What Ally Kostial Didn’t Know | Full Episode

foreigner got along well with everyone she was very happy and energetic always had a smile on her face Holly

what

are you doing taking an adventure to see the sunsets by Alex she wanted to live college life at a big university she re

ally

wanted to be involved in a school that had that good football team Bob Hemingway Stadium Oxford Mississippi is the home opener for the Ole Miss Rebels it's fair to say she loved Ole Miss yes Ali loved Ole Miss thank you it was pretty late at night she She went to a bar, it was not strange that she liked to go out alone and meet other people in the square where all the bars are, she takes an Uber and goes home alone.

Sardis Lake is a large area, there are many hunting camps and recreational spaces that people use on the lake the sheriff's department here does a very good job of doing everything possible to patrol these places the deputies on a routine patrol of that area I don't

know

what

Moonlight was like but there's nothing around you You're in total darkness it's not like a Lover's Lane or anything it's just a rule a lot of people don't

know

when you got there what did you find a white woman lying on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds to his back?

I have not worked as an assassin. Someone has been shot so many times when the ambulance crew was driving they realized the benefits and the ditch in the road as soon as we opened the bag. Ole Miss ID card and driver's license. Morgan. This is my cake. I realized that I had a missed call when it was the police and they were calling about everything, the police came to the door and they told us what they told you that there had been a homicide in the sense that she was the victim and I still don't believe it .

Here we are, which led investigators to search her apartment in her bedroom and they found her Apple watch and, although her phone wasn't there, some of those messages were still synced to that watch. . The hardest thing to do is go back and read it. messages The atrocity of this, the crime itself, shooting her as many times as she had been shot seemed so personal, yes, basic

ally

, it was almost like an execution. Style in your mind, the motive for the murder was to get rid of a problem, how would you describe this case? tragedy of shakespearian proportions foreigner thank you it is not clear why a 21-year-old boy would be in that area about 30 miles from campus authorities have released limited details about the case but said they suspect foul play even though it has been years since the incident Cindy and Keith Costell Their daughter Ali was found murdered on July 20, 2019.

It still doesn't seem real to them, it seems like she is still in school and I still don't believe it and here we are still denying that the costales visited Ali. apartment a few days before she wanted us to stay one more day she was having a lot of fun she wanted me to make her home cooked meals we went shopping she loves the beach theme so we just bought a bunch of new decor you know Cindy and Keith had returned home to St Louis when Cindy spoke to Ali on the phone just a few hours before she died, it was about seven at night, she had just woken up from a nap because she had a test, actually that day I said what? are? what are you doing tonight she said I'm going out with some friends 24 hours later Lafayette County Sheriff's Department investigator Jared Bundren was hoping that clues from Ali's Apple Watch could lead to the first break in the case we just broke Starting from there, what was she? how to you she was like my sister like so many who knew and loved Ali Maddie Norris one of her best friends in high school was trying to make sense of what had happened I was in shock the two were inseparable it was like Ali was in she Maddie was there I love you too she was like my other half we have a lot of adventures together girly things watching chick flicks probably blindfolding I'm driving in her convertible when it's time to go shopping for prom dresses she just goes She tried this red dress and called her mom and it was like she had to buy this dress.

Did you have a boyfriend in high school? She had boys she had crushes on, but nothing serious. She

didn

't find a date to the prom, etc. I asked him to remember every day after he graduated. Ally was thrilled to go to a college steeped in tradition, history, and football, the University of Mississippi. She liked the preppy life, very feminine like pearls. Thank you. Ali arrived in the fall of 2016. But the marketing business student may have had something else in mind: She wanted to meet a guy from the South, get married and have kids one day, and she thought that would be the perfect setting to meet her partner. for life in the third year.

