They Showed Her What Real BD$M Is. The Police Were Shocked. True Crime Documentary.
A routine morning patrol of a remote area near Lake Sardis changed everything. Hey Morgan, this is Mike East as Montana Sheriff’s Department. I’m calling in regards to a friend of yours, Ali Hostel. Through the fog on a deserted shore, the sheriff spotted something that shocked even the most seasoned officers.
The body of 21-year-old Ally Costiel. She had been shot nine times. Such sheer brutality in a remote, desolate area clearly pointed to one thing. This was no random attack or robbery gone wrong. Someone had acted with cold, calculated intent and driven out here with a single purpose, an execution.
The killer was confident they had chosen the perfect spot, free of witnesses and cameras, ensuring their secret would stay buried forever. But they underestimated modern technology. They had no idea that Alli’s Apple Watch would preserve the entire history of their relationship, cataloging every single message, ultimately turning into the star witness that would point police straight to the killer.
Before we begin retracing the events of that horrifying night step by step, please take a moment to subscribe to the channel and hit the like button on this video. Also, leave a comment below letting us know what city you’re watching from. Comments are incredibly important for the YouTube algorithm to help push this video.
Subscribed? Then let’s begin. Alexandria Costal, but to everyone who knew her, she was just Ally. 21 years old, she was a marketing major at the University of Mississippi, one of those classic southern institutions where the sun, deep traditions, and old Americana charm breathe through every piece of architecture.
Locally, the university is affectionately known as Old Miss, and it carries a very distinct, unmistakable atmosphere, blooming groves, a gorgeous campus, and a massive Greek life culture. Ally moved here from St. Louis, Missouri. Back in high school, she was super active. She did cheerleading, which was where her iron discipline and crazy energy came from.
Her mother, Cindy, recalled that her daughter chose Old Miss largely because of how beautiful the campus is in the spring. Ally absolutely loved nature and flowers. She even ran a separate social media page where she posted only the sky, literally collecting sunsets almost every day, sharing this warmth with others. Ally, what are you doing? Taking a picture for sunsets by Al.
At the university, Ally was a real engine. She became one of those who founded the new Alphafi sorority on campus. She singlehandedly created and led the student golf club and was a member of a prestigious business club. She also loved yoga and pilates, got an instructor certification and ran workouts for other girls.
After graduation, she dreamed of working in the fashion industry. Her best friend, Maddie Norris, said that Ally was not just a close person to her, but literally a sister. They were together everywhere and always. I love you, too. Other friends recall that Ally could walk into a room and make the day brighter just with her presence.
She really radiated life. In the summer of 2019, Ally stayed in Oxford. This is a small university town in Mississippi. She was catching up on her studies and preparing for her last year before getting her degree. Her parents came to visit her a few days before the tragedy. A normal family weekend, shopping, lunch, talking about plans.
Together, they bought decor for her rented apartment. Cindy recalls that they chose something in a coastal style. Ally begged them to stay with her for at least one more day, but they didn’t stay. They left as planned. On Friday, July 19th, around 7:00 in the evening, Cindy calls her daughter. Ally had just woken up from an afternoon nap and said that she was going out with friends in the evening.
It was a normal Friday conversation between a mother and daughter. Cindy later recalled that she wasn’t worried at all because Ally always did that. This was their last call. Ally did go out that evening to one of the local bars. Closer to midnight, she decided to head back. Surveillance cameras captured her at 11:52 p.m.
completely alone, walking out of the establishment, getting into a called Uber, and safely arriving at her Alphi sorority house at 12:10 a.m. The building is secured, so the night should have ended in total safety, but nobody knew what was happening on her phone. Earlier that afternoon, a guy she had these complicated on andoff relationships with texted her asking her to let him know when she got home.
Around half midnight, he pulled up to the sorority house and lured her outside. Ally got into his pickup truck without even suspecting that she had less than an hour to live. Since nobody in the house knew about their night meeting, to everyone around her, the girl simply vanished without a trace from her room.
The next morning, her body would be found 30 km away. An unbelievable tragedy no family would ever want to experience. A college student killed while far away from home. Good evening, I’m Ann Red and I’m Mike Bush. A St. Louis County family is mourning the death of their 21-year-old daughter. Police found Ali Castile’s body near a lake in Mississippi over the weekend.
The Saturday morning of July 20th began for the county sheriff with a chilling call. Hey Morgan, this is Michael East as Montana Sheriff’s Department. I’m calling in regards to a friend of yours, Ally Hostel. Sheriff’s deputies patrolling the remote Buford Ridge fishing camp near Lake Sardis discovered Alli’s body on the ground.
The girl was lying on her back covered in blood. When detectives arrived at the scene, they counted nine gunshot wounds. The criminal acted with fury, but at the same time with calculation. The victim’s pockets were empty, and there was no purse, phone, or documents anywhere to be found. The killer took everything to maximize the difficulty of identifying the body and to hide any connection to himself.
But he underestimated modern technology and the background processes of gadgets. The Apple Watch smartwatch remained on Alli’s wrist in her final minutes. It recorded the exact time her heart stopped from the gunshots, 2:15 a.m. And before the killer managed to remove and destroy the device, the iMessage data, geoloccation, and biometric markers automatically synced to the iCloud cloud via the cellular network.
