• “The popular series explores humankind’s capacity for evil and general obsession with crime and murder” says lawyer Craig Caldicott.

On August 5, 2016, 19 year old Brittney Jade Dwyer murdered her 81 year old grandfather in a plan to steal his life savings; she blamed it all on the TV series American Horror Story.

What seemed like a planned murder started when Dwyer and her friend Bernadette Burns drove from their home in Queensland, Australia to Robert Whitwells house in Adelaide. The pair arrived at 11 a.m. where Burns waited in the car and Dwyer went inside to look at videos and photographs of the family. Reportedly, she sent a text message to her friend saying she couldn’t go through with it, in return Burns said she had to since they had come so far.

When it was time for her to go, Whitwell walked his granddaughter to the door where she fatally stabbed him twice. Once she had done the act she called her friend to meet her inside where they searched for the supposed $110,000 they believed he had hidden somewhere in his home. Instead they found $1,000, some coins, and two digital cameras which they took and fled the scene.

Three days later his body was found and August 26th the two girls were arrested. Dwyer’s lawyer claimed she suffered from “significant psychological issues” and Burns had been addicted to methylamphetamine. They both pleaded guilty and are to be sentenced next month.

Danny Nguyen

camryn johnson