Advertisement

Utah Man Sentenced To Prison For Enabling Teen's Suicide

A Utah man who enabled and filmed the suicide of a 16-year-old girl has been sent to prison.

“I’m hoping, although I don’t deserve it, the victim’s family will be able to forgive me for my immature and thoughtless and rash decisions,” 19-year-old Tyerell Przybycien said in court Friday, according to the Deseret News. “What I did, I’m not proud.”

Fourth District Judge James Brady sentenced Przybycien to five years to life for child abuse homicide in Jchandra Brown’s 2017 death.

The Spanish Fork man also received a five-year sentence for sexual exploitation of a minor for having child pornography on a cellphone police searched after his arrest. The Utah Valley Daily Herald, citing court documents, reported that the photos were of “girls under 5 years old.”

The two sentences will run concurrently, Brady said, and Przybycien will be credited for time served, meaning he could be released as early as 2022.

“I would like to see him be there forever, I’m not going to lie,” Brown’s mother, Sue Bryan, told the Gephardt Daily after the hearing. “I can’t describe the pain of losing a child. There are no words. I died when she died.”

Tyerell Joe Przybycien walks by a photo of Jchandra Brown in the 4th District Court during his sentencing on Dec. 7, 2018, in Provo, Utah.  (Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Tyerell Joe Przybycien walks by a photo of Jchandra Brown in the 4th District Court during his sentencing on Dec. 7, 2018, in Provo, Utah.  (Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Przybycien pleaded guilty to the charges in October after entering into a plea deal with prosecutors that allowed him to avoid a possible first-degree felony murder conviction.

“I think it was more on the good side for us,” Przybycien’s mother, Brittany Johnson, told Salt Lake City’s KUTV News outside the courthouse on Friday. “He wants to get help, he wants to get educated, he’s matured.”

On May 6, 2017, hunters found Brown’s body hanging from a tree in a canyon about 25 miles south of Provo. A can of industrial strength air duster and two plastic bags were found near the tree.

One of the bags had a note that identified Brown and instructed investigators to watch a video on her cellphone, also found at the scene.

According to the police report, the video showed “the victim with a noose around her neck” as she stood on a rock. She then inhaled the contents of the air duster can, lost consciousness, and fell off the rock, causing the noose to tighten around her neck, police said.

Tyerell Joe Przybycien takes his seat during his sentencing. (Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Tyerell Joe Przybycien takes his seat during his sentencing. (Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Investigators were working the crime scene when Przybycien approached an officer and said he knew Brown and was with her when she died.

“He expressed to detectives he had a fascination with death and wanted to see what it was like to watch somebody die,” Utah County Sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Cannon told HuffPost.

Przybycien not only acknowledged filming Brown’s death but also admitted to purchasing the air duster and rope before driving her to the location and helping her tie the noose.

“He did absolutely nothing proactive to prevent her from doing this,” Cannon said.

Cops said that in addition to child pornography, they found chilling text messages on Przybycien’s phone that he sent to a friend in the weeks leading up to Brown’s death.

“What you do if you knew a friend was trying to commit suicide,” he asked in a text message. When the friend texted back, “Talk them out of it,” authorities said Przybycien replied:

“The thing is i wanna help kill them. it be awesome. seriously im going to help her. Its like getting away with murder! Im so fucked up. I’m seriously not joking. Its going down in about a week or two.”

An undated file photo of Tyerell Joe Przybycien, provided by the Utah County Sheriff's Office. (Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS)
An undated file photo of Tyerell Joe Przybycien, provided by the Utah County Sheriff's Office. (Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Authorities said that after Brown died, Przybycien sent another text message to a friend:

“Bro it happened. I helped her do it too and I feel so guilty.”

Brown’s mother held a photo of her daughter in her arms when she spoke with reporters on Friday.

“I’m still overwhelmed,” she told KUTV News. “I am missing my daughter. Like I said in the courtroom, there is really is no true justice, because only true justice would be having my daughter back in my arms.”