Thick as Thieves as Best Friends Morgan Hall went to college with Ally. He always likes to rearrange and redecorate his room too, which was always so fun to find little Ally moving all the furniture around by herself. We were both from St. Louis. Elizabeth Brock met Ali at a party on campus and we became fast friends, so we were like, oh my gosh, how did we like her? Elizabeth says Ally was fascinated by sunsets. She had a sunset Instagram account where she posted pictures she took of sunsets. hanging out in college Cindy remembered that Ali said she met someone her freshman year, she said I met this guy, he's from Texas, she for some reason loves the state of Texas and was really excited to ask him to a sorority dance , that's the boy she really liked.

The first thing she said about him? She thought that she had found a cute boy that she was starting to like. She was in love with this Crush who would turn out to be her classmate. Brandon Thiesfeld of Fort Worth. Was she really excited about him? Yes, like Head Over Heels. I think she took him to most of the parties her sorority had, so when Maddie went to Oxford to visit, she was looking forward to meeting the new man in Ali's life, unfortunately I never met him, things

didn

't go as planned. , you never met him. Because he never came, he never came, how does she feel about that?

I mean, she hurt her. You had like your best friend from high school came to visit you and the person you like, is that my? Maddie was worried that there was something about her friend's love. relationship that wasn't quite right, but otherwise Ally seemed to be thriving in college, she loved it, she couldn't act enough, she finally achieved the goal of going there and was just living her life three years later, her life was cut short . Now, with the clock ticking to find our killer, Ali's Apple Watch proved invaluable to investigators. What did the clock tell you?

The watch was telling you that she was having a very long text conversation with Brandon Brandon Thiesfeld, Ali's freshman crush, it seemed like the two were planning to meet up that same night and learn more about Ali's life and what researchers found on 48hours.com. When investigators discovered that Ally's last text messages were with Brandon Thiesfeld, they wanted to talk to him and we soon called Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning to come in and give him an interview. Investigators also tried to track Ali's phone on Saturday, but it only rang once in Oxford before the signal died.

Thiesfeld responded but made excuses about why she couldn't meet all weekend, finally saying he would be there at 8:30 on Monday morning. At 8:30 Monday morning, unmarked Lafayette County Assistant District Attorney Mickey Mallett arrived and says that's when the decision was made to start tracking her phone. When they do it mid-morning in a real-time situation, they can see where she is. They find out that she was on Interstate 55 heading north towards Memphis from here to go to where she lives in Texas, that's probably the most common way to go, they can see the location of her heading away from Oxford.

District Attorney Ben Creekmore says with these Feld appears to be On the Run investigators obtained a murder arrest affidavit and immediately sent out a bulletin when we saw his truck leaving Oxford. There was a gig for his label. A skittle. Be careful. It didn't take long for Memphis' fugitive task. The force to detect them fell about an hour and a half, two hours later, they caught him at a gas station. Bundrin says Feld was sitting at the pumps in his truck, which had easy-to-spot license plates. The label on the plates says "take it hard." fail very difficult to lose a dash cam the captured thieves felt they were being detained the police immediately alerted investigators in Mississippi about what they found in the truck and on his clothing he had a 40 caliber pistol consistent with the caliber of the shell casings that were found They found him at the scene and he had blood on him Bundren headed north to pick him up he was calm, you know, I read him his rights, he invoked his rights, he won his return, they picked him up in Tennessee, we asked him if he would sign a waiver of shipment and come .

He returned to Mississippi and signed: We brought him back with these investigators who felt in custody began retracing his steps the weekend of Ally's murder. They learned that he had been turning up all over Oxford starting on Saturday. He stayed with some friends. They said it was very informal. They went bowling normal things but there was nothing normal about what he brought to a friend's house on Sunday he said he came into his house with a gun and unloaded it in the house he brought a six pack of beer and said they had prepared for a time when he got up the next morning he left while Feast Feld did not talk to investigators he would eventually talk to a lawyer Tony Faris hired by his family he had a life

full

of promise he received a lot of love and a good Christian Reese's family Learned Thiesfeld was the son from a doctor, seemed to have enjoyed a typical Texas childhood, liked to hunt and fish outdoors, was a football player, had never been in a fight at school, had no history of violence, didn't spend much time After arriving at Oxford, these Felds met Ally, meeting her at a local bar whom they casually dated during their first year.