Detective Jarrett Bundren would later explain in detail in court that this very instant automatic process became the starting point of the entire investigation. When investigators under an emergency search warrant gained access to Alli’s iCloud, a three-year history of a toxic relationship unfolded before them, and the name that became the key to everything flashed on the monitors, Brandon.
The text messages showed that he was the one who insisted on meeting that night, asking her to text him when she got home. The last messages were sent right before Ally walked out of the sorority house. The police immediately began questioning the girl’s friends, and the answer was unanimous. It was Brandon Thefeld, an student. At that time, Brandon Thefeld was only 22 years old.
He was the son of a very wealthy doctor from Texas and grew up with the firm belief that his family’s money and status were a universal shield against any problems and consequences. His former dorm roommate recalled Brandon as an extremely arrogant, selfish guy who constantly bragged about his father’s connections, claiming that his dad could fix any issue and systematically allowed himself to make filthy, derogatory comments about women.
For him, this was entirely natural. He and Ally met during their freshman year. For the girl, it was an exhausting three-year cycle of on andoff relationships, a painful roller coaster of constant breakups, promises to change, and new arguments. However, Brandon’s defense after his arrest cynically tried to downplay this connection, calling it just a casual sexual contact.
It was this chasm in the perception of reality that became the driving force behind the tragedy. In the summer of 2019, Ally suspected she was pregnant. She was terrified, confused, and even sent Brandon a photo of a test that showed a positive result, persistently seeking a personal meeting to find a way out together. Brandon reacted predictably coldly.
He could simply ignore her messages for days. And in his replies, he wrote shortly and distantly. A child was ruining his plans for an easy, carefree future, and his father’s authority was of no help here. The autopsy would later show that the pregnancy was a false alarm due to a breakdown in her body. But Brandon didn’t know that.
For him, only two options existed. Either his perfect life was ruined or the girl had to go. This was not a spontaneous crime of passion or a momentary flash of anger. A week before the murder, Brandon traveled to Texas where his father officially purchased an Army Glock 22.40 caliber pistol for him. On that same day, the guy sent Ally a photo of this weapon resting on his lap in the car with the caption, “My favorite baby.
” It was a cruel hidden intimidation. At the same time, Brandon searched Google for how to buy suppressors and methodically chose a desolate spot near Lake Sardis. The final dots over the eyes were connected by evidence found during the search of his apartment. A handwritten letter to his parents dated that very same fatal weekend.
In it, Brandon said goodbye, confessed to horrible thoughts fueled by cocaine and alcohol, and directly noted that he saw only two paths for himself: death or prison. This letter completely dismantled the defense’s version of an unexpected argument. The guy clearly understood what he was about to do when he lured Ally out of the sorority house.
He had plenty of time to change his mind, but he didn’t stop. On Saturday afternoon, when investigators first called Brandon, he acted surprisingly calm. The guy confidently stated that he was very busy at the moment and promised to come to the station for questioning on Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. The detectives pretended to believe his story, but instantly put him under 247 hidden surveillance and requested his cell phone pings.
On Monday, July 22nd, at 8:30 a.m., Brandon never showed up at the station. Analysts tracking his mobile signal in real time recorded that his phone was rapidly moving north through the state toward Memphis, Tennessee. Brandon was frantically trying to flee Mississippi to cross the state line and hide in Texas under his father’s wing.
An urgent bolo. Be on the lookout for a black Ford F150 pickup truck with a telling custom license plate. Take it went out to all patrol units in the neighboring regions. The police caught up with him and blocked him at a gas station in Memphis a few hours later. When Brandon was pulled out of the cab, he was under the heavy influence of drugs and alcohol, barely able to stand on his feet.
During a thorough search of the truck, forensics found that very same Glock 22 inside the cab. Fired.40 caliber shell casings were lying right in the bed of the pickup. And on the driver’s door, experts discovered hidden traces of Alli’s blood, which Brandon had tried to hastily wipe away. There was nowhere left to run. Ballistic analysis later confirmed all nine bullets recovered from the girl’s body were fired from this exact pistol.
A young college student from St. Louis, murdered in Mississippi, shot over and over again. Tonight, her classmate at Miss is behind bars and has been suspended from the university. Our Jenna Barnes has more on the case that spans several states. Ally Castile graduated from Lindberg High three years ago.
Now at the entrance to her old school is a reminder she made an impact here. A thank you card says she was a light in this world whose joy radiated to all who met her. And at Miss where she was a business student, her sorority house is draped in black ribbon. Her family there also in mourning.
Police say this man, her classmate, 22-year-old Brandon Thefeld, killed her. He is being held in our jail without bond. Thefeld is charged with murder and faced a judge for the first time Tuesday. He’s originally from Texas and it appears Ally knew him. These photos show the two of them together. Sources tell NBC affiliate WLBT Ally was shot eight times.
A deputy found her body Saturday near a lake about 20 miles from the Miss campus. Friday night, Ally was captured on surveillance video outside this bar near campus. Investigators say they also have surveillance video of Castile and Thefeld at this market near the lake. Monday afternoon, Thefeld was taken into custody in Memphis, about an hour and a half away from Old Miss, and brought back to Mississippi.
