Still A Mystery - Fifth Season

It was my birthday.

My aunt had called my mom

and said that Racheyl had been involved in an accident out at the hunting club.

No hunter in their right mind would ever go into this rickety tree stand.

You're not going to get that many bruises

in that many different places falling out of a tree.

Any sudden, unexpected death

should be treated as a crime scene and that was not done.

We just knew something wasn't right.

We just knew something wasn't right.

Racheyl never went into that tree stand.

She had so much to live for and so much to fight for

and that's what she was doing.

We knew it was a lie and we had to get to the bottom of it.

I practically happened to force the investigators to investigate.

I don't believe in any way that my sister would take her own life.

There's been no closure.

There's still been no real investigation.

November 25th, 2001, Kingsland, Georgia,

bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and Florida to the south.

The area is rural, heavily wooded and sparsely populated.

A paradise for anyone who loves the outdoors.

But when a 32-year-old mother is found dead at her hunting club,

But when a 32-year-old mother is found dead at her hunting club,

the small community is suspicious

of what some want to quickly brush off as an accident.

The town loved her and the town's suffering for this loss.

I couldn't wrap my head around it.

You just don't think something like that's

going to happen to your family.

Growing up in rural Georgia,

Racheyl Smith can't imagine living anywhere else.

She fit right in perfectly, she loved Camden County.

She fit right in perfectly, she loved Camden County.

It was her playground.

She loved it here.

She was very active.

She liked riding horses.

Hunting, fishing, you name it, she did.

She was a petite tomboy, if you want to say.

Racheyl was very well-known and very well-liked in this small town.

Racheyl's idyllic childhood takes a tough turn

when her father dies suddenly.

when her father dies suddenly.

She's only 14.

She was devastated.

He taught her how to hunt.

He taught her how to ride horses.

They were very close.

With her father gone, and as the oldest child,

Racheyl takes a leadership role in the family

alongside her mom, Pat.

She had to help Aunt Pat take care of Aaron and Brian,

and she would cook, and she'd clean

and she would go to school.

and she would go to school.

She had a large responsibility.

In high school, Racheyl meets her future husband, Steve.

Racheyl was smitten with Steve.

Steve was her first everything.

It was what she thought true love should've been.

They were really good together.

June 8th, 1991,

Racheyl marries Steve and becomes Racheyl Brinson.

She soon learns her husband has special privileges in their small town.

She soon learns her husband has special privileges in their small town.

I remember her telling me that they would get out of trouble

because Steve was cousins with the Sheriff.

She loved him but it wasn't too long

before there started to be problems in their home.

A few years into the marriage,

Racheyl discovers Steve does not only feel above the law,

but above his wedding vows as well.

Steve cheated on her and it really tore Racheyl up.

Steve cheated on her and it really tore Racheyl up.

I do believe that Racheyl had forgave Steve,

but I think she had a hard time trusting him afterwards.

They decided to work things out and not get a divorce,

and she thought that having a child would mend their relationship.

In October, 1999, eight years into their marriage,

Racheyl gives birth to the couples' only child, Cole.

She lived for Cole, she really loved him,

and from whether family said

she really changed when she had Cole.

She went from this wild, uncontainable spirit to focused on her son.

Racheyl was a great mother.

She loved that little boy.

While she was completely enamored with her baby boy,

her husband really didn't like Cole very much.

her husband really didn't like Cole very much.

He would refer to Cole as, "it," rather than, "him."

And it was at that time that Racheyl discovered

that Steve was being unfaithful

for about the third time in their marriage.

Steve's infidelity leads to escalating arguments.

On July 22nd, 2001,

Racheyl calls 911 to report

that Steve is suicidal and is threatening her life as well.

A few weeks later, on August 16th, they're fighting again,

A few weeks later, on August 16th, they're fighting again,

and Racheyl's family is concerned for her safety.

This time they call 911.

I know the officer that went there,

he begged Racheyl to go and file charges against him for domestic violence

but she wouldn't do it.

