Moment police arrest teenager Brian Cohee who hid head of homeless man he murdered in closet

Release time：2024-05-21 14:35:42 Source：Global Gazetteer news portal

This is the horrifying moment police arrested a 19-year-old who murdered a homeless man and stored his head in his closest.

Brian Cohee, now 21, from Colorado, murdered 69-year-old homeless man Warren Barnes, in 2021.

He is the subject of a shocking true-crime documentary Parents Discover Teen Son's Horrifying Secret on YouTube channel EXPLORE WITH US.

The extremely gruesome crime saw Cohee decapitate, dismember and mutilate Mr Barnes's body before bringing some of the body parts home, where his mother found them. 

Alongside his head, Barnes hands were also discovered by Cohee's mother Terri, decomposing in a separate plastic bag that was stashed in his wardrobe.  

Cohee had tried to discard the rest of the body by putting it in the trunk of his car and attempting to drive the vehicle into the Colorado River

Brian Cohee, now 21, from Colorado, who murdered a homeless man was turned into police by his mother after she found the man's dismembered head in his closet

In February of 2021, a 69-year-old homeless man named Warren Barnes was gruesomely murdered by Cohee

The documentary featured police dashcam footage of the moment authorities arrived at the Cohee residence. 

Police questioned Cohee at his home asking: 'Your parents have concerns over some stuff they may have found in your room? What would that be?'

To which Cohee calmly replied: 'Yeah, I believe so, a human head and hands. From that fella that went missing. I murdered him with a knife.

When asked why by police officers he added: 'I always wondered what murder would feel like.' 

Later Terri painfully recalled the moment she discovered Barnes's severed head in her son's closet during a police interview. 

She said: 'I was in his room cleaning up, putting some things away and he has a rubber made container in his closet and so I just kind of started digging through.

'I saw a plastic bag and I was like what in the world is this, I picked it up and it was heavy and I held it in my hands, maggots covering it.

'I take it to the sink, it was double bagged so I opened the first bag, and I didn't open the second bag. I called his father and said ''you need to get over here right now''.

Later Terri painfully recalled the moment she discovered Barnes's severed head in her son's closet during a police interview

Initially not know what was in the bag Teri carried the dismembered head to the kitchen sink before opening it 

Cohee's parents then called 911 to report the gruesome discovery, even admitting to the dispatcher that their son had a keen interest in 'death and mortality'. 

Cohee admitted to killing Barnes with a kitchen knife and said he'd been plotting murdering someone for six months prior.

He added he was looking to kill a homeless person or prostitute under the assumption that no one would miss them. 

Elsewhere in the documentary Cohee detailed his gruesome crime to investigators while showing no emotion or remorse. 

He said: 'It was the night of February 27th it was a full moon and I figured I could see so well why not try it out, I am in a bad state of mind at that time, I have major depressive disorder.

'I was driving around and I see a shape and I am like ''oh interesting''. I'm like that's a homeless person, so I grabbed my knife, I put on three layers of gloves because plastic gloves can betray their users because they're so thin, I took the knife I pulled back the canvas and I stabbed his neck.

Despite pleading insanity, Cohee went on to be sentenced to life behind bars without parole last year, after being found guilty of first degree murder

'He was panicking at first in, he was saying what are you doing, what are you doing why, why,  and I just kept on stabbing his neck.'

He told investigators that he was 'growling' and 'making animalistic noises' while stabbing Barnes. 

He went onto laugh as he explained, in nauseating detail, how he dismembered the man's body before saying 'sorry that's morbid' to investigators.  

Cohee appeared excited to tell the investigators all about his horrific crime, he even looked excited to be reliving the murder and relishing the memory. 

Despite pleading insanity, Cohee went on to be sentenced to life behind bars without parole last year, after being found guilty of first degree murder.

He was also found guilty of two counts of tampering with a dead body and of tampering with evidence.

Judge Richard Gurley, who presided over this case called it one of the most horrific he had seen in his 37 years with the criminal justice system. 

The chilling documentary left viewers unable to sleep with many rushing to X, formerly known as Twitter, to leave their thoughts

The Judge also stated that although it was evident that Cohee suffered from mental problems and viewed things differently, murder was on his mind for 'quite some time'. 

The chilling documentary left viewers unable to sleep with many rushing to X, formerly known as Twitter, to leave their thoughts.

One person wrote: 'Just finished watching a documentary about Brian Cohee Jr. I have to get up in five hrs. I won't be able to sleep. There's people like that who exist in this world.'

Another said: 'I went to YouTube to watch a Katt Williams stand-up after seeing a funny video here and ended up watching that entire Brian Cohee documentary. Good God so disturbing.'

Someone else commented on YouTube: 'Absolutely bone chilling. That homeless man was working hard and doing good things with his life and that kid treated his body like a science experiment. He should never be let out of jail.'

Cohee's assumption that Barnes' death would go unnoticed was incorrect because he had many friends and family who lived him dearly.

They have since installed a memorial sculpture in his memory, in the location where he used to spend most of his time. 

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