His father says he believes his son is innocent. A GoFundMe set up to help cover Alli’s funeral costs has already exceeded its $10,000 goal in just a day. We posted a link to it on ksdk.com. Brandon Thefeld was officially charged with capital murder. Prosecutors also added a kidnapping charge as they believed Ally might have been held in the vehicle against her will before the shooting.
The presence of this charge automatically paved the way for the death penalty, the highest form of punishment in the state of Mississippi. Due to bureaucratic delays and then the massive CO 19 pandemic, which completely paralyzed the US judicial system, the process dragged on for a long 2 years. Throughout all this time, Alli’s family lived in a hellish limbo, forced to attend technical hearings over and over again and look at their daughter’s killer.
Initially, Brandon and his team of expensive defense attorneys denied guilt. They tried to build a defense based on his heavy cocaine addiction, claiming the guy lacked self-control due to psychosis. However, the prosecution’s ironclad evidence, the Google search history for a suppressor, the photo of the weapon, and the handwritten letter left them absolutely no chance.
On August 27th, 2021, realizing that he was facing a lethal injection, Thefeld entered a plea deal and fully pleaded guilty in exchange for dropping the kidnapping charge. At the Lafayette County courthouse as dozens came together to learn the faith of Brandon Feesfield following the 2019 murder of Ali Costol. There’s no excuse for my actions.
I ask God for one day. An emotional Brandon Deesville appeared before a judge confessing to the murder of Ali Costile while also expressing remorse. my sincerely sorry. The DA’s office revealed during the hearing that Casio was likely pregnant by Thievesville and he was against her having a baby.
Upset by the situation, he got a gun, allegedly killed her near the Sardis Lake in Mississippi in July 2019. It’s extremely sad uh that this has occurred. Our prayers and thoughts are with the Costal family and with the Thesville family. During the hearing, Thesville was made aware of his rights and also listened to written statements prepared by cost parents.
last she always be in love. Ultimately, the judge accepted the bill guilty plea and both the defense and prosecution walked away pleased with the outcome. We are saddened for the Costill family, but uh happy that we could get this matter resolved in a way that prevents them any further grief. We on on the other hand are grateful that uh we obtained this result.
We think we uh spared his life and uh there different types of victories in these situations. The court’s sentence was final. Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Under Mississippi’s strict laws, his only theoretical chance of ever walking free is a direct petition for clemency to the governor, which can only be filed after reaching the age of 65, having served a minimum of 15 years.
In practice, such petitions are never granted to first-degree murderers in this state. He will spend the rest of his days behind bars. In court, his lawyer called this case a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions. But it isn’t. In Shakespeare, heroes are driven by fate, mysticism, or uncontrollable passions.
Here, however, was a series of sober, cold choices. purchasing a weapon, a photo with a threat, searching for a suppressor, wiping gadgets. Brandon could have stopped at any of these stages. When he got into the car, when he bought the ammunition, when he lured the girl out of the house, but he didn’t want to. When the trial ends and the sentence puts a final period on the documents for the loved ones, everything is only just beginning.
Such stories do not close along with the court file. They continue to ache in everyone who loved Ally, in everyone whose life she once made brighter. She was a girl who collected sunsets, adored spring flowers, and knew how to fill a room with warmth just with her presence. Ally made plans, dreamed of the fashion industry, prepared for her senior year and the adult life that was supposed to unfold before her in all its beauty.
She had everything ahead of her. A career, love, travel, thousands of those same bright pictures of the sky that she loved so much. But it was taken away from her cruy, selfishly, and irreversibly. She simply didn’t have time to grow up. A few days after the tragedy, hundreds of people, family, friends, professors, and girls from her sorority gathered together on campus to say goodbye to Ally and honor her memory.
It was not just a farewell, but an evening of memories of how incredible she was. I may have been Alli’s teacher, um, but clearly listening to everybody’s thoughts tonight, she she taught a lot of us as well. And I know our candles are burning, but Ally clearly is a light that’s going to shine on in each and every one of you. She didn’t deserve what happened to her.
Nobody does, but she didn’t, especially. And I just want everyone to remember that. I want everyone to focus on how good of a person she was and how much joy she brought into the world and how positive she was, not the situation. Ali Costiel will forever remain 21 years old.
A girl who simply wanted to spend the summer in a beautiful college town, was preparing for her senior year and was making normal plans for an adult future. She did not expect an attack, did not look for danger, and completely naturally trusted a guy she had known for several years. The tragedy of this case lies precisely in the fact that no campus security systems or safety rules work when the threat comes from someone for whom you open the door and calmly get into the car.
This story remains a cruel reminder that real evil rarely looks like a cinematic monster. It can study in the same year as you have wealthy parents text you and seem completely ordinary. But behind this facade sometimes hides absolute coldbloodedness and a willingness to destroy someone else’s life for the sake of one’s own comfort.
Ali Costiel will forever remain 21 years old, a girl who collected sunsets, loved flowers, and simply wanted to live.
