ROME, Ga. (Court TV) — The horrific details of Aaron Davis’ murder were revealed at the sentencing hearing of a 23-year-old haunted house scare actor who had admitted to brutally killing his best friend.
On June 20, Brandon Christopher Risner pleaded guilty to 12 charges , including malice murder, two counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, aggravated battery, concealing the death of another, abandonment of a dead body and theft by taking, as well as misdemeanor removal of body parts from the scene of a death, tampering with evidence and obstruction of an officer.
Brandon Risner at his sentencing hearing in the Floyd County Courthouse on July 18, 2024. (Court TV)
It’s because of those crimes that Risner will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.
At his July 18 sentencing, Floyd County Assistant District Attorney Leah Mayo described in detail what she called the calculated murder Risner confessed to committing on November 11, 2022.
MURDER & MUTILATION
Davis had stopped at his long-time friend Risner’s house on his way to Alabama to visit his girlfriend. That night, Davis and Risner went to an outdoor beer garden on the nearby Etowah River, drank some beers, and returned to Risner’s house, where they sang Karaoke, drank wine, and went to bed around midnight. Later that night, prosecutors say Risner grabbed a sharp knife from the kitchen and snuck back into the guest house window, where he purposefully carried out his plan to murder Davis.
Investigators believe Risner killed Davis in the guest bed he was sleeping in, then dragged him into the guest bathroom shower, where Risner dismembered him. He later used duct tape that he purchased from a local Walmart to wrap Davis’ body, put him in a suitcase and put his body into the trunk of the victim’s car. The following night, the prosecutor said he buried his best friend in a shallow grave nearby before ditching Davis’ car behind the levee in Heritage Creek Park.
In an attempt to hide the horror, the prosecutor said Risner purchased duct tape and used cleaning products to hide blood stains on the walls, carpet, shower, and the bed investigators believe Davis was killed in. Risner’s phone revealed a series of Google searches, including searches for new sheets and blankets, hydrochloric acid, how to drain a washing machine, how to clean blood out of a carpet and, in between, watching videos of “No Country for Old Men.”
The prosecutor mentioned other deceptive behaviors, such as pretending to be Davis and using his friend’s phone to text Davis’ girlfriend, who was concerned about her boyfriend’s lack of communication. He also texted members of Davis’ family and friends about how he planned to join the search for the friend he’d already killed.
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VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENTS
Davis’ family delivered heartbreaking impact statements one by one, describing a kind and fun-loving young man with a passion for television and film, and who had a big, bright future ahead of him until he was cruelly ripped away by someone the family knew and trusted.
Risner’s family also spoke at their son’s sentencing, begging the judge for leniency. Both his mother and father acknowledged their son’s mental health challenges but asked that he spend time in a facility that could help treat him and allow him to one day return to the family who loves him.
ARGUMENTS
The defense advocated for Risner, saying that while he does not meet the criteria for insanity, his autism spectrum disorder, unspecified psychotic disorder, cannabis use disorder, and other ailments likely contributed to Davis’ untimely death. Having no prior offenses and having taken full responsibility for his actions, the defense made its final plea for 30 years with the possibility of parole.
The Assistant D.A. says there were different narratives from Risner about why he killed Davis, but all suggested that it was premeditated, “something he (Risner) had been thinking about since early fall.”
“He had taken edibles and witnesses a prophecy where he thought that God was telling him he either had to kill his best friend or have sex with his stepmother, so he thought there would be less self pleasurable, so he decided to kill Aaron.”
The day Davis called Risner while passing through Rome, Georgia, Risner thought it was a “sign of his destiny,” seeing as his parents were out of town and he would be alone with Davis.
Ultimately, the prosecutor said his dark fantasies became a reality as she read the defendant’s own words he used to describe his thoughts leading up to and during the killing.
‘I don’t remember a single thought. I knew what I had to do. I was a man with a plan. I got up on the roof and stalked my prey. I became a carnal animal like in a dream. I saw that he was laying in the bed in there. I hid behind the pillar for a second to make sure that he didn’t see…The only emotion I felt was a surprise that I could have done it or that I could have changed my reality so drastically by making one move, the prosecutor said as he was recounting the thoughts he had leading up to and during Davis’ murder,’ the asst. district attorney said.
SENTENCE
Judge John Niedrach , who respectfully and empathetically reacted to the victim impact statements while appreciating the pain of the defendant’s family, sided with the victim, saying, “All of you are experiencing tremendous pain, but the Davis family exceeds that…to have a young son brutally murdered is unfathomable.”
After considering all the facts and circumstances of the prosecution, Judge Niedrach sentenced Brandon Christopher Risner to imprisonment for life without parole.
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