This story covers a sensitive true crime case involving a child. All violent or graphic details have been removed to comply with YouTube’s content policy. Viewer discretion is advised. The final days and weeks of her life were torture. The screams of a child so loud neighbors repeatedly called the police.
“I just kept thinking that can’t be right. That can’t be right. That can’t be right.” Autumn Lee Hallow was born on August 24th, 2011 in Rapids, Minnesota. She was the second child of Brett Jason Hallow and Kelsey Cruz. According to her mother, Autumn always gave the sweetest and warmest hugs.
Her brother Noah, only 11 months older, was her closest friend and constant companion. Autumn also had five other siblings: Marshall, Lincoln, Delilah, Bentley, and Cadence. She had blonde hair, blue eyes, and a bright dimpled smile. Autumn was described as a kind, energetic, and helpful child. At school, she was a good student who loved singing, dancing, acting, and was passionate about drawing, coloring, and writing little notes for her family.
Autumn loved nature and had a deep interest in gymnastics, often jumping, spinning, and tumbling around just to make everyone laugh. At only 17 years old, Kelsey Cruz met Brett Hallow at Ivan Sand Community Middle High School, ISD 728, Elk River, located about 34 miles northwest of Minneapolis. They quickly started a relationship and welcomed their first child, Noah, on September 20th, 2010.
Just 3 months later, Kelsey became pregnant again, and Autumn was born 6 weeks early. According to Kelsey, at first Brett appeared charming and considerate, but by early 2013, she was forced to end the relationship after discovering he had not been faithful throughout their four years together. After the breakup, Kelsey moved back in with her parents along with the two children, while Brett was allowed visitation every second weekend at his mother’s home.
In reality, all expenses from clothes, bedding, and food to the smallest daily needs were entirely covered by Kelsey. In 2013, Kelsey filed for child support. However, if Brett obtained partial custody, the amount he had to pay would be significantly reduced. Perhaps for that reason, by the end of that year, he took Kelsey to court.
After several disputes, Kelsey agreed to share custody on a 50/50 basis, alternating every Sunday. For the next few years, both followed this arrangement. Not long after, Brett began dating a single mother named Sarah K. Nasby. They married in 2017 and had two sons together. Sarah already had a complicated history with the legal system.
In 2013, she was charged with two fourth-degree offenses, including one for assaulting an officer and another related to causing harm or engaging in disrespectful conduct toward a public employee. These records showed that Brett’s new life was far from peaceful. The full details of Sarah’s second offense were never made public, but it was believed to involve an act of defiance or lack of respect toward law enforcement.
Beyond that past, Sarah frequently filed for restraining orders, especially during child exchanges. One Sunday, Kelsey brought a gift from Brett’s mother. According to Sarah, Kelsey pushed the gift against her shoulder. According to Kelsey, it was Sarah who threw the gift back and shoved her.
A week later, a deputy sheriff arrived at Kelsey’s house to deliver a restraining order accusing her of aggravating Sarah’s post-treatment injury. There was no hearing, and Kelsey had no chance to explain her side. In addition to the order against Kelsey, Sarah had previously filed a restraining order against her own parents and even threatened to file one against Brett’s mother.
These legal maneuvers intensified the family tension, turning what should have been peaceful custody exchanges into exhausting confrontations. Sarah continued using the court system to strengthen her control. She convinced Judge Mary Yunker that Brett had an unspecified health condition that caused him to have physical reactions whenever he had to communicate directly with Kelsey.
Based on that claim, the court ordered that all communication between the two must go through Sarah. What was concerning was that Kelsey had never seen any medical documentation. And throughout all the years she had known Brett, she had never witnessed him display any such symptoms. At that time, Brett and Sarah were living at the Depot at Elk River Station Apartments, 10653 172nd Avenue Northwest, Elk River, Minnesota, 55330. It was a three-story complex, and their family lived in unit 214 on the second floor.
In that apartment, Brett and Sarah lived with Sarah’s daughter from a previous relationship and their two sons. When not with their mother, Autumn and her brother Noah also stayed there frequently.
In 2016, when Kelsey picked up the children, she noticed a small bruise and redness on Noah’s right cheek. Brett explained that Noah had fallen while playing and accidentally hit his face. That evening, Autumn told her mother that Sarah had been too rough with Noah because he had an accident in his pants, and Noah confirmed it.