I think she was more enthralled with Brandon than Brandon was with her, quite frankly, according to the rates, her relationship became rocky when they were sophomores. block her from his phone, yes she had texted him a lot late at night when he was drinking and partying and it got to the point where he blocked her phone, yes, but something changed in their junior year and the two of them They got back in touch, I think. she saw this as a mutual romantic endeavor and Brandon didn't see it that way, which would explain one thing, so when did you meet him?

I never met him. Ally's closest friends didn't know them at all. Feld Morgan says he had only met them. he is once so strange that we were his best friends and we still didn't even know him as well as when this happened we didn't even know his last name, but in august 2019 feefeld's name was front page news, that's when the case was Presented before a grand jury the evidence included photographs of the gun and bullet casings and this letter that investigators recovered during a search of his apartment apparently written by Thiesfeld the weekend Ally was found dead prosecutors say it is a confession the letter that his mother and father wrote to him worried about what he has done.

Feld wrote that he had always had terrible thoughts. This is the end for me. Either I'm going to prison or I'm going to die. He also wrote. I know they're going to catch me. he confessed I think yes he didn't say he committed the murder you could argue it was a confession an apology to his mother what is an apology Tony For Recess spoke to Piecefeld about the letter and says it was also something more a suicide note he writes a suicide note farewell to his family he tells them he loves them he apologizes for what he has done Brandon tells me he has the gun to his head and then he faints the grand jury handed down his indictment for murder in Capital One at that time Jake Thompson was a reporter for the newspaper local Oxford Eagle and says they felt they faced the death penalty for kidnapping and murdering Ali.

This shook Oxford to its core because you know Oxford takes these people in, they are one of their own for four years and five. or that's what everyone is here and so it was, it was difficult for both the academics and the university and the citizens of Oxford at the end of September. Feld appeared in court to plead not guilty. It's a great question and of course you know why. It happened and that was something that we were all initially trying to figure out. Investigators hope to find some answers in hundreds of text messages between Ali and these Felds, and what they discovered included some life-changing news.

The first message started in early April, we are stuck, we can't move forward. The days are just hard when you think about her not being here, making you feel sad and broken as Ali's friends and family waited for her toBrandon Thiesfeld out on trial for her murder. Prosecutors were building. In his case, they hoped text messages between the two could provide information about what may have led to his death. We know more about what he may have been thinking and we know more about what she may have been thinking. What was the relationship between these two? that that could be different depending on who you ask, I think it would be fair to say that she looked at him more seriously throughout their relationship, the defense attorney in this field, Tony Faris, from Brandon's point of view, it was a relationship casual sexual They were never dating, they didn't go on dates like he didn't pick her up, take her to dinner anywhere, nothing like that, but he told her that he wasn't good enough for her and that's why they couldn't. being together Morgan and Elizabeth say it was a strange relationship, he definitely manipulated her through text messages.

I think we were more upset that she was showing us similar text messages from him or she was telling us things that he said were really nasty. she so you knew that she liked this guy, yes, yes, but she had never really mentioned it inat least to me over time or that he was, you know, even in the scene, there was something about his behavior that suggested that things They weren't normal, look, and that's what she's told me everything in her life, but she never talked about him. Cindy and Keith say I haven't read her daughter's text conversations discovered by investigators now we haven't read any of that, I don't know if I can?

