Brittany had a vivacious personality.
She was larger than life.
BERTERA: Brittany loved June, and I know that
he had his own love for her.
He's a felon.
I was scared for her, concerned for her safety.
He could go from being so loving
to being so horrifying.
[operator speaking]
[man speaking]
[theme music playing]
[mellow music playing]
NARRATOR: 18-year-old Brittany Steier is
celebrating her birthday in an unforgettable way.
[woman speaking]
Brittany was adventuresome, and she loved to do new things,
try going places or being with people or types of experiences
that she'd never done before.
[woman speaking]
[woman laughs]
BERTERA: Brittany had a vivacious personality.
She was, we say, larger than life.
Brittany just lived every moment to its fullest.
NARRATOR: Brittany Steier was born on
June 10th, 1989, in Stuart, Florida.
BERTERA: Mom was a pastor, and we would pray at night
before we go to bed,
and I can remember asking God specifically, like,
"Please give me a baby sister, please give me a baby sister."
Um, and then when I was six, literally, two days
after my sixth birthday,
uh, Brittany entered the world in true Brittany fashion
with zero warning.
NARRATOR: She lives with her parents,
Betsy and Joe, and big sister Christy in nearby
Port St. Lucie, Florida.
Betsy was a minister in the Disciples of Christ
denomination, and she started a church in Port St. Lucie.
And I worked for a development company.
NARRATOR: But it's not long before Betsy
and Joe's marriage falls apart.
BERTERA: My family lived together as a family of
four until Brittany was about five years old.
I was 11.
You know, when you get married,
you think you're getting married for a lifetime.
And I think -- I believe our growth patterns were different.
We took turns having the children together
every week.
We tried to make it
the best that we could under the circumstances.
BERTERA: Eventually, I moved in to live with my dad.
But I know for Brittany, it was really hard.
She felt like I had abandoned her.
So Brittany was left to kind of control and run
her own life for a little bit of those formative years.
NARRATOR: As Brittany grows up,
she spends her summers volunteering at a church camp
in Silver Springs.
In this video, 25-year-old Brittany
and the campers are having a dance off.
She is doing dances and skits with some
of the kids, being her larger-than-life personality.
NARRATOR: And here's Brittany on the far left,
dancing in the talent show.
She pushed herself out of her comfort zone
a lot, kind of like jumping out of a plane.
And then she also was able to help
nudge others to get out of their comfort zone.
I love getting to see her smile, but I miss her so much.
During 2015, Brittany was working in Crawfordville,
living in Tallahassee.
STEIER: She worked at Winn Dixie.
She worked as a cashier first -- they saw the talent.
She became the front end manager there.
Everybody loved her.
It was during that time that she met June.
STEIER: June had children with two other people.
He had four children with one,
and he had another child with another lady.
Brittany treated them very much like a mom.
She did so much for them.
NARRATOR: At 26 years old, Brittany is living
with her sister, Christy, and her husband Jeff,
but spends all her time with 28-year-old June
at his trailer.
BERTERA: She was very cautious about
who she let into her family.
She kept relationships away from us,
but she was very smitten with June.
She believed that he was a truly good person for her.
I think they had fun together,
and he made her smile and laugh and...
and I think that he saw the same Brittany that
we see, the one that's full of life and loves adventure,
and he was able to be kind of complimentary to that.
NARRATOR: Brittany can't wait to introduce June
to her friend, Heather.
She told me that she had met a guy, and he
works at Burger King, and she wanted to come and see him.
She stood at the counter, waiting for her food,
and all he did was come to the counter.
They kind of spoke, talked for a few minutes, and then she
comes to sit down with me, and I asked her,
I'm like, "Brittany, who is this person
that you're so head over heels over?"
My husband at the time was
a deputy for Wakulla County Sheriff's Department,
and I did not tell Brittany that I was going to go
back home and ask my husband anything about his background,
because I know she would get upset.
That's one of a law enforcement wife's traits.
They'll go back and ask questions just to make
sure that your friend or family member is safe.
NARRATOR: Heather asks her husband about June.
He looked at me kind of puzzled and asked me
how do I know that name?
And I told him that Brittany had just had lunch
at Burger King where he works at,
and she is attracted to him,
and he told me that she needs to stay...
the [bleep] away from him.
He has arrested June in the past.
He did not go into details as to what the arrest involved.
My heart dropped.
I was scared for her.
I was concerned for her safety.
I asked Brittany, you know, "What are you thinking?
"Are you sure? My husband told me
that he's a felon," and she told me
that everybody has a past
and that it was a mistake, and he's moved on from it.