Sarah, however, claimed the boy lost his balance and fell against the bed frame. Child Protection Services opened an investigation, but Sarah stated she had only touched Noah’s lips lightly with her fingertips, which startled him and caused him to fall. The case was quickly closed, and no further protective measures were taken.
“You can sit outside at any time of the day and hear both of them screaming at these kids, cussing at them.” Like in many other cases, after the initial investigation, CPS did not take any further protective action. By 2019, neighbors in the apartment complex began to worry as they repeatedly heard strange noises and unusual sounds coming from unit 214.
Over the course of 18 months, from February 2019 to August 2020, police were called to the residence at least 30 times. Yet almost no concrete action was ever taken. The final days and weeks of her life were torture. The screams of a child so loud neighbors repeatedly called police. On February 12th, 2019, police responded to a report of an adult yelling and shouting at a child inside the apartment.
Brett and Sarah explained that one of the children was sick, which caused the noise and crying. They also said Brett had been playing an online video game and might have been a bit loud. According to the report, officers at the scene noted that the children appeared to be fine. In early 2019, Noah came home with a light bruise on his chin that looked like a fingerprint mark along with another bruise around his eye that was fading in color.
This time, a school counselor reported the incident to CPS. A social worker was assigned to interview both children at school and recommended that Kelsey temporarily keep them during the investigation. However, just 2 weeks later, the case was closed with the conclusion that Noah’s statements were inconsistent. Shortly after, Noah was required to return to his father’s custody.
Brett and Sarah immediately took Kelsey to court, accusing her of violating the custody agreement. Judge Mary Yunker sided with them, ruling that the children would stay with Brett and Sarah for five consecutive weeks to make up for the time they had spent with Kelsey during the investigation. At that time, both Brett and Sarah were unemployed, while Kelsey was still required to pay them child support.
On June 4th, an anonymous caller reported hearing yelling and loud noises coming from the apartment. When police arrived, everything had gone quiet. On September 13th, another call came in asking officers to remind the apartment residents to keep the noise down. This time, when officers arrived, they heard nothing and quickly left.
Coincidentally, that same day, Noah was absent from school. 2 days later, Brett refused to let Kelsey pick up the children, even though it was her scheduled custody week. The following Monday, Noah missed school again. On Tuesday, September 17th, worried after several days without any news from her children, Kelsey called the police to request a welfare check.
Officers reported that the children appeared fine and were not in immediate danger. Shortly after, Brett and Sarah informed Kelsey that she could pick Noah up that afternoon. When she saw her son, Kelsey was shocked to find multiple visible signs of injury on his body, including bruises on his face, back, stomach, and legs.
Noah offered a few explanations. He said a classmate had pushed him, that his leg got caught in a hole causing mild swelling, or that he fell while playing on the school playground, but many of the marks still couldn’t be clearly explained. Seeing her son in that condition, Kelsey felt something was seriously wrong.
Without hesitation, she took Noah to the emergency department at Mercy Hospital for a full medical evaluation. “Do you feel safe at with Noah?” “Why do you say no?” “I have to sleep on the floor with no pillow in place or I get soap in my mouth.”
The medical report from Noah’s examination at Mercy confirmed multiple mild bruises and recommended contacting CPS.
A week later, a social worker was assigned to investigate, but instead of conducting an independent interview, they did it inside Brett and Sarah’s apartment with both of them present. Less than 2 months later, Detective Eric Balaban from the Elk River Police Department closed the case without filing any charges. He stated that there wasn’t enough evidence for prosecution because Noah never directly said the marks were caused by his father or stepmother.
What none of the responsible parties seemed to realize was that Brett and Sarah’s presence in the room could have made Noah too afraid to speak. Instead of seriously assessing the risk of mistreatment, CPS turned around and accused Kelsey of coaching her son to make statements in order to gain more custody rights. Because of previous incidents, Kelsey constantly lived in fear that she could lose custody altogether if she didn’t continue returning the children to Brett’s home.
On September 27th, a new report was filed by an unidentified minor who stated they couldn’t stand one more night in the apartment. The child described that another young one had been treated harshly for not completing chores quickly enough, being forced to have cleaning solution in their mouth and having their arms held tightly behind their back.