In April 2019, just three months before her death, Ali was preparing for her spring semester finals, which her mother did. I don't know if Ali was focused on a different type of test, a home pregnancy test, when you found out that there was something so out of character for Ali about her big-time behavior. Yes, on April 14 she texted Brandon Thiesfeld a photo of an inconclusive house. pregnancy test and this message as if it were a very faint blue line, but I don't know. I guess I can wait and see if I get my period. These fields respond, okay, we'll see, but if she's pregnant, we won't keep, we can get. a pill she was definitely worried she thought she might be pregnant in this text Ali seems like she was anxious and conflicted I'm not saying what I'm going to do because I don't know what's going on but even if you don't want to be involved like she's really pretty and sweet and I know that one day I will meet a real man, it seemed that these fellas did not see fatherhood in their immediate future.

I'm serious, I'm not a child, it will ruin my life that she was trying to get into. I contacted Brandon about this and she had texted him and he would just ignore her or do something that was like okay like I'm coming over tonight and we can talk about this and then he would never show up so she talked to you about this, yes, she came to us immediately, investigators found out later after Brandon Thiesfeld received news about that pregnancy test, he had been searching on the Internet for the mother, once the child, the father did not , yes, he suggested an abortion initially, there was talk that he regrets it, but that happened, that is remembered in the text messages, so in your mind, if she was pregnant, she would have had the baby, she would have given it to the world, honestly.

Ali, despite the ambiguous test result, sent him text messages. These fell day and night. The messages are long, revealing and worrying, says forensic psychologist Chris Mohandi. He was not involved in the case. We asked him to read some of the text messages. These long, fairly one-sided conversations that were initiated by Ali, you know, with very little in return from Brandon. Make this a very unbalanced investment in this relationship, this exchange begins on Monday, April 15, 2019. At 12 57 AM. m. with Ali writing, I lived it this weekend and was drunk 24/7. I did it so my body could decide haha, no, not today then. at 2:37 a.m. m. she texts I thought about it if you want to talk to me in person it would be better feefeld responds almost nine hours later I can talk tomorrow I'm busy today I'm still going to have the pill decision For me, there are several layers, there you feel that, according to that you've read, he has some desire to keep her out of it, it seems like he has no desire to keep her out of it from what I've seen in these. communications, he is communicating enough for the purpose of trying to influence her to terminate the pregnancy, if she is indeed pregnant, that seems to me to be her only investment in any of these communications.

Mohandi says Ali may have been trying to get Brandon Thiesfeld's attention with text messages. about her drinking in the last 48 hours, I literally drank an entire bottle of tequila, two bottles of champagne, seven beers, one glass of wine. I can't even imagine someone his size could consume that much alcohol, that's a lot of alcohol to consume for someone his size and for many people, if not most people, my concern would be, you know, alcohol poisoning or an alcohol overdose, which is why I raised the question of how much he is drinking or if he is being exaggerated to show Brandon.

I'm self-destructive, come rescue me, you have to help me. I'm desperate. Do you think Brendan believed she was pregnant? I know Ali claimed to have been pregnant, so the question is why would she claim to be pregnant if she wasn't? Therefore, my conclusion is that she wanted a serious relationship with Brandon that in her mind could have included marriage. The text messages had created a digital map of a complicated relationship. They also gave investigators clues about where Feld was headed a week before Ali's death on Friday in July. On the 12th, they felt they would take a road trip to his house in Fort Worth, Texas, that same day.

Ali texted her a photo of two more ambiguous home pregnancy tests. Less than 48 hours later, at 4:16 p.m. m., she posts a disturbing photo on social media and posts a message on Snapchat. with a picture of this .40 caliber gun and there's a chilling legend that finally brings my baby back to Oxford when Brandon Thiesfelt drove back from Texas to Mississippi he had left a fingerprint and prosecutors say he revealed a search history on the deeply disturbing website. is doing some computer searches on how to get away with crimes how to hide crimes planning grooming things how to tie people up how to attract them did a search on Ted's underwear for Ali's friend Morgan, it was a disturbing reminder ago a few months Before this happened, Ali and I watched the Ted Bundy movie together and sat on his bed and ate popcorn and snacks and thought this is so complicated and then months later you know this happens to Ally, what explanation do you have for what I was thinking when I was doing these searches, you certainly have some searches that could be concerning, it depends on how you look at them, when you start looking at someone's search history, you're watching TV, you have all kinds of new programs featuring Ted Bundy's lawyer, Tony Fari, says search history enhances these files.

