Thanksgiving Murders on ID chronicles the 2010 shooting deaths of Angela Brooks and Nancy Cushman in Augusta, Georgia. According to the Augusta Chronicle, police found both girls shot to death in a wooded area on the morning of Thanksgiving in 2010. At least two men led the girls into the wooded area and shot them “execution style” in the back of their heads.
Investigators also found Cushman’s SUV abandoned shortly after locating their bodies. They believed that the killer(s) drove the victim’s car from the crime scene to where it was abandoned. Video evidence later helped authorities identify Travis Lorenzo Berrian as a primary suspect. However, Berrian was later shot and killed in 2013 as he resisted arrest.
Police still believe that more people were responsible for Brooks and Cushman’s shooting deaths. Following Berrian’s death, the case went cold and remains unsolved to date.
Investigation Discovery’s Thanksgiving Murders airs on Friday, November 17, 2023, at 11 p.m. ET.
Thanksgiving murders of Angela Brooks & Nancy Cushman from Augusta remain unsolved
According to WBTV, a passerby found the dead bodies of Angela Brooks and Nancy Cushman at 2 a.m. on the morning of Thanksgiving in 2010. Nancy Cushman, 18, of Beech Island, and Angela Brooks, 19, of Warrenville, South Carolina, died of fatal gunshot wounds to the back of their heads. Their bodies were located in a wooded area off of Laney Walker Boulevard and Twiggs Street.
The outlet reported that both women were last seen just after midnight on Telfair Street with an unknown male. Police later identified this man to be 26-year-old Travis Lorenzo Berrian. Sources claim that Cushman and Berrian were allegedly involved in an on-again-off-again relationship at the time. Moreover, both girls were supposedly meeting him that day.
NBC News reported that investigators found Cushman’s 1999 Cadillac Escalade abandoned about a mile and a half away from the crime scene. They also believed that more than one person was involved in the murder and that the killer(s) drove the car to that location.
Meanwhile, the Augusta Chronicle stated that police acquired video evidence that showed two men – one was Berrian – exiting Cushman’s car. The men reportedly got out of the vehicle at the Smart Grocery on Wrightsboro Road earlier that morning. However, investigators failed to identify the driver and couldn’t confirm if the victims were in the car.
The outlet further claimed that authorities later identified Berrian as the prime suspect. But he was shot and killed in the probation office in Augusta in 2013. They even searched for the potential second suspect who appeared in the video footage. Police still believe “more individuals are responsible for the murder of both Nancy Cushman and Angela Brooks.”
The case remains unsolved to date.