Just over a week later, on October 5th, another anonymous call reported loud yelling from the apartment, accompanied by the sound of a child crying and noises suggesting an adult was disciplining them. Officers responded to the call and spoke directly with Brett and Sarah. Brett and Sarah told the police that one of the children had lost their temper after being asked to clean their room, yelling and running around.
The officers checked but found no visible signs of injury. However, around that same time, Noah confided in a school counselor that he was afraid to go back to his father’s house. He described being forced to stay awake all night cleaning, then having to attend school the next morning completely exhausted.
Noah said he had been made to come into contact with liquid dish soap, confined to his room for hours for not finishing chores, and repeatedly subjected to physical mistreatment. He also had to sleep on the cold floor without a pillow or blanket instead of resting like a normal child. Noah said he wasn’t allowed to read or color, had to sit in silence for hours, and was forbidden from playing like other kids.
If Sarah caught him dozing off, she would force him to stick out his tongue and lightly push his head, making him hurt himself. Kelsey believed her son, but almost no one else listened to his words. To protect Noah, she tried to negotiate directly with Brett. A temporary agreement was reached. Autumn would stay with her father for 3 weeks and then with her mother for one, while Noah would follow the opposite schedule: 3 weeks with Kelsey and one week with Brett.
In reality, Noah never returned to his father’s home again. Kelsey comforted herself with the thought that Autumn would be safe since the strict disciplinary measures seemed to have been directed only toward Noah. Noah confirmed this as well. In that situation, he had clearly become the one under the greatest pressure in the family.
In family psychology, the scapegoat is a common dynamic in dysfunctional relationships. The term originates from a ritual in the Bible where the people of Israel symbolically placed the community’s sins onto an animal and released it into the wilderness as a form of cleansing. Similarly, in an unbalanced family, one child is often blamed for every problem.
The adults believe that if that child just behaved better, the household would no longer have conflict. This mechanism traps the child in a vicious cycle of blame and strict discipline. In such families, the scapegoated child is often marginalized, mocked, verbally humiliated, and ignored as if they’re no longer considered a true member of the family.
They’re frequently placed in situations designed to make them fail and then punished for it. For example, they might not be given enough food, and when hunger drives them to take more, they’re scolded for breaking the rules; or if their access to the bathroom is restricted, they’re reprimanded for wetting their clothes.
When Noah was no longer living in his father’s apartment, it seemed that Autumn became the new target of criticism. On January 1st, 2020, an anonymous call reported a young girl crying loudly and hitting the wall inside the apartment. When police arrived, everything was silent and no one answered the door. Later that month, Kelsey gave birth to another baby girl, marking a new turning point in a life already filled with turmoil for the family.
When Kelsey’s baby with her longtime boyfriend, Justin Ostbower, was born, she named the little girl Delilah. Autumn was there the very day her sister arrived and stayed for the entire week. Kelsey recalled that Autumn was absolutely thrilled to be a big sister, picking out tiny outfits, helping feed the baby, and gently holding her in her arms.
During those days, Autumn looked full of life with normal weight and health for her age. On January 26th, it was time for Autumn to return to her father’s home. Just over 2 weeks later, on February 11th, an anonymous call reported that an adult was yelling harshly at a child inside the apartment.
The caller clearly heard a threat: “I’ll make you scared.” When police arrived, they also heard voices of both adults and children inside, but concluded that the noise did not exceed a normal level. They knocked, called, received no answer, and then left. On February 21st, another anonymous call reported that a child was being quite loud inside the apartment.
Police responded, spoke with Brett and Sarah, and simply reminded them that a complaint had been made. On March 10th, yet another caller reported hearing loud, prolonged yelling. When questioned, Brett and Sarah explained that it was just the television playing loudly. On April 12th, Kelsey herself had to call the police.
It was her scheduled day to pick up Autumn, but Brett refused to bring her down. Kelsey explained to officers that under the custody agreement, all communication between the two parties had to take place through the Our Family Wizard app, a court-monitored platform. She said she had been sending Brett messages since March, but had received no response at all.
When police spoke with Brett, they informed Kelsey that he did not want to exchange custody at that time due to concerns about illness spreading in the community. That explanation was given as the main reason why Autumn was not allowed to see her mother according to the schedule. During that period, Sarah also sent a message to Kelsey through the Our Family Wizard app.
