dragged, however you want to.

say it, into a into the woods. The woods. aren't exactly easy to walk through. You. have to get all your resources out. there. Someone's dead. Someone's. potentially uh being kidnapped, held. against their will. You throw everything. you have at that. >> And you know, clearly they did. Unfortunately, you know, you're left. with multiple fatalities here. And I. will tell you there's one piece that. investigators are still trying to. understand that still trying to solve. this piece of the puzzle is Bradford's. exact role in all this. You know, police. confirmed he was a resident at Taylor.

Ridge, but beyond being in the wrong. place at the wrong time, his connection. to all this this confrontation, it's not. clear. So, how do police go about. exploring that connection and how much. can the actual crime scene tell them. about that? >> You start out with interviews. you. interview uh residents, people that know. him, neighbors, all those things. U is. there a romantic relationship? I don't. know. It doesn't say so in any of the. reports that I read. Um but there is a. there is a witness that was interviewed.

at the conflicts that said it looks like. he was trying to intervene on what he. thought was a kidnapping and he got. killed or he got shot for it. Um video, there's got to be some kind of video. somewhere in that parking lot, I would. assume. Uh you do your interviews. Where. is he in relation to where her apartment. is? Is he down in the parking lot? Does. he see the offender coming down with the. victim? Uh, you know, against your will. try to step up and he gets killed. These. are all things that'll be uh determined. through interview and u any kind of.

video evidence that they can find. >> What's the main takeaway for you from a. case like this, a story like this? >> It's, you know, it's heartbreaking. because I've seen it so many times and. you look at and here here's there's a. common denominator around this. They're. vulnerable victims. They are. financially, you know, not independent. and they have children, little children. that they have to take care of and. they're trying to do the best they can. to get themselves away from the abusive. situation. And this is a young girl that. could have stayed in that, you know, for.

the next 10 or 15 years. But she tried. to do the right thing. She tried to. separate herself and her kids from that. And you know, it society, law. enforcement, we're letting these people. down. We we have to come up with some. kind of a plan like you said to add. another safety valve to this for these. these poor people who are just trying to. better their lives and and not be. abused. >> Yeah. It's incredibly sad because you. have this community who is now left. grieving a young mother and a man who by.

all accounts was just caught up in what. was this deadly chaotic event. It it's. senseless. It it's so it's so. unfortunate. It's a tragedy. And yes, we're asking questions about what more. could have been done, if anything. Difficult to say. Uh Willard, thank you. so much for taking the time. Really. appreciate it. >> My pleasure, Jesse. >> That's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us and as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcasts. You can follow me on.

X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time. [Music].