Dead Asleep

It doesn't make any sense.

Randy was a mellow, mellow kid.

I've never even heard him raise his voice.

Something was off about this case.

Modern sleep science says that you can kill in your sleep.

It is real.

This is not sleepwalking.

It had a sexual overtone to it.

She came in my room.

Next thing I remember, I'm covered in blood.

It was clear cut.

He even admitted, "I did it."

I know it was me.

But I don't remember anything that had just happened.

911 emergency.

Yeah. There's‐‐

You need to send police.

Okay. And what's going on there?

Someone's been murdered.

Okay. Someone has been murdered. Okay. In what way?

Do you know if they're breathing, or they've definitely passed away?

I don't know. You don't know?

Okay, well, what did you see, sir?

I'm at Haverhill Park.

Just send the police.

It was me.

I'm sorry.

We didn't get anything out of him.

One person? Male or female?

Girlfriend?

Stick him in the car.

Now, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's office

investigating the death of a woman in suburban West Palm Beach...

They found the woman dead and took that man

who had called 911 in for questioning.

Randy Herman is in jail

charged with the stabbing death of 21‐year‐old Brooke Preston.

We'll keep you updated as we learn anything else

in this investigation.

Reporting live in...

Hold your hands out for me.

And hold them upside down.

I met Randy in the jail.

I went out to see him the day that he was arrested.

And then I was assigned to handle his case.

Uh, you know, I'd be the lead counsel from that point on.

My first impression was just that he wasn't a very big guy.

You can turn around, Randy.

Just a very meek person, physically.

He definitely seemed different than,

you know, a lot of the people I represent.

What I'm gonna do is just gonna switch out your clothes, alright?

He seemed very well‐mannered,

very respectful.

You know what size you are?

Uh? Medium.

Medium? Okay.

‐ But something was a little bit off about, uh, this case.

You know what size jeans you wear?

30: Thirty‐two, 30?

So he committed the crime.

But he couldn't remember what happened.

And then of course there was certainly a lack of motive

because of how close, uh, you know, Brooke was with him.

And you have another roommate, Brooke's sister, right? Jordie?

Does she know what happened?

No. Nobody knows what happened.

We don't even know what happened.

That's why we're sitting here trying to, trying to get it from you.

I don't know.

‐ To me, it seemed like a genuine lack of recollection.

Was it an argument? Was it‐‐

I don't know, sir, I don't know.

Okay.

What do you remember?

Blood.

Okay.

Yes, Randy does tell the police

"I murdered" this person,

because you're standing over them holding a knife.

She came to say goodbye. Okay.

She said goodbye, and I just don't remember anything.

I just‐‐

When did, when did she‐‐

I don't know what happened. Okay.

I just don't remember‐‐

Okay, not a problem. Let me‐‐

Let me ask you‐‐

Were you guys ever romantically involved?

No? They're like my sisters.

Okay. I don't know what I did.

Okay.

But to wake up

over someone who you consider your sister

stabbed a number of times with a knife in your hand

covered in blood and not know what happened,

I could imagine it being a very scary proposition

for a guy like Randy.

Brooke's smile was gorgeous.

Just the personality.

And she was really

just always happy.

She was beautiful, inspiring, and going places.

She had a sense of drive to be better.

And she worked hard.

People who knew Brooke

in her high school days said

Brooke was very much someone who was

the life of the party.

Brooke was this explosive ball of energy.

She was lively.

She was bubbly.

She was athletic.

And, you know, she had a lot of close friends.

And she was always cool.

We'd all hang out, go swimming.

We'd play games.

Go bowling.

It was always having fun.

We grew up on Instagram, Snapchat.

She was always on Facebook.

And Brooke taught me how to use Tinder.

That's for real, dawg. Like, that‐‐ like, like‐‐

I was like, "Brooke, how do I do Tinder?"

And Brooke was like, "Nah, let me pick the pictures for you."

They were always laughing, playing, having fun.

Brooke, Randy, and Jordan.

They were like family. Brother and sister.

They were two of his best friends that he grew up with.

Moved down here in Florida with them to start a new life.

Officers found 21‐year‐old Brooke Preston dead on the floor

stabbed multiple times.

Meanwhile, he remains behind bars without bond.

The question here tonight remains why?

Because even he says he can't remember.

Hello, this is prepaid collect call

from an inmate at Palm Beach Everglades Detention Center.

This call is subject to recording and monitoring.

Hello.

Hello. How are you?

Oh, okay, How are you?

Doing alright, you know. Hope you're okay.

Did you talk to the lawyer?

He called me. But it still don't make sense.

Why? What's the matter?

Uh‐‐ Why?

Well, because

they didn't really tell me why or what made you do it.

I don't even know the reason, you know.

Yeah, I know.

I just wish I'd know how I did it.

I was just confused.

I didn't know what was happening, you know, I‐‐

That's why I called 911.

If I wanted to, I could have ran.

But that wasn't what was on my mind.

I didn't do this intentionally,

and this was a person I cared about.

This was a close friend so, I mean, my mind was just‐‐

I was just in shock.

‐ The one thing that was definitely clear

in kind of discussing it with colleagues is

none of us could figure out what happened.

I definitely felt that Randy was being truthful with me

and that he had profound amnesia for the event.

And so, then the challenge upfront was how to defend him.

So we called a psychologist that specializes in trauma

to try to explain why maybe Randy had that amnesia.

‐ I was trying to find out what happened just as much as he was.

From the very beginning, I cooperated with Dr. Ewing.

I've looked high and low

why he did what he did.

I was truly puzzled.

Because there didn't seem to be any logical basis

for this crime.

We went through hours of interviews of him just asking me

question after question after question.

Basically, what I was looking for was

did he have a mental illness.

Do you hear voices? See things?

Are you paranoid?

‐ We went through everything he could think of.

Did he have, uh, background of oppression

or other abuse?

But nothing fits.

Nothing made sense.

Nothing.