Delusional Killer Targets Doctor Couple Thinking They’re In A Love Triangle

Rotten Mango

A chilling true crime podcast episode explores the bizarre and dangerous manipulation of a doctor couple by Brenda, a former lover of the vi

Key takeaways

• Brenda orchestrated a staged encounter at a Dallas bar to manipulate Ricky into believing he was in a love triangle with Kendra and another woman, using psychological manipulation and surveillance tactics.

Main topics

• Stalking and relational violence
• Psychological manipulation in criminal cases

Notable quotes

"There's no cartel. If this young lady was tied to a cartel, she wouldn't have to come get a shooter from the hood."

Conclusion

The episode reveals how Brenda used elaborate deception to manipulate both Ricky and a hired hitman,

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:02) It Speaker 2 (0:02) is very difficult to be a Speaker 1 (0:04) coworker to Speaker 2 (0:05) someone who has probably most likely genuinely lost their goddamn minds. If it isn't already bad enough to avoid coworker bonding sessions, coworkers are asking you if you want to go out with them after work, but you would literally rather go home and not think about work. But this, this Speaker 1 (0:21) is worse because Brenda. Speaker 2 (0:22) is not a normal coworker. She's already complained to every single person at work that her and her dermatologist boyfriend had broken up, but now she's dragging her coworker, Aaron, to this very random, very specific bar in Dallas after work. When Aaron gets there, the bar is packed. Brenda guides her to the bar, and there's about three stools left. That's how packed it is. I mean, there's people everywhere. So they... take up two of the three stools. They both take a seat and there's only one empty chair at the bar left. Finally, a woman walks in and the only available seat is right there. So she takes it. She sits down and she starts texting on her phone. Aaron notices that Brenda is like zeroed in on this random woman who just walked in. And Brenda oddly uses this moment to get up. walk behind her coworker, Aaron, and start playing with Aaron's hair. Almost as if she's trying to braid it. But it's very clear to Aaron, just judging by the finger work, it's not really like she's trying to braid her hair or do anything nice to her hair. And when she looks up at Brenda, Brenda is zeroing in on this woman's phone, seeing what she's doing on the phone. It's Speaker 1 (1:34) clear Speaker 2 (1:34) from the moment that she saw Brenda all dolled up that this was one of Brenda's crazy plans. Brenda pretends to play with Aaron's hair while she watches the woman next to her. And right there, you see this woman texting a man named Ricky. Ricky never ends up coming into the bar because he pulls up to the parking lot to go into this bar, his date, and he sees his ex-girlfriend's car in the parking lot. He texts his date to reschedule or to head to a different bar. And he doesn't even know that none of this was a coincidence. This was a setup by Brenda. Speaker 2 (2:31) We would like to thank today's sponsors who have made it possible for Rotten Mango to support Dentists Who Care, a nonprofit that provides free, urgent dental care for uninsured children and adults provided by volunteer dentists across the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. This episode's partnerships have also made it possible to support Rotten Mango's team of dedicated researchers. And we'd also like to thank you guys for your continued support. As always, full show notes available at RottenMangoPodcast.com. Today's case has brief mentions of gun violence, stalking, relational violence, and a very brief description of related to immigration status. Viewer discretion is advice. Statements and quotes may be condensed for brevity. And with that said, let's Speaker 1 (3:08) begin. Speaker 2 (3:09) If you guys haven't already listened to audio part one of this podcast or this case, please go listen. We went over, um, who Kendra Hatcher was and why it was so puzzling to detectives when a 35-year-old pediatric dentist was found shot dead in her luxury apartment parking lot. There's so many weird leads that occur with this case. You have a man named Jose seeing his Jeep on the bolo. He comes in and he tells the police, yes, that's my car. That was my car that was used as the getaway car for when Kendra was murdered, but I don't know Kendra. Then he brings up that his friend had borrowed his car. Brenda has an alibi. Then investigators are like, you know what? Maybe we should look back into Kendra's boyfriend at the time, Ricky, who is also a doctor. He's a dermatologist. Then they find out that Ricky and Brenda used to date and everything is falling apart. And in the interrogation room, Detective Barnes. just wants one thing from Ricky. They already heard what he was doing. He was in the apartment prepping for their trip. Then he went to go grab tacos. They already saw the messages on Kendra's phone. And now they know that Ricky's ex-girlfriend, one of the people that he reached out to for support, is Brenda, his ex-girlfriend. Tiny Wrist Jeep Brenda. But because of that connection, authorities want his phone so that they can run a very quick data dump. Nothing serious. They tell him, just give us a copy of your entire cell phone and we can rule you out and be on your way. Ricky completely understands. It's just that he got a new phone. Speaker 1 (4:42) Huh. Speaker 2 (4:42) Detective Barnes seems a little taken aback. After Kendra died, he got a new phone. Speaker 1 (4:47) What? But Speaker 2 (4:47) Ricky is like, wait, hold on, though. Like, why are you taking it back? You're the one that told me to do that. There was a bit of miscommunication, I guess you could say. Ricky says he thought that's what Barnes told him to do. was to get a new cell phone because he started getting calls from media just badgering him for comments. Yeah, legacy media is like, hey, give me a statement right now. And so he told Barnes that. Barnes is like, yeah, you should probably get a new number. Barnes is like, what are you talking about? I said get a new number, not a new cell phone, because technically, even if you get a new phone, you still have the same phone number. You're still going to get calls from