Stolen Future - The Murder of Makayla Rhiner

Episode 17 - Makayla Rhiner

When you think of domestic violence homicides (if you do), you might think it affects married couples and couples in long-term relationships. Maybe they’re dating or living together and like the frog in the pot have slowly arrived in a horrible situation.

That isn't always the case. Makayla Rhiner was only 21 years old when she was confronted and murdered by someone she had dated for only 3 months. Like many of these cases, the murderer felt he was owed more, and it led him to murder.

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[Shaun] 

Hi and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, where we focus on cases that deal with domestic violence. I’m your host, Shaun, and with me as always, is the one and only John.

[John] 

I am the only John in the room.

[Shaun] 

Makayla Rhiner was born in Kansas on May 8th, 1996 to Jeff Rhiner and Lynn Pingol. She has one younger brother named Keegan. We’ve learned she was very close with her mom and brother, and there are dozens of photos of them all together just living life, having adventures,  and enjoying each other’s company. We’ll include a link to some of those great photos in the show notes.

[John] 

Some of the things she loved included dancing to country music, Winnie the Pooh, Paris (where she hoped to travel one day), and her mom’s banana chocolate chip muffins, which she would also share with her friends because that was the type of person she was. 

She was also a dog lover and she had two dogs of her own, named Pixie and Marble. 

There are photos of her with them on her memorial Facebook page which we’ll share. She talked about opening a giant dog sanctuary where she would adopt “all the dogs in the world” which I know the two of us can relate to, and probably a lot of you listening can as well.

If that didn't pan out, she also had dreams of a business career which led her to the College of Southern Nevada where she studied Business Administration. She had hoped to go into construction management following in her mother’s footsteps.

[Shaun] 

Makayla was a smart, funny, ambitious young woman who people described as “a ball of positive energy” with a take-charge personality. She was intelligent, focused, and determined to succeed in both school and work. 

As the oldest child, and I can relate to this, she was constantly looking out for her little brother who as we said she was very close with. He said she was the best friend a brother could have.

At Makayla’s memorial service, her godfather Paul Meadows beautifully described her in three words: grace, spunk, and style. He said “Makayla was full of life. She was a ball of energy and chose to see the good in everything. In her short 21 years, she lived a lifetime”

He went on to say that she “saw the good in everybody. We say that about so many people, but she gave people a chance who didn't deserve a chance”

In April 2016, Makayla got a job at Mass Mutual as an Agency Technology Specialist and Agency (Licensing and Contracting) Coordinator. Her mother Lynn is an entrepreneur who started a successful consulting company called “MaKee Company” (https://www.makeecompany.com/) which helps minority businesses to effectively compete for government contracts. Which I think is awesome. 

Lynn has said that it was her children who pushed her into starting her own consulting company and that it was Makayla who encouraged her to patent her invention. Makayla and Lynn worked on the patent application together. 

[John] 

At her memorial, her friend Freddy Lopez had a call to action for the people listening regarding domestic violence. He said “What happened to Makayla should make everyone aware of the dangers of domestic violence. If you see something, say something. Use your eyes, use your ears. Use every one of your senses, because there are always warning signs.”

Paul, her godfather followed up on this said by saying that this was the best way to pay tribute to his goddaughter’s life. He said, “if this message or event will bring awareness or prevention to even one case, then Makayla’s life and death will have not passed in vain”

We’ll touch on the domestic violence angle in a bit, but there are indicators of abusive behavior that occurred after the couple was broken up even if there was no actual domestic violence arrest before Makayla was murdered. As always, the absence of a domestic violence arrest has no bearing on whether domestic violence is happening.

Some of these behaviors included common abuser strategies such as emotional blackmail, manipulation, stalking, and harassment of Makayla, her friends, and family before it led to murder in the summer of 2017

[Shaun]

Brandon Michael Hanson, Makayla’s ex-boyfriend was born September 23rd, 1983 in Rancho Cucamonga, California. At the time of the crime, he was 33, 12 years older than Makayla. We have not been able to locate any previous criminal history for Brandon but that isn’t to say he was free of problematic behavior, as John mentioned above.

Additionally, Hanson has claimed that he was “severely depressed”.. more on this later. 