BERTERA: So a few months after Brittany and June
started dating is when Brittany found out
that she was pregnant, and she was ecstatic.
GOEHRIG: I believe it was five months,
and then she went into labor early.
[distant sirens wailing]
BERTERA: I got the phone call that she was delivering,
and we needed to get to the hospital be with Brittany,
and so my husband Jeff and I got in the car, and we went over
to the trailer to get June, and I remember
we banged on the front door,
we banged on the back door, we banged on every window,
trying to get him to come out of
the trailer to come with us, and he never did.
STEIER: Not coming to the hospital to be with
the one he's supposed to love was traumatic.
It was unacceptable.
NARRATOR: Tragically, Brittany miscarries her baby,
a daughter she names Jade.
Brittany never confided in me how much June
not being there impacted her or affected her.
Um, I know that the loss of Jade was detrimental to her.
I thought that might be the end of their relationship.
So I was somewhat surprised that
she continued to see him after that,
but she made excuses for him, as she often did.
Again, she wanted to see the best in him,
and so she continued forward, forgave him, and went on.
NARRATOR: A few months after losing Jade,
Brittany decides on a fresh start.
So Brittany decided to move to Bradenton, Sarasota area
to live with my dad in March of 2016.
STEIER: An opportunity for a sales person came available
at the sign company I was working for.
So she interviewed with it, and of course, they loved her.
They said, come on,
you know, we want you -- we want to hire you.
GOEHRIG: I was truly hoping that her move would give
some distance and perspective
and that she would move on with her life
and be open to meeting someone else.
NARRATOR: But Brittany is still hung up on June.
BERTERA: She would come for the weekend to visit June,
but a six-hour drive is a lot.
It was very frustrating for me to watch my sister doing
all of the traveling, taking on all the expense
of that, and to see a level of
disinterest or not the same
amount of effort from him as it was from her.
NARRATOR: Brittany soon grows tired of driving
back and forth to see June,
and in 2017, she encourages him to move down to Bradenton.
Brittany set up an apartment for her and June,
a one-bedroom apartment, and he moved down with her,
and she helped him get a job with her brother-in-law, James.
James had issues with June.
June did a good job working,
but he had a temper, and he would display it sometimes on
the job and walk off.
He caused some disruption there at work with
his fellow employees, and James almost fired him
a couple times.
Shortly after that, Brittany started wearing
longer tops, long sleeves, long pants.
And that's the summer in South Florida.
It's very hot.
Of course, Brittany had an answer or a response
that was a logical, reasonable response
for any of my concerns.
And she would deflect anything that I would ask about June.
[Brittany speaking]
[Brittany laughing]
This is on the back patio of the condo
in Sarasota, um, where he has a punching bag.
[Brittany speaking]
The Punisher.
He punished her so much
just for being her,
just for loving him.
[sobs]
[Brittany speaking]
This is the gender reveal for their first baby.
Eyes wide open,
her scream is very much Brittany.
You can see how happy she is to be having a baby.
NARRATOR: In February 2018, Brittany's family
throw her a baby shower.
So when Brittany showed up at the baby shower,
I walk over, and I hug her, and I noticed that she had some
bruising under her eye that she'd covered with makeup.
She told us that she had gotten off balance in
the shower and had fallen and hit her face
on the water faucet, and I believed her,
and I know she was covering for him,
and I think that she was embarrassed for us to know that.
But I think also, she was probably threatened,
that if she said anything that he would hurt her
and/or hurt one of her family members.
NARRATOR: On March 2nd, 2018,
baby Dallas finally makes his appearance.
GOEHRIG: It was truly a dream come true.
It was what she wanted most of all, to have a baby.
And finally, here was this beautiful, perfect
little baby boy, Dallas.
I would help cook.
I would help just be there with them to get them through
that initial stage
of having a new life in the home, and we would do
some things all together,
but there were times that June would go off and be
by himself while Brittany and I would be together with
the children.
She would wait on him even though she was the new mom,
and yet I still didn't realize
how much he dominated her and that
that was part of that unhealthy relationship.
BERTERA: Brittany found out almost exactly three months from
the birth of Dallas that she was expecting again.
She was completely and utterly blown away.
She was ecstatic when it was a girl.
She did the whole announcement on Facebook.
They had, like, balloons, tied pink ribbons around her belly,
did all the fun stuff, you know,
announcing that they were having a little girl and very
excited about, in her mind, kind of completing their family.
NARRATOR: In February 2019, Brittany goes into
labor with June by her side.
That's Brittany dancing, trying to get her --
to get that baby out.
