MURDERED: Brittany McGlone

Episode of Crime Junkie · May 4, 2026 · 54 min

Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat examine the unsolved 2007 beating death of 19-year-old Brittany McGlone in Winnsboro, Texas, and the suspect freed after a grand jury no-bill.

Summary

Ashley Flowers presented the case of Brittany McGlone, a 19-year-old who was found beaten to death in her boyfriend Jeff Stogner's bed in Winnsboro, Texas, on May 4, 2007, after breaking her usual routine by going to his house after an overnight shift. She was naked, her underwear was missing, and the home's only shower appeared to have been used by the killer. Flowers described how investigators cleared Stogner and his stepdad through surveillance footage and polygraphs, cleared a drug dealer named Cody and a recent sexual partner, and ruled out Brittany's step-grandfather James McGlone, whom she had privately accused of long-term sexual abuse, through work time cards.

Attention then turned to Chad Carr, the 25-year-old boyfriend of Stogner's teenage sister Velva, who had stopped by the house that morning. Flowers detailed an unaccounted-for window of roughly an hour in his alibi, a false claim of early arrival at an eye appointment, a weather excuse for changing clothes, a failed polygraph, and a 2001 attack in which he allegedly struck a woman in the head with a jack handle. A search of his residence turned up blood-spotted clothing and a size-5 pair of women's underwear matching Brittany's size, though it had apparently been washed. Months later, Velva told police Carr smelled of her body wash that afternoon.

Flowers recounted that Sheriff Kelly Cole and Captain Mike Chilson reopened the case and had Carr arrested for capital murder in 2022, but a grand jury returned a no-bill; the investigators said the jurors never heard their full case. The sheriff acknowledged unidentified DNA from the shower not belonging to household members. Flowers noted Carr had never explicitly denied the killing and did not respond to the show, and she closed with tip-line information for Wood County authorities.

Chapters

0:33
Introduction: a small circle in Winnsboro
Flowers frames the case as one in which only a handful of people knew where Brittany McGlone would be.
2:04
Discovery of Brittany's body
Jeff Stogner finds Brittany beaten to death in his bed, with her underwear missing and signs the killer showered.
5:38
Who knew she was there
The hosts examine the household's movements, the mother's 911 call, and the verified trip to pick up Jeff's grandmother.
10:29
Jeff as suspect and the autopsy
Brittany's mother suspects Jeff, but the medical examiner finds no sexual assault and polygraphs are arranged.
14:12
The weed dealer and the garden gnome
Jeff's drug dealer Cody denies coming to the house despite the cash disappearing from its usual hiding place.
15:30
The funeral and the grandfather's secret
Sister Hope reveals Brittany's disclosure of abuse by grandfather James McGlone, who is later cleared by work records.
21:21
Chad Carr emerges
Investigators focus on Velva's older boyfriend Chad Carr, whose detailed alibi has a gap and who fails a polygraph.
29:27
The 2001 jack handle attack
Flowers recounts Carr's earlier assault on a woman in her trailer and his conflicting explanation.
39:09
Search warrant and forensic dead ends
A search yields bloodied clothing and underwear in Brittany's size, but testing and scene DNA prove inconclusive.
46:01
Velva's statement
Months later Velva tells police Carr smelled of her body wash and offers a weak possible motive.
48:33
Reopening, arrest, and grand jury no-bill
A new sheriff has Carr arrested in 2022, but a grand jury declines to indict.
52:50
Unidentified DNA and a call for tips
The sheriff notes foreign DNA from the shower and the hosts share tip-line information on the anniversary.

Key points

What was said, by whom, with the exact words. Timestamps jump to the moment.

