Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder. Reader discretion is advised.
Parents Discover Teen Son’s Horrifying Secret is an Explore With Us documentary that is streaming on YouTube. It delves into the murder of a man named Warren Barnes by a teenager, Brian Cohee, and explores the events leading up to Cohee’s arrest and conviction.
Brian Cohee was 19 years old when he murdered Warren Barnes, a 69-year-old homeless man who was sleeping near Crosby Avenue in February 2021. Authorities caught and arrested Cohee after his parents reported that they found Barnes’ head and hands in his closet. He allegedly tried to get rid of the rest of the body at the Blue Heron boat ramp, according to the Mesa County District Attorney.
He then admitted to the murder, dismemberment, and mutilation of Warren Barnes. Cohee assumed Barnes’ death would go uninvestigated as he was homeless. According to HNGN, Brian Cohee was curious to know what murdering a person “felt like.” He then chose a homeless man who he thought no one would miss. However, Warren Barnes was familiar to many in the nearby community owing to his love for reading.
In a sanity evaluation during the trial, an expert revealed that Brian Cohee spent a great deal of time researching serial killers and murder, that he might have been indulging in interest to the max rather than plotting a murder. However, he was carrying three pairs of gloves to the killing in an attempt to get rid of any fingerprints at the scene. He also had some pictures of the victim on his cell phone. He feared that he would get caught and deleted the photos, reportedly suggesting that the murder was premeditated.
What was Brian Cohee convicted of?
The court found Brian Cohee guilty of first-degree murder, two counts of tampering with a deceased human body, and tampering with evidence. He pleaded guilty reasoning insanity. However, the prosecution argued that Cohee planned the murder. Cohee allegedly admitted to planning the murder of a homeless person for months before the killing. His attempt to dispose of the victim’s body also suggested that Cohee understood the consequences of his actions. The court reportedly sentenced him to life in prison without a chance for parole.
KKCO 11 reported that Brian Cohee’s family doctor and therapist diagnosed him with depression in 2018. Apart from that year, Cohee reportedly did not display any suicidal thoughts. In 2020, Cohee reported frequent headaches and a CT scan revealed that he was normal. In 2017, he began seeing a counselor who testified that Cohee displayed a high level of insensitivity towards violence. He once even intentionally triggered a girl with PTSD.
In 2019, Brian Cohee’s mother reportedly took him to the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. Doctors then diagnosed him with Autism: Level 1. During the evaluation, Cohee mentioned infamous figures such as Adolf Hitler and Ted Bundy as his role models. During the trial, the defense argued that Cohee’s ADHD, autism, and major depressive disorder, facilitated by immediate environmental stressors, triggered the killing. The court, however, found him sane at the time when he killed Warren Barnes.
Parents Discover Teen Son’s Horrifying Secret is currently streaming on the Explore With Us YouTube channel.
