Ashley Flowers

A search of the creek bed comes up empty, but one game and fish warden notices a trail of broken twigs from the creek leading up to the base of a steep ridge.

She follows it one step at a time.

And when she looks up, she sees who they were all after.

And he is hanging from a tree at the top of the ridge with a green ratchet strap around his neck.

Now, his death is ultimately ruled a suicide by ligature hanging.

The assumption being that this rider took his life, maybe so he didn't have to face the consequences.

But Arkansas State Police still conducts a death investigation anyway.

And as part of it,

On November 12th, over a week after the chase that set off this tragic chain of events, ASP Senior Special Agent Andre Mack interviews both Deputy Bynum and Sergeant Kinney.

Both interviews are recorded, and both men tell pretty much the same story.

So I'm just going to play you part of Bynum's interview, edited for clarity.

Bynum says he never had any personal interaction with the individual.

And this is important because, you see, it seems like part of the reason this investigation is even happening is because in the week following the incident, rumors had begun to take hold in the minds of the small town community members in Forest City.

Rumors that this manhunt and this tragic suicide wasn't at all what authorities were claiming it to be.

Any amount of real reporting will show you that nothing is what it seems in this case.

That man that they were looking for was actually a 15 year old boy.

And there is a very good reason that people in Forest City, including his parents, think that they're being lied to.

And I have a feeling you'll think that too once you hear the full story of the night trip Brazil died.

For decades, some cold cases have been reduced to files in a cabinet, but not anymore.

I'm Ashley Flowers, and me and my team on the deck have been traveling across the country to report on these forgotten cases.