the media. Like, what is happening? Hello? Are the dots not connecting? Ricky apologizes. He says he honestly thought that that's what he meant, which to be fair, I will say that Ricky is, this is the time period where you're in a state of shock and grief. So it's a bit more understandable. And Detective Barnes is like, okay, well, it's fine. But do you have it with you? The old phone. No, I mean, he doesn't have he he just has his new phone. He does have the old phone, but it's not with him right now. And also Detective Barnes is informing Ricky that they still need to do a data dump on this phone, whether or not he brings it in. Detective Barnes is like, I can get a search warrant if you want. It's really up to you, Ricky. And what he means by that is it's really not up to you, Ricky, at all. Speaker 2 (6:10) Ricky, however, wants to cooperate, but he says, I'm not saying no by any means, okay? It was literally just midnight. I was up talking to my sister and we were talking and there's just something that we don't know to the point where we're just like, I mean, we just, what? What does this have to do with the phone? Ricky continues kind of rambling. I mean, I just have like, I mean, the people that I know are more, I mean, I'm more of like a physician lawyer and... Speaker 1 (6:37) This is like a recorded interview? Speaker 2 (6:39) Yes. And so they were just almost, you know, like scared on my, you know what I mean? Like I wasn't even really thinking about that. And they're like, no, you really, you really have to. That's a big deal. And I just don't know if you want to get involved. And again, I'm not saying no. I'm just saying I just need to ask somebody who can maybe help guide me a little. Speaker 1 (7:00) I'm so confused. Is he rambling completely? He's Speaker 2 (7:03) rambling completely. And at this point, I will say I do understand the hesitation by Ricky. I would be incredibly hesitant to hand over a copy of my phone to a police officer. Even if I had zero guilt, there was nothing that I've done that was even remotely inappropriate. I would probably fight it. Speaker 1 (7:23) Right. So he's hesitant of giving away his phone. Got it. Speaker 2 (7:26) Yes. And if history tells us anything like you should probably fight it, too, and get an attorney first. I'm not saying that you should fight a search warrant. I'm just saying I don't know if you should immediately consent to Speaker 1 (7:35) it and offer it up on a silver platter. Speaker 2 (7:37) Ricky then asked Barnes what he would do if he were in his position. And Detective Barnes responds in a way that's as surprising as the earth is round. Detective Barnes is telling him, I would just be like, hey, here you go. Here's my phone. He reassures Ricky, like, look, we do this stuff with phones all the time. He says he understands, you know, phones are super important. He sees all sorts of phones, though. Like, we don't really expect anything more than like a goofy selfie here or there. But it's just very standard stuff. Ricky doesn't directly respond to what Detective Barnes just said. He instead runs his hand through his hair. He scratches the back of his head and he almost kind of asks sheepishly, like, and just from a professional standpoint, am I being recorded right now? They are in an interrogation room. And well, I mean, it's all part of the investigation. Everything that we do in this building is recorded. And that's why I asked you to bring the notes so that I can get it recorded. Ricky says, yeah, yeah. Again, I want to I feel like I should maybe just talk to someone. Which, OK, that's another thing. Don't ever be so passive with police officers. Just say I want a lawyer Speaker 1 (8:41) because Speaker 2 (8:42) Detective Barnes is like, no, you don't. You don't want to talk to anybody. Basically, that's what police have to do. Even if you say you want to talk to a lawyer, they're going to be like, yeah, sure, we'll get you a lawyer. Don't worry about it. Ricky is like, I'm happy to talk off the record. I mean, part of the reason why, I mean, because last night when I was thinking about it, I wasn't sure if I should even contact you to reschedule. He starts rambling more almost about how he at least wanted to come in and talk to Detective Barnes, but he barely slept the past few days. He actually used to pull 30 hour shifts and this somehow feels a lot worse. He knows from the start that he probably shouldn't make important life decisions when you're that tired. But like, does Detective Barnes get that? Detective Barnes reassures Ricky, I totally understand. Totally. But ultimately, he informs Ricky that his responsibility is to Kendra's family and to do everything to find out all the details and to look at the whole picture. And the whole picture being whatever Ricky might have on his phone. Ricky responds with kind of an interesting response that really I think only a dermatologist might have in this situation. He expresses a lot of concern that, okay, so he took a picture of a patient to show the condition of their skin, but he sent it to a colleague who's also a dermatologist and a doctor to get a second opinion, which he says technically he's not supposed to do that from a professional standpoint. because the other physician is not their doctor, so you can't just, without consent, send a picture of their skin, even if there's no identifying markers or anything. Okay, it seems like he's trying to say he doesn't feel comfortable with that, and now this is going to be on police record, to which Detective Barnes tells him straight up, I honestly couldn't give a shit less about a mole, basically. He's like, I don't care about moles. I don't care if you've got patient's mole pictures up in there. Because it's like a picture of a mole that he wanted a second opinion on. He says, I'm concerned with the people responsible for killing Kendra Hatcher. Which then moves Ricky to his next train Speaker 1 (10:42) of thought. Speaker 2 (10:43) Yeah, Speaker 1 (10:43) yeah. Speaker 2 (10:44) So then I'm a suspect then? Detective Barnes, in the most roundabout law and order way, neither confirms nor denies anything, just says he wants the full picture once more. Can I speak to you about it off the record? Can I do that? No, we have to record. Anything that we do has to be