Ashley Flowers
Flowers argues the crime scene pointed to a killer who was close to the victim and composed enough to clean up afterward.
“Everything so far points to this being close and personal. Someone who could keep composed enough to clean themselves up while Brittany lay bludgeoned to death in that bed”
Listen from 5:20 · Murder of Brittany McGlone
Ashley Flowers
Flowers dismisses the staged-alibi theory as far-fetched because the trip to fetch the grandmother had been planned in advance.
“So before we get carried away with kind of, I think, far-fetched theories, first things first. Detectives need to verify Jeff and his stepdad's shared story”
Listen from 9:37 · Murder of Brittany McGlone
Ashley Flowers
Flowers reports the sheriff told the show that the medical examiner found Brittany had not been sexually assaulted.
“The sheriff told us, according to the medical examiner, Brittany actually was not sexually assaulted after all”
Listen from 13:25 · Murder of Brittany McGlone
Ashley Flowers
Flowers acknowledges polygraphs are imperfect but says combined with alibi verification they indicated the initial suspects were not involved.
“I mean, I know polygraphs aren't perfect, but these combined with other verification that they've been able to do of people's alibis, it really is looking like none of these people were involved”
Listen from 20:07 · Polygraph
Ashley Flowers
Flowers says the show's weather research undermined Chad Carr's claim that he changed clothes because of the heat.
“But we pulled the weather reports and it was fairly mild for Texas that May morning. High 60s, low 70s”
Listen from 26:38 · Murder of Brittany McGlone
Ashley Flowers
Flowers argues the gap in Carr's alibi was feasible because the locations involved were very close together.
“Like, from the alco to the crime scene, it's, like, six minutes”
Listen from 27:55 · Murder of Brittany McGlone
Linked moment · 41:12Skip to 41:12 using a listen link in the info box.
Ashley Flowers
Flowers reports that the underwear seized from Carr's residence appeared to have been washed, preventing a definitive link to Brittany.
“it seemed like the underwear had been washed by the time that investigators got a hold of them”
Listen from 41:12 · DNA evidence
Ashley Flowers
Flowers considers Velva's suggested motive—Carr's resentment that Brittany could stay overnight—weak and possibly not the real motive.
“And look, on its own, it's not a strong motive. It might not even be the motive”
Listen from 48:05 · Murder of Brittany McGlone
Ashley Flowers
Flowers says the new sheriff and captain found no major new evidence but concluded there had been enough for an arrest all along.
“They just ultimately believe that there had been enough to move forward with an arrest all along”
Listen from 48:33 · Cold case investigations
Ashley Flowers
Flowers relays the investigators' view that the grand jury declined to indict because it never heard their full case.
“they say the problem wasn't the case itself. It's that they say the grand jury never heard all of their case”
Listen from 52:11 · Grand jury
Ashley Flowers
Flowers reports Captain Chilson's belief that Carr has never explicitly denied committing the murder.
“Captain Chilson says that he doesn't believe Chad Carr has ever explicitly denied murdering Brittany”
Listen from 52:50 · Murder of Brittany McGlone
Ashley Flowers
Flowers reports the sheriff acknowledged DNA from the shower that does not belong to anyone who lived in the house.
“He acknowledges that there is DNA they're still looking at, that DNA recovered from the shower that doesn't belong to someone who lived in that house”
Listen from 53:28 · DNA evidence

People

In the conversation

Ashley FlowersCreator and host of the true crime podcast Crime Junkie and founder of Audiochuck
Brit PrawatCo-host of Crime Junkie, introduced in the episode as 'Britt'

Discussed

Brittany McGlone19-year-old murdered in Winnsboro, Texas, in May 2007
Chad CarrMain suspect in the McGlone killing, arrested in 2022 and released after a grand jury no-bill
Jeff StognerBrittany McGlone's boyfriend, who found her body
VelvaJeff Stogner's younger sister and Chad Carr's then-girlfriend
James McGloneBrittany's step-grandfather whom she accused of sexual abuse; cleared of the murder, died in 2009
Hope McGloneBrittany's younger sister who disclosed the abuse allegations to authorities
Kelly ColeWood County sheriff who reopened the case in 2021
Mike ChilsonWood County sheriff's captain who worked the reopened case

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From the publisher

On May 4, 2007, 19-year-old Brittany McGlone did something she rarely did. Instead of going home after work, she went to her boyfriend’s house. By that afternoon, she was found dead in his bed, brutally beaten. She was naked, and her underwear was missing from the scene. In the home’s only bathroom, investigators found signs the killer may have showered before leaving. There were no signs of forced entry or robbery, only a small circle of people who knew she would be there. More than 15 years later, one man was arrested, but he was later released and walked free. Someone still knows what happened in that house.

Summary, chapters and key points were generated from the episode transcript on September 27, 2026. Quotes are checked word for word against the transcript.

Categories: True Crime