He's been planning to shoot Ali. He says there is an innocent explanation for why his client brought that gun to Mississippi. That's not unreasonable. That in our part of the country, in Mississippi, in Texas. people people shoot we have shooting ranges here in Oxford so we deny he was brought in for the sole purpose of killing Ali was clear in processing Phil's trip to Texas and the computer searches were part of a care

full

y designed plan when you put In Overall, it would seem to us what his purpose was in bringing back the weapon, a weapon he apparently didn't even know how to use.

If you sit there and go through all of his Google searches, he doesn't even really know how to use it. working with a gun, was googling hollow point ammo and what button does what on a Glock pistol on Thursday, July 18, shortly before two in the morning, Ali texted these Felds a photo of his stomach the next day, Friday, July 19, the day before his death. Text Ally: Are you going to be home today because I could visit her almost two hours later? Ali sent him another text with another photo in this message like I'm not so small anymore and I can pretend I'm fat right now but I don't know it's getting hard after a few more texts from Ali these failed rights , just let me know when you come back from going out, is your house private right now?

The horrible irony is that the text messages from him to her were asking if it's a good environment or your friends will be there and one could assume that she is thinking that he wants to talk about the topic of pregnancy and working on the relationship in his mind . He's thinking I don't want any Witnesses when he takes her to the car with me. minutes before midnight, when the security camera captured Ali leaving a bar in Oxford Square, and then, around 1:30 a.m., prosecutors say Thiesfeld and Ally take that dark, desolate road to Sardis Lake. Once they get off that paved road onto the dirt road and then another 10 minutes to get here there's no one here, I mean this is an assistant district attorney from abandoned Fish Camp, Mickey Mallett, an investigator.

Jared Bundren took us to the place where it happened, where there is now a makeshift Memorial. I mean I can only imagine what was going through her head she wasn't alarmed she wasn't worried you know in her mind she may not have had a reason before that to have the same kind of fear um you know we'll never know but I think she was so blinded by his desperation to talk about what to do in his relationship, investigators found cans of hard white Seltzer on the picnic table. 11 bullet casings were discovered on the ground. What did ballistics tell you?

Malicious, tell me I was sitting in a cross summer. On that side of the table he fired a shot, there was a shell casing here and the other 10 were in that area, surrounding the table, they were not all in one place and he started and started going all the way around, he surrounded it, yes and with every move he was fine, I mean, even one around he hit the table right there and he just left her here he left her here these Feld knew all about that place on the lake he had been there his first year his lawyer told us what felt says what happened that night he had been drinking all day she had been drinking they are listening to music they start talking Brandon has some cocaine he goes to the truck he makes some cocaine inside the truck he goes back to the picnic table they felt that he He says he goes with the gun and fires a shot across the lake She says you're crazy You sit there and talk Then he shoots her Remember Ali was shot at least nine times Why did he come out of nowhere I'm not sure what nothing Brandon denies it was planned when he took her there, I don't think Brandon would have been in this situation if it wasn't for his choice to consume alcohol and then use cocaine, she was saying at the time, under the influence of alcohol and cocaine , he snapped, that's what I'm saying that it was out of rage, out of rage and rage that maybe he thought he was going to be a father and wanted to end it his way.