If you or someone you know needs help, call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. You can also text HOME to 741-741 for free, 24-hour support from the Crisis Text Line. Outside of the U.S., please visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention for a database of resources.

Send David Lohr an email or follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

Related Coverage

Man Accused Of Helping Teen Die Had ‘Fascination With Death’: Cops

Man Charged In Girl's Hanging Possessed Child Porn, Sent Chilling Texts: Cops

Also on HuffPost

Jeffrey Dahmer

Notorious cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer sits with his defense team during his 1991 trial. Dahmer went on a killing spree in the 1980s during which he murdered 17 men and boys. He often had sex with the corpses before dismembering them and, in some cases, ate pieces of human flesh. After his conviction, Dahmer was killed by a fellow inmate in prison.
Notorious cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer sits with his defense team during his 1991 trial. Dahmer went on a killing spree in the 1980s during which he murdered 17 men and boys. He often had sex with the corpses before dismembering them and, in some cases, ate pieces of human flesh. After his conviction, Dahmer was killed by a fellow inmate in prison.

John Wayne Gacy

John Wayne Gacy was arrested in 1978 after murdering 33 men and boys. He was known as the "Killer Clown" for his work as a children's entertainer. When Gacy became the suspect in a young man's disappearance, he invited police to his home for coffee. Cops noticed a smell that could emanate from a decaying body. They returned with a search warrant and found 29 victims stuffed into crawlspaces.

David Berkowitz

David Berkowitz, the "Son of Sam" killer, terrorized New York with six murders and several other shootings that ended with his 1977. When police arrested him, Berkowitz, a mailman, said his neighbor's dog commanded him to strike. He's in Sing Sing prison In New York serving life, though he's eligible for parole.
David Berkowitz, the "Son of Sam" killer, terrorized New York with six murders and several other shootings that ended with his 1977. When police arrested him, Berkowitz, a mailman, said his neighbor's dog commanded him to strike. He's in Sing Sing prison In New York serving life, though he's eligible for parole.

Angelo Buono

Angelo Buono, a 47 year old auto upholsterer, sits in a Los Angeles courtroom Monday March 2, 1982 as he listens to opening arguments in the so called "Hillside Stranglings" case in which Buono is accused of killing 10 women and girls in the Los Angeles area between 1977 and 1978.
Angelo Buono, a 47 year old auto upholsterer, sits in a Los Angeles courtroom Monday March 2, 1982 as he listens to opening arguments in the so called "Hillside Stranglings" case in which Buono is accused of killing 10 women and girls in the Los Angeles area between 1977 and 1978.

Ted Bundy

Ted Bundy at one time in the 1970s had a bright future in the Washington State Republican Party, but instead became one of the most famous serial killers and necrophiliacs. He often deceived his victims, all women, into thinking that he was injured and in need of help before attacking them. In 1976 he was arrested for an attempted kidnapping, but while acting as his own lawyer, he escaped. He migrated to Tallahassee where he killed two women in a Florida State University sorority house. He was convicted of those murders and while on death row in 1989 he confessed to 50 other murders.   <em><strong>Correction</strong>: A previous version of this slide misstated the location of the Florida State murders as Pensacola, Fla.</em>

Aileen Wuornos

Aileen Wuornos admitted to killing six men while she worked as a prostitute in Florida in 1989 and 1990. She initially claimed that she acted in self defense against johns who raped her or tried to rape her. But later she admitted that she robbed and killed in cold blood and would do it again if she were free. She was executed in 2002.
Aileen Wuornos admitted to killing six men while she worked as a prostitute in Florida in 1989 and 1990. She initially claimed that she acted in self defense against johns who raped her or tried to rape her. But later she admitted that she robbed and killed in cold blood and would do it again if she were free. She was executed in 2002.