That is June in the background.
He was present for the birth.
NARRATOR: Baby Carter makes her arrival four weeks early,
and Dallas can't wait to meet his little sister.
STEIER: Brittany wanted this. This was her dream come true.
She had two children, a boy and a girl,
which she loved dearly.
It was what she had been looking for.
NARRATOR: Brittany and June settle into life
as a family of four.
I'm glad for them that there were some good moments.
I'm glad not all of their memories...
[Brittany laughing]
...are hard ones,
but my entire being is just
clenched tight,
knowing that he could go from being so loving
to being...
so horrifying.
NARRATOR: In June 2019, Brittany and June
take Dallas, Carter, and June's
four older kids on a camping trip for mom Betsy's birthday.
GOEHRIG: There were eight of them, and so
all of them stayed in one cabin.
GOEHRIG: June is climbing one of the rope swings that is
there on the site, and Brittany is filming him, laughing.
We're all having a good time.
[woman speaking]
[Brittany speaking]
[June speaking]
[Brittany laughing]
BERTERA: I noticed that June was very hands off during this trip.
He spent a lot of time in the cabin.
We would be in the pool, all swimming, and Brittany did take
ownership of his children.
There was a point where Brittany asked if we would watch
the kids for a minute, and she disappeared,
and she came back very angry, and I asked her,
you, know what happened?
And she's like, "I told him he can either come
be a part of the family, or he can leave."
[phone buzzing]
At the end of January in 2020,
I got a phone call from Brittany.
She told me that June had been
violent with her in the past
and that it was getting to a point where
she was concerned about Dallas's behavior.
[Dallas fussing]
Dallas was becoming aggressive with Brittany, with Carter,
and Carter was so young, and so she had concerns that
he was mimicking behaviors that he was seeing, and she was
getting scared, and she was going to leave.
At that time,
my husband got up and started searching
for us for a hotel in Orlando.
I thought if I could get her out of town just far enough
away that he wouldn't be able to Uber there,
it would just be too costly to get to her.
You know, she'd have a weekend to kind of clear
her mind and figure out what her next step was.
And then I could go down there to Orlando, and we'd be safe.
Brittany was physically anxious.
You could see on her that she was stressed.
The babies just seemed to cry the entire time.
So we went to Disney to try to distract all of the children,
and it wasn't until they were able to,
you know, smile and have some fun at Disney that you could
see her kind of breathe a little bit.
Brittany's there smiling and has Dallas
and having a great time,
but she's dying inside.
You don't see it.
She has learned...
to mask great pain.
BERTERA: The entire time we were at Disney,
June was constantly messaging her and calling her, trying to
get her to come get him, telling her that, you know,
he was sorry and that they would work on
their relationship, and they would get better,
and he would go to therapy and all of the things
that I'm sure that she heard times before that.
NARRATOR: After the Orlando trip,
Brittany returns to Bradenton and moves in with her dad.
June was always on the phone with Brittany, trying to get her
to come back, saying he was sorry,
he would change, things would be different.
She would be washing dishes at the sink, and I would come up
behind her and touch her, and she would freeze,
freeze like a statue.
I'd have to pat her on the back and say,
"Brittany, it's okay. I just want to hug you."
And, uh, she said, "It's okay, dad, it's okay.
I'm -- I'm okay."
She kept on seeing the good in him.
She wanted the kids to have a father -- she didn't want
her kids to think that their father was a bad person.
So she kept on having the kids see him.
NARRATOR: On February 11, 2020,
Brittany shows up at the Sarasota Police Department
to make a statement about her ex-boyfriend, June.
[detective speaking]
-[Brittany speaking] -[detective speaking]
[Brittany speaking]
NARRATOR: 30-year-old Brittany Steier
continues to tell the police
about the night her ex-boyfriend pulled a gun on her.
[Brittany speaking]
After being arrested by the Sarasota Police Department,
June Harris was brought to their station to
be interviewed.
When the detectives attempted to interview June Harris,
he refused to be interviewed and asked for an attorney.
June Harris was then taken to the Sarasota County Jail.
NARRATOR: But just days later, Brittany drops the charges.
BERTERA: His family had convinced her
that they would get him therapy and help.
HELMS: Brittany told me that she dropped the charges on June
because she did not want to take
her children to visit their father in prison.
I told Brittany that she just signed
her death certificate, that he's gonna kill her.
He moved back to his previous girlfriend,
the mother of his four children.
And so he went immediately from having been in
a relationship with Brittany
back into being with the mother of the other four kids.