The evidence against Brandon Feesfeld according to prosecutors was overwhelming. There was a lot of planning. In the part of these camps about what he was going to do, I'm not saying it was clever the way he did it, but a pretty good indication that he was looking for a remote location so that his body wouldn't be discovered, there's no doubt about it. that this was premeditated certainly attention to passion was not was not cold and capable was calculated over a very long period of time, so it was capital murder in Mississippi a capital murder charge means that another serious crime was involved and in this case Prosecutors say the crime was kidnapping, believing the Feld robbers lured Ali to their truck under the pretext of working on the relationship when he had a .40-caliber handgun and had planned his murder all along. 12's lawyer says that theory could be difficult to prove at trial. have to prove that we kidnapped Ali, she voluntarily gets on the truck, they are going to try to say that we deceived her, that is a very, very big sentence, the trial could be for everyone involved, they presented the defense with an offer if gets a plea offer other than death, then guess what a scenario is where a guilty plea to a lesser charge of first degree murder is certainly more attractive and that's exactly what happened on August 27 of 2021.

Brandon fell dressed in an orange jumpsuit and pleaded guilty. to first degree murder, Ali's family and friends were there wearing her favorite color, pink, the judge sentenced Brandon to life in prison, reporter Jake Thompson was in the courtroom, we had ever seen a motion of his until the plea hearing where you spoke or read. a little bit he burst into tears that was the first time he showed emotion theFeefield's audio was off when he faced the judge and addressed the court he said in part quote there is no excuse for my actions I have asked God for forgiveness and I hope One day you will find it in your hearts to forgive me.

Brandon Giessville stood up and accepted responsibility in open court and realized that the consequences of his actions are very real and sobering. There is no parole for murder in Mississippi, so let me tell you. That is a terrible shame, why did he say that he killed her? There is no justification for his behavior and I don't think there is a good explanation for what he did. Why, though not? I'm just telling you it's okay, I mean, there, there. is not a good answer, I think what has been explained is that he is under the influence of alcohol, he is drunk, he is under the influence of cocaine, we certainly know what that does to someone's mind, you know, it is justified at all. uh, over and over again, he contributed to that, he certainly could have shared with us, which no, he didn't know, but he didn't believe she was pregnant, but he said he didn't think she was okay.

I doubted she was I doubted I doubted she was pregnant prosecutors say the results of the home pregnancy test were inconclusive Ali's autopsy report was definitive however we know medically she was not pregnant could Ali have been pregnant in In the months before her death, according to a text message she sent to Thiesfeld in early July, Ali says she had been bleeding and believed something was wrong. There was some evidence that could indicate she had a miscarriage. Do you think she was pregnant? I believe it at some point. I believe so, to the best of your knowledge. she was pregnant, you just don't know that she could have been, but the results were inconclusive, so we're really not sure that prosecutors believed that what happened between Ali Costell and Brandon Thiesveld is a warning, you know, I can't imagine how could have been.

It would be possible that Ali would have known that Brandon Thiesfield was capable of doing to her what she did to him. If she had any idea that this is what this person was capable of, she would never have gotten in that van. I think love can blind us. Certain things other people can see and we can't, Brandon, the Fell family decided not to participate in our broadcast. My mother asked her lawyer to share these words when I heard that the police were talking to Brandon. She still had no idea that it could be him now after two years and knowing more details of their relationship.

I am heartbroken for every person. This is shocking and overwhelming because our son didn't share with us any of the confusion he was trying to handle. I encourage all parents to regularly sit down with their children, teenagers and young adults, and discuss with them that there will never be anything too big, too complicated. out of control of what they can't tell you we will always pray for Ali costell's family and friends Cindy and Keith hold on to the memories of her how are you? It's the quieter moments that are the most haunting she was my life my everything to hers her friends Ali's love of sunsets still shines through Ali, what are you doing taking a photo of Alex's sunsets?

So every time we see a sunset or a pink sunset we think that's Allie and we just try to live for her and bring her along. her light to the world, thank you people from all corners of America who are facing challenges, everyone is just looking for some kind of connection, just raise your hand and say hello. I would like to help bring us together to find solutions. Let's do something about it. Your stories are our stories Welcome to the ion America broadcast on the free CBS News app Mondays at 8 p.m.