It read, “Autumn is not being kept from you. Her absence is not out of malice. We are simply following the law and doing what’s required to ensure the health and best interests of our family during this unprecedented time.” In April 2020, Kelsey sought help from the family court system, but Judge Mary Yunker declined to hold a hearing, stating that Kelsey had not demonstrated that the current circumstances constituted an emergency.
Around that same time, anonymous calls continued to be reported. On May 4th and again on May 24th, callers reported yelling and loud noises coming from the apartment. Police responded but left the scene without making direct contact with Brett or Sarah. Near the end of May, a neighbor was awakened in the night by the sound of a young girl crying and begging to be let go.
The incident report noted that by the time patrol officers arrived, the apartment lights were off. From May 2nd to August 2nd, Kelsey made five more calls related to custody concerns. However, most of the time, officers arrived and left without meeting Brett or Sarah in person. During the few occasions when communication did occur, Brett repeated his concern about potential health risks as the reason for refusing custody exchanges.
On June 21st, Kelsey once again had to call the police. She said it had been 6 months since January and she had not seen Autumn at all. When questioned, Brett told officers that Autumn couldn’t come to the door, but had waved to them from the balcony. He also claimed he was arranging a date to return Autumn to her mother, but that statement was entirely untrue.
By August 2nd, Kelsey reported that more than 2 weeks had passed without any contact with Brett or Autumn. Police tried calling Brett, but he never answered. During that time, a neighbor recorded audio on their phone capturing the sound of Autumn crying loudly and calling for help from inside the apartment.
The neighbor turned the recording over to police. Yet, once again, no concrete action was taken to protect the child. The neighbor’s final recording was made on August 10th. Throughout this period, Kelsey continued showing up at Brett’s apartment every Sunday to pick up Autumn, only to leave heartbroken each time when her daughter wasn’t brought out.
The more she called the police or contacted CPS, the less help she seemed to receive. On August 13th, 2020, police and emergency medical teams were dispatched to apartment 214 after a call reported an unresponsive child. When they entered, they found Sarah, Autumn’s stepmother, attempting to resuscitate the girl with chest compressions.
Sarah said that about 40 minutes earlier, Autumn had told her she was going to take a bath, and when she went to check, she discovered the emergency. “Thank you for joining us tonight. An 8-year-old girl is dead, and two of her relatives are behind bars. Elk River police say they found the girl unresponsive at an apartment complex on Thursday. They were unable to save her.” WCCO’s Mariel Mohs spoke to people who live at the complex.
Based on her physical condition, medical responders believed that Autumn had already passed away some time before they arrived. In the bathroom, suspicious traces were visible. And when Luminol was used, police discovered several additional reaction patterns.
During the investigation, officers spoke with one of Brett and Sarah’s sons, who was 6 years old at the time. The boy said his parents would often use a belt to restrain Autumn and then place her inside a red sleeping bag, leaving only her head exposed. He also described how they used a long gray shirt to tie her arms behind her back.
According to his account, these disciplinary measures happened whenever Autumn was said to have misbehaved, such as wetting her pants, making the floor dirty, or taking food without permission. The boy also said Autumn was often restrained overnight, sometimes in the living room, sometimes in the kitchen, and even in the bathroom.
Sarah’s 10-year-old daughter confirmed similar details. She said Autumn would be restrained whenever she was considered to have acted out. On that tragic day, the girl heard Autumn crying loudly, followed by a loud thump. She also stated that she saw unusual red marks in the bathroom. On August 14th, just one day after Autumn was found, Brett and Sarah were arrested.
3 days later on August 17th, both were formally charged with second-degree murder and related offenses. They were held without bail. In early 2021, prosecutors revealed a critical piece of evidence: a security video from inside the apartment capturing footage that was considered incriminating. Based on this new evidence, the prosecution announced they were prepared to upgrade the charges to first-degree murder.
“An 8-year-old lost her life and she didn’t need to.” Sabrina McWilliam lives in this apartment, the Depot at Elk River Station. It’s where Elk River police found 8-year-old Autumn Hollow dead Thursday afternoon. Two people have been arrested and police say they are related to Autumn.