When Brittany left June,
it was like seeing a dying flower get water.
She began to blossom and to grow again.
[child laughing]
This is a very typical scene with Dallas
and Carter, and their mama is a jungle gym.
They were all over her all the time.
[child exclaims]
GOEHRIG: After the breakup,
not only had Brittany grown mentally,
but she also grew socially and emotionally again, because she
had been so isolated from her friends by June.
It was wonderful to get to see her getting her life back.
NARRATOR: When Brittany isn't with her friends,
she's a doting mother to her kids.
[Brittany speaking]
-[Dallas speaking] -[Brittany speaking]
This is Brittany teaching Dallas
his different colors or going through
his different color boats with him.
He's so smart. He knows them all.
[Brittany speaking]
[Dallas speaking]
[Brittany speaking]
-[Dallas speaking] -[Brittany speaking]
The teacher in Brittany,
you can hear her voice
and how proud she is of him, and...
-[Brittany speaking] -[Dallas speaking]
[Brittany laughs]
NARRATOR: Just days after this video was filmed,
Brittany travels to Crawfordville
and drops the kids at June's while she hosts
an engagement party for her friend.
She'd just been asked to be the maid of honor.
She was happy at this party.
It's hard knowing that that's the last day she was with us.
[numbers dialing]
[phone ringing]
[operator speaking]
[man speaking]
A 911 call was received by our communications
department from the grandfather of
the girlfriend of June Harris.
[operator speaking]
[man speaking]
[beeping noise]
[operator speaking]
[man speaking]
NARRATOR: Another 911 call comes in
from Brittany's friend, Heather.
[phone ringing]
[operator speaking]
[Helms speaking]
I told them that my best friend, Brittany,
had just been shot.
They asked me who shot her, and I said, "June Harris."
SURACE: Our patrol units arriving on scene
were looking for June Harris
and noted a green vehicle with lights on it directly in front
of that location that sped away,
passing them by, out to the main road.
[officer speaking]
He drove in a very reckless manner, sometimes exceeding
speeds of 100 miles per hour,
driving in lanes of oncoming traffic,
turning around in parking lots, changing directions.
It really didn't appear that he had a destination.
He was just trying to kill time or get away.
NARRATOR: The vehicle June is driving pulls over.
I don't know what made him eventually pull over.
I believe that he saw the number of units behind him.
He had one flash of figuring out life, that he needed
to just go ahead and stop and face the consequences.
NARRATOR: As June is taken into custody,
Detective Sergeant Surace arrives at the crime scene.
Immediately to the left of the house was a driveway,
and I noticed to the left side of that driveway area was
a female lying deceased on the ground
with a gunshot wound to the head.
I was notified her identity was Brittany Steier.
22-caliber rounds were found very close to her body.
There was also a baby bottle.
Carter, the one-year-old daughter
of Brittany Steier, was in an ambulance.
I checked on her condition.
Thankfully,
somehow, she was uninjured, but she was covered in blood,
and she was wearing a Sesame Street type onesie,
and I could see blood on the front,
the back, and on her skin, as well.
It was determined that Brittany Steier was holding Carter,
the one-year-old little girl,
her daughter, in her arms while June Harris shot her.
How someone can take another
human's life while they're holding
their child is just inexplicable.
[distant sirens wailing]
NARRATOR: Brittany's sister, Christy, and her husband,
Jeff, having heard about the incident from Heather,
arrive at the scene.
BERTERA: My husband wanted me to stay at the car,
because he didn't know if the scene
was safe or what was happening.
At that point,
I started asking why they weren't getting my sister.
And that's when Jeff, my husband, told me that, um,
that Brittany was gone.
Immediately,
I felt all the air kind of leave my lungs,
and I thought that I might not...
I felt that I might not live past that moment.
STEIER: I got a phone call, and I looked
at the phone ID, and it was Jeff.
He said in some words like, "This is
"the worst phone call I ever have to make.
"I have to tell you the worst thing in the world.
June has killed Brittany."
And I couldn't believe it.
I said, of course, all the things
that you would say -- "You must be lying.
"You got to be kidding me.
Nothing like that would happen."
Brittany was five hours away from me,
and I couldn't get to her,
and the thoughts of my baby girl laying on the ground dead
was driving me nuts.
GOEHRIG: Jeff, my son-in-law, said, "June shot Brittany.
She's dead."
[sobbing quietly]
To which my response...
was a guttural scream
unlike any I have ever made before,
that only a mother who has lost a child could know.
June Harris, after he was detained from the pursuit,
was brought back to our criminal investigations division
and placed in an interview room.