I believe Racheyl was scared to press charges

because the sheriff was related to Steve.

That fall, Steve moves out of the house

That fall, Steve moves out of the house

and stays in the couples' camper

at Mumford Island Hunting Club.

A few days later, on November 25th,

Racheyl drops her son off with her mother, Pat,

because she plans to pay Steve a visit at the hunting club.

So the point of going to the club was two-fold.

"I'm going to tell my husband that I want a divorce,

and then I'm going to go to the tree stand that I've carefully prepared."

So she was going out to actually hunt.

At that time, members of the club

saw that Racheyl was drinking beer,

saw that Steve was drinking beer,

and they all scattered

to different parts of the hunting club property to hunt.

At 4:30 p.m., Racheyl and Steve,

both leave for their respective hunting stands in the woods.

Now according to Steve, she'd said,

"You know what, I don't want to shoot out of the stand

"You know what, I don't want to shoot out of the stand

that I have prepared, baited, sighted in my gun for.

I think I would rather go to that stand over there."

Now the stand that he's talking about here

is about a 20-year-old homemade stand,

and one that no hunter in their right mind would ever go into.

According to Steve, at around 5:45 p.m.,

he hears a deer make a sound known as a, "blow" from his stand.

he hears a deer make a sound known as a, "blow" from his stand.

He didn't get a shot off

and figured that, "It's now too late, really, to hunt anyway,

I'm going to get down from the stand and go get Racheyl."

He calls for her, looks for her, can't find her.

But, eventually, finds her, according to him,

face down at the bottom of this rickety tree stand

that nobody had any business being in anyway.

At 6:04 p.m., Steve calls 911.

He says his wife is lying face down.

She doesn't have a pulse,

she's not breathing, and her eyes aren't responding to light.

The 911 operator tells Steve to begin CPR.

It was my birthday.

My aunt had called my mom

and said that Racheyl had been involved in an accident out at the hunting club.

They were going to life flight Racheyl to Jacksonville.

And while we were in the car, we got the phone call

And while we were in the car, we got the phone call

that life flight had been called off,

and that Racheyl had been pronounced dead.

At the news of Racheyl's death,

her family and friends gather at her mother, Pat's house in shock.

It was just, kind of, frantic,

but at the same, like, time flew.

People just started piling in.

Like, I don't really know how they found out so quick.

When we arrived at my aunt's house that night,

Steve was still in his hunting clothes.

He cried and he told me that him and Racheyl had been getting along a lot better,

and that he was really lost.

and that he was really lost.

Racheyl's family immediately starts questioning

how a fall from a hunting stand could kill her.

The way that the ground was out there, I mean, it was just so soggy.

There wasn't really anything around that I think that she could've hit her head on.

On the morning of November 26th, the day after Racheyl's death,

an investigator from the Camden County Sheriff's Office,

and an investigator from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources

returned to the scene.

returned to the scene.

It wasn't much of an investigation.

There should've been suspicion.

Racheyl was very cautious when she hunted.

I don't think she would ever even attempt to go in that stand at all.

That afternoon, the coroner, L.W. Bruce,

after examining Racheyl's body,

requests a complete autopsy from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation

because of the history of domestic violence reports.

Dr. Lora Darrisaw is the medical examiner with the GBI.

Dr. Lora Darrisaw is the medical examiner with the GBI.

Dr. Darrisaw was pretty new.

And she broke, what I think, is a complete cardinal rule of doing autopsies.

She took no photos of her examination and investigations.

Three days later, on November 29th,

Racheyl's family, full of unease, gather at her funeral.

His family's on one side, our family is on the other.

His family's on one side, our family is on the other.

And nobody talked to each other.

It was just really bad.

["Amazing Grace" Playing on bagpipes]

Steve would sit out there and laugh

and tell jokes with his buddies.

Just not something that you expect a grieving husband to do.

When Racheyl's family finally sees her body for the first time,