Anthony Sowell

Anthony Sowell was convicted and sentenced to death in 2011 for killing 11 women and keeping their remains in his Cleveland home.
Anthony Sowell was convicted and sentenced to death in 2011 for killing 11 women and keeping their remains in his Cleveland home.

Richard Ramirez

In this file photo taken Oct. 24, 1985, "Night Stalker" Richard Ramirez displays a pentagram symbol on his hand inside a Los Angeles courtroom. The California Supreme Court Monday< Aug. 7, 2006, upheld the convictions and death sentence for serial killer Richard Ramirez, the so-called "Night Stalker" whose killing spree terrorized the Los Angeles area in the mid 1980s. Ramirez, now 46, was sentenced to death in 1989 for 13 Los Angeles-area murders committed in 1984 and 1985. Satanic symbols were left at some murder scenes and some victims were forced to "swear to Satan" by the killer, who broke into homes through unlocked windows and doors. (AP Photo/Lennox McLendon)

Andrew Cunanan

Andrew Cunanan is seen in this 1997 mugshot from the FBI. Cunanan murdered five men from Minneapolis to Miami, including fashion designer Gianni Versace. As investigators closed in on him, Cunanan committed suicide in 1997.
Andrew Cunanan is seen in this 1997 mugshot from the FBI. Cunanan murdered five men from Minneapolis to Miami, including fashion designer Gianni Versace. As investigators closed in on him, Cunanan committed suicide in 1997.

Ed Gein

Edward Gein, 51, of Plainfield, Wisc. enters Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane Nov. 23,1957, in Milwaukee. Gein admitted to slaying two women and dismembering their bodies as well as robbing graves. Gein flayed the bodies and used human skin and other body parts to decorate furniture and clothing in his decrepit farmhouse. His twisted tale was the inspiration for murders in movies like Buffalo Bill from "The Silence of the Lambs."

Gary Ridgway

Gary Ridgeway slew 48 women in the Seattle area from 1982 to 1998. He was known as the Green River Killer, because his first five victims were found near the waterway. The case was one of the longest unsolved murder mysteries in the country, not to mention one of the bloodiest. Ridgeway pleaded guilty in 2003 and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Albert Fish

Albert Fish was a child rapist and cannibal who confessed to torturing hundreds of children, beginning in 1880 in New York. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1935, however, for the murder of a single girl, 10-year-old Grace Budd.&nbsp;During the trial, Fish said he heard voices in his head that told him to attack children.<br /><br /><i>CORRECTION: A previous version of this slide incorrectly stated that Budd&nbsp;was the daughter of Fish's employee.</i>

Coral Eugene Watts

Early on his life, Coral Eugene Watts was identified by psychiatrists as a dangerous and violent individual. He lived up to those warnings as the so-called Sunday Morning Slasher and confessed to killing 80 women in Michigan, Texas and Canada in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He strangled, drowned, stabbed and beat his victims. He died in 2007 in prison from prostate cancer while serving a life sentence for two of the Michigan murders.

Richard Angelo

Richard Angelo, a nurse at Good Samaritan Hospital in New York, killed 25 patients in a bungled plan to turn himself into a hero. Angelo injected patients with a cocktail of dangerous drugs with the plan of restoring them to life and burnishing his reputation as a life-saving medical professional. Only 12 patients survived the "Angel of Death."
Richard Angelo, a nurse at Good Samaritan Hospital in New York, killed 25 patients in a bungled plan to turn himself into a hero. Angelo injected patients with a cocktail of dangerous drugs with the plan of restoring them to life and burnishing his reputation as a life-saving medical professional. Only 12 patients survived the "Angel of Death."

Joseph Naso

This is an undated booking photo released by the Washoe County Sheriff's office showing Joseph Naso. Authorities in California and Nevada plan to release more information about Naso, the 77-year-old man accused in four homicides spanning two decades. Naso, of Reno, Nev., was booked late Monday, April 11, 2011, on suspicion of the killings in 1977, 1978, 1993 and 1994.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.