He indicated he was cold,
asked for a blanket, which he was provided with, and he laid
down on the floor and went to sleep.
He didn't act like he cared about anything that was
going on, didn't ask us any questions,
and didn't want to talk to anybody.
We charged him with murder in the first degree
and brought him over to our county jail.
On search warrants for homicides,
it's critical to recover the weapon whenever possible.
There was a search warrant conducted of
June Harris's residence.
At that time, no weapons or ammunition were located.
NARRATOR: Brittany's friend, Heather, is interviewed
about the night of the murder.
It was around 7:30 p.m.
when Brittany showed up at my house.
DETECTIVE: Mm-hmm.
Brittany said, "I have to go get the kids,
but I can't go by myself," and I asked her why,
and she said, "I just can't go down there,
"um, and it has to be you
or my sister Christy that goes with me."
NARRATOR: Heather tells detectives that she,
her daughter, and Brittany all jumped into Brittany's truck to
head to June's.
HELMS: We're driving,
she needs to stop and get gas, and we stopped
at the Murphy gas station, and she got $20 in gas,
and we went to June's residence.
It was down a dirt road, and it was dark.
I've never been down there before,
so I was kind of unsure of where I was at.
Once we pulled in the driveway,
we kind of made a right turn
to this trailer
and there was a bunch of alcohol and solo cups.
And I kept thinking,
why is he not going to get the babies?
What is the holdup?
Why are we taking so long?
June walked across the yard, Dallas came out,
they come to the passenger side on my side, and Brittany
opens the van door.
She's helping Dallas get in the van.
HELMS: As I reversed,
I thought, "Please, God, don't let
"her think that I'm leaving her," but also...
I wasn't in my body.
I had angels and God move me to get
out of there and go get help.
I couldn't believe that this is what happened.
I didn't -- I thought I was in
a dream, that eventually, I would wake up,
that it was a nightmare.
SURACE: A few days after the incident,
June Harris's daughter was interviewed.
She actually
described seeing her father's emotions change,
seeing him pacing and acting angry prior to Brittany's
arrival and actually going into
his bedroom and moving and retrieving a small rifle.
She indicated after the homicide of Brittany Steier,
June disappeared around the back of the house,
possibly into the backyard,
for a few minutes before coming back inside
without the gun.
On July 23rd, 2020,
a second search warrant was conducted -- during that search,
a dog was able to locate
a weapon in the backyard of June Harris's house,
approximately 250 feet from the back door of the house,
in the brush.
Inside the residence, inside of
a cabinet, in the back of the house,
we located 22-caliber ammunition,
the same type of ammunition
that was used to murder Brittany Steier.
NARRATOR: While being held in jail,
June receives a visit from his brother.
NARRATOR: June also has a visit
from his girlfriend's grandfather.
NARRATOR: Detectives search Brittany's phone
and find text messages from June
sent the night of the murder.
Those text messages showed that June Harris appeared to be
angry at Brittany because he felt that she owed
him for watching their two children.
He wanted sex from her -- in those text messages,
Brittany declined sex with him, as they had been broken up
for some time, and the texts got more threatening in nature.
June Harris is a master manipulator
and loves to control people, especially women.
And when he can't control a woman,
he gets violent and angry.
GOEHRIG: He didn't want Brittany to move on with her life.
He could see that she was doing better.
She was growing, having a great life,
and he didn't like that -- he wanted her.
NARRATOR: On December 16, 2022,
June's trial begins.
The defense tried to say that there was a possibility that
somebody else shot Brittany.
GOEHRIG: Even though the defense was trying
to come up with something to
create some sense of doubt,
it was obvious
that he was not innocent.
NARRATOR: June pleads not guilty, but the jury disagree.
SURACE: June Harris was convicted of
murder in the first degree, child neglect,
fleeing and eluding, and possession of a weapon by
a convicted felon.
The sentences carried a life sentence
and three consecutive 15-year sentences.
NARRATOR: With June safely behind bars,
Brittany's sister, Christy, adopts their two kids.
BERTERA: Dallas specifically very much misses his mom.
He very much misses his mommy, Brittany,
has -- has specific memories of her
and wants to know why she's not at his birthday parties
and why she's not there for Christmas.
Raining. Can you stand up?
GOEHRIG: I just miss that they can't be with her anymore.
I miss being physically present with my child.
I miss that she's missing out on being
mama that she wanted so much and got taken away from her.
NARRATOR: Next time on American Monster...
John loved Tina in John's way.
She loved the good side of him.
This was an execution.
He was a complete monster out of control.
♪♪