[John] - PROMO - DELETE THIS FROM THE AD FREE VERSION

Speaking of Brandon’s depression, we speak to Kenna from Diagnosing a Killer in our bonus content this week. Here she and her sister are to tell us about their Podcast which you should all go check out and subscribe to!

(PROMO)

[John] 

Makayla was enrolled in the business administration program at the College of Southern Nevada, and so was Hanson. They met there, in a pottery class and at some point started dating briefly in early 2017.

According to court documents their “relationship” lasted 6 months, but it seems clear that was the total time they knew each other. Most other sources we have found indicate that they might have known each other that long but only dated for less than 3 months.

In June 2017, Brandon went on vacation to Japan, and during the trip, Makayla made the decision to end the relationship. In the pre-trial motions, the state asserted that Hanson believed that Makayla had cheated on him while he was away in Japan, and he told his friends and family this.

[Shaun]

It turns out that this was apparently projection on Brandon’s part because the state also alleged that it was in fact Hanson who was guilty of cheating on Makayla while he was traveling. 

He had allegedly felt bad about cheating on her, claiming that it was a one-time thing and that it was fueled by drinking.

This appears to be contradicted by evidence including text messages from Hansen to the woman he had cheated with. We won't be bringing her name into this as it isn't important to the case, but in the messages, it was clear that he planned to meet up with her ahead of time, and there were also messages after the encounter in which they planned to meet up again. 

This whole situation and Brandon’s constant excuses, with him claiming heartbreak over the break up with Makayla seemed to conveniently position him as the victim in the relationship. 

There is evidence that at some point he texted a friend of his to say he shouldn’t leave the house because he was having QUOTE “murderous” thoughts.

[John] 

Unfortunately, Brandon was far from done. His next move was to attempt some classic emotional blackmail tactics, such as telling Makayla that he had cancer (which he didn't), and even threatening suicide in a call that took place on July 4th.

Makayla’s new boyfriend Moises recalled that Makayla, being the caring person she was, spent 30 minutes on the phone with Brandon trying to talk him out of ending his own life and urging him to get professional help. 

Just a quick note here that if you or anyone you know are having thoughts of self-harm, there are resources available such as the national suicide prevention hotline which you can reach by dialing 988

The following events that happened in July come from court document accounts.

In mid-July, Makayla and Moises took a trip to California, leaving Makayla’s Hyundai Elantra in her assigned garage space. Previously there had been issues with the car’s very sensitive alarm going off and causing friction with Makayla’s neighbors. 

To avoid that, she left the car’s trunk ajar, according to Moises's testimony. She knew if the trunk was ajar, the alarm wouldn't be armed while they were gone, disturbing the neighbors.

When they returned from the trip Makayla’s mother Lynn’s car had been vandalized, with two tires on one side having been slashed. There was a note on the car that made it seem as if it was written by the neighbor reading “fuck yo alarm. Love, your neighbor”

A week later, Moises’ car was vandalized, causing over $11,000 in damage. 

During a later interview with police, Brandon admitted to vandalizing the cars. He told police he had learned which car belonged to Moises by following a social media link in the car’s back window. 

[Shaun]

Brandon admitted that he had become increasingly upset over this time period after learning on social media that the two planned a trip together. They planned another trip to Cancun, which was the trigger for Brandon to want to confront Makayla about why she was dating someone else. 

[John]

It’s clear in retrospect that Brandon’s behavior was escalating and getting more and more untethered from reality. These could be seen as signs of potential violent actions, or at least that they could potentially escalate to violence.

Paul, Makayla’s godfather spoke to News Channel 3 here in Las Vegas and made this point explicitly, expressing that he and other family members felt as if they could have done more. Of course, they aren't at fault, but it's natural to second guess in a situation like this. 

This is another example of the collateral damage caused by a tragedy like this. Those left behind carry the pain of their lost loved one, and it serves as a good reminder that when you see behavior like this, you should speak up and act. It's important to know the signs of this type of escalating behavior and abusive patterns.

[Shaun]

On August 3, 2017, Moises was planning to hang out with Makayla after work, so he drove to her apartment. She wasn’t home and she didn’t answer her phone. Her brother was home, and he told Moises he hadn’t seen Makayla since the afternoon. They tried to call her a few more times, but then they left to run an errand. 