“Her biological mother gave WCCO these pictures. Her mother is not one of the people arrested. My heart breaks for that mother.” This may explain why on June 21st, 2021, Brett and Sarah agreed to plead guilty. In court, both admitted to second-degree murder and related offenses with aggravating factors, meaning their sentences could be extended.
Part of the plea deal required them to publicly disclose in court what had actually happened. Their statements left the courtroom in stunned silence. Prosecutors focused on the initial allegations from 2019, which had never been properly addressed. All of it was supported by visual evidence recovered by investigators.
Videos from the security cameras that Brett and Sarah themselves had installed inside their apartment. These recordings, instead of protecting the family, became direct evidence of the inhumane treatment their children endured in their final months. Not only did Brett and Sarah inflict emotional harm on Noah and Autumn, but they also recorded videos showing their own abusive actions.
The first video was captured on June 19th, 2019. At that time, 8-year-old Noah had just finished bathing. The camera was positioned toward the bathroom area. According to her testimony, Sarah admitted that she had overreacted while caring for her son, causing him to cry. Sarah acknowledged this.
Brett also testified that he witnessed the entire incident, but instead of stepping in to protect his child, Brett admitted that he lost his temper, caused Noah pain, and verbally insulted him harshly. Just 4 days later, on June 23rd, 2019, another video captured a tense situation in the bathroom involving Sarah and Noah.
Sarah was yelling and scolding him, saying that if he didn’t eat the food in front of him, she would take serious action. Attorney Leah Emmens immediately questioned whether the food mentioned was the spoiled portion that Noah had been forced to keep in the bathroom for an extended period. Sarah confirmed that it was. In his separate testimony, Brett also admitted that he was aware of the situation.
He said the smell in the bathroom was so bad that he had to leave. Videos like this not only exposed the mistreatment, but also revealed the disturbing level of cruelty and emotional detachment as these acts were deliberately recorded. Sarah admitted in court that she forced Noah to eat unsanitary food. When he resisted, she lost control and made harsh verbal threats.
In his testimony, Brett also admitted that he verbally threatened Noah in order to side with Sarah. Sarah further acknowledged that she used physical force against Noah while Brett failed to intervene and instead joined in putting pressure on him. For hours they forced Noah to comply with their demands under unfit conditions, ignoring his pleas to stop.
These recordings demonstrated the severity of their actions and were used as key evidence for prosecution. Just a few weeks later on July 14th, 2019, another incident captured by a kitchen camera once again revealed patterns of control and mistreatment within the household. In another video, Sarah admitted that she had used liquid dish soap as an inappropriate form of discipline toward Noah while Brett restrained the boy to maintain control of the situation.
Attorney Leah Emmens compared the testimonies and pointed out that Noah had said his mouth was filled with a large amount of cleaning solution. And Sarah confirmed that this seemed accurate. In her initial explanation, Sarah claimed this was a disciplinary measure because Noah had not completed his chores on time.
However, Brett testified that the real reason was that the boy had been accused of not telling the truth. He admitted that he assisted Sarah in that wrongful act. Noah recounted that Sarah forced him to go through the dish soap punishment, and Brett’s testimony matched that description. He even admitted that he and Sarah had repeated this behavior several times in the past.
The number revealed in court left the entire room silent. Brett confessed that it had happened multiple times, underscoring the severity of their actions. In her testimony, Sarah also described several serious incidents that were never captured on camera. She tried to shift the blame onto Brett, but her own admissions revealed both of them as cruel and indifferent individuals.
Sarah admitted that she had mistreated Noah simply because he told his biological mother about what was happening at home. She even threatened the boy, saying that if he continued to speak out, he would never see his mother again. Sarah also revealed that she used makeup to cover unusual marks on Autumn’s body, especially during a Zoom call to prevent others from noticing the girl’s true condition.
On another occasion, the same day Autumn waved to the police from the balcony—the last time they saw her alive—Sarah deliberately concealed signs of injury. She also described creating a homemade restraint using a gray sweatshirt to limit Autumn’s arm movements whenever she was considered to have misbehaved.
While restrained, Autumn was often forced to stand still in the middle of the living room, staring at a fixed point on the wall. Anytime she lost focus, Brett would shout at her and force her to sit on the floor. Sarah recalled one instance when Autumn was required to stay seated on the floor while the rest of the family ate dinner.
The girl was clearly exhausted and hungry, confined inside a red sleeping bag with only her head exposed. In that moment, Brett placed a plate of food on the floor and said that if she was truly hungry, she had to find her own way to eat. Sarah also admitted that Noah and Autumn were not allowed to eat the same food as the rest of the family.
She was the one who prepared the meals and was fully aware of this separation. The details revealed in court showed the extreme level of control that Brett and Sarah imposed on the two children, from their actions and movements to even the food they were allowed to eat each day. After an autopsy, the 8-year-old’s death was ruled a homicide.
“But investigators aren’t giving any more details into exactly how she died.” “When I heard it was his family, I wasn’t surprised.” McWilliam says she’s overheard verbal abuse from inside the apartment where Autumn and other children lived. Brett testified that even Sarah’s daughter was sometimes asked to watch Autumn while the girl’s movements were being restricted.
By August 2020, Autumn’s condition had become alarming. She was thin, weak, and struggling to walk or communicate. Her body showed signs of severe physical decline. She was constantly exhausted and unable to eat properly for several days. A later forensic report confirmed that Autumn had suffered serious internal injuries as a result of prolonged physical impact.
Brett admitted that both his and Sarah’s children were present during the period when Autumn’s health was at its worst. He stated that his frustration often stemmed from small things Autumn did that made him lose patience. Instead of helping, Sarah took Autumn to the bathroom, saying she wanted to keep her separated from the others.
When attorney Leah Emmens asked why seeing Autumn made him so upset, Brett replied that the girl had become frail and weak. That statement unintentionally served as an admission that the prolonged neglect and lack of care had worsened her condition. Brett testified that he and Sarah repeatedly withheld sufficient food and water from Autumn and that this continued for an extended period.
Sarah also admitted to keeping Autumn in the bathroom for several days because she was unwell. Brett said that on the night before the incident, he stayed up playing video games. Around 8 in the morning on August 13th, Sarah woke up. Since she was awake, Brett asked if she wanted to watch the Shark Week programs they had recorded.
The two sat together watching TV, occasionally using their phones. At some point, he dozed off on the couch and didn’t wake up until around noon when Autumn had already fallen into critical condition. Sarah testified that that morning she became angry with Brett because the bathroom was messy and smelled bad.
So, she wanted him to help clean it. But when Brett woke up, he described a different detail. He said he heard an argument coming from the bathroom with Sarah scolding Autumn for not cleaning the floor properly. What left the courtroom completely silent was when Brett recalled his daughter’s faint voice, revealing that Autumn was exhausted and desperate after enduring prolonged pressure.
It was seen as the final sign that she could no longer bear the physical and emotional strain. Brett testified that in a moment of rage, he committed a violent act toward Autumn that caused her to fall to the floor and suffer serious injury. According to the charges, Sarah also took part and acted beyond control, causing the situation to spiral.
When it finally stopped, Autumn was in critical condition. Brett stated that afterward, he left the bathroom, sat on the couch, and fell asleep, while Sarah said she had taken prescription medication for a shoulder injury and could not clearly remember what happened next. Meanwhile, Autumn was left behind in an extremely weakened state.
According to their own testimonies, from this point on, Brett and Sarah’s stories began to contradict each other. Sarah said that later that day, Brett went into the bathroom and told her that Autumn was going to bathe herself to get cleaned up. She brought in clean clothes. But when she stepped inside, Sarah found Autumn lying motionless in the tub with fluid coming from her mouth and her eyes unfocused, no longer conscious.
Brett, however, described a different version. He testified that he woke up around 3:00 p.m. after hearing a loud noise from the bathroom. When he ran in, he saw Sarah panicking and yelling, telling Autumn to get up while splashing water on her. Although their accounts differed, both agreed on one detail.
It was Brett who carried Autumn out of the bathtub and laid her on the bedroom floor. Sarah called 911, but according to medical responders, Autumn had already passed away long before they arrived. The forensic report painted a clear picture of what truly happened. The cause of death was determined to be oxygen deprivation and severe internal injuries on her small body.
The medical examiner documented multiple signs of trauma, including abrasions on the head, large bruises on the hips and arms, and internal bleeding in the abdominal cavity. These prolonged injuries were believed