They drove by Makayla’s work, but her car wasn’t in the parking lot. By this time it was around 7:30 pm, so they returned to the apartment complex and drove by Makayla’s garage. 

The garage was open, and they saw Makayla lying on the ground behind her car. By this time, a neighbor was standing at the garage, calling the police.

Makayla had been murdered. 

The scene at the garage had to have been devastating to Moises and her beloved younger brother. In court documents, the prosecution described her as “Lying in a pool of blood.” 

[John]

When the police arrived, they determined that Makayla may have been attacked from behind as she was trying to get to her car. Her cause of death was multiple stab and incised wounds. 

An incised wound is a cut that is typically longer than it is deep and is caused by a sharp-edged object such as a knife, razor, or piece of glass. They are characterized by their clean, straight edges, and bleed profusely.

The police spoke with Moises, Keegan, and Makayla’s other family members and they, of course, told the police how Hanson had been vandalizing cars and harassing Makayla. 

As you might expect, Brandon Hanson immediately became their prime suspect. 

Hanson voluntarily gave an interview to the police on August 6, but he denied having anything to do with Makayla’s murder. He suggested to the detectives that they look into Makayla’s downstairs neighbor, who had been complaining about Makayla’s car alarm going off. 

When the interview concluded, Hanson was allowed to leave. 

[Shaun]

The police were not finished, however. Before Brandon left the interview, the police informed him they were going to search his home and his cars, and while the police were searching the car that was parked at Brandon’s father’s house, Brandon’s father and stepmother told the detectives that Hanson wanted to speak with officers again.

While sitting inside an unmarked police vehicle parked in front of his dad’s house, Brandon told the officers that he had been severely depressed since Makayla broke up with him. He said that he had sought help from a physician and that he had kept in touch with Makayla since the breakup, and she was aware of how upset he was. 

Brandon Hanson then confessed to killing Makayla, and he provided the police with extensive details about what had happened.

[John]

He told police that he had driven to Makayla’s apartment, but he didn’t have his phone with him because it had no battery power, so he had left it behind to charge. 

He parked his car outside of Makayla’s apartment complex and squeezed through the metal gate to access the complex carrying his backpack, which contained a KA-BAR hunting knife.

Makayla wasn't home, so he waited for her. When she arrived, he watched her go into her garage. 

While she was getting out of the car, he walked up to her and demanded an explanation about their break up. He wanted to know why she had broken up with him and expressed that he was “owed” an explanation.

According to Brandon, she didn’t give him any explanation but simply said she didn’t want to talk to him anymore.

He then pulled the knife out of his backpack and continued to demand she explain herself, as he held her at knife point. 

She wasn’t able to provide a response that would satisfy him, so he stabbed her three times in the neck.

Makayla fell to the ground and kicked at him to get him away from her. She also was begging him to call for help. 

Brandon has said he couldn’t find her phone to call for help before she died. He took her phone and her purse and ran to his car. He then changed out of his bloodied shoes into different shoes he had conveniently tucked inside his car. 

During the search of the house, the police found a notebook in Brandon’s room containing what the prosecution called several “practice notes” containing the phrase “fuck yo alarm. Love, your neighbor”  They also found a suicide note that listed Makayla as the reason. 

[Shaun]

Hanson was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on one count of murder. He was also charged with burglary with a deadly weapon, robbery with the use of a deadly weapon, and two counts of breaking, injuring, or tampering with a motor vehicle. He pleaded not guilty and was held without bail.

The trial began on June 8, 2018. Brandon Hanson’s attorney was K. Ryan Helmick, who is – infamous? – here in Las Vegas. Many locals may know him as the traffic ticket lawyer who had that bright pink building. Helmick was also arrested in 2013 for bringing a pistol into the courthouse. 

He is considered one of the top defense attorneys in town, he’s currently representing Robert Telles in his murder case for the murder of Review-Journal reporter Jeff German. 

[John]

The Telles case is wild, but it's a story for another day.

Part of Brandon’s defense was that Makayla’s murder wasn’t premeditated. They asserted that Brandon had depression and therefore couldn’t have planned or premeditated the crime. 

They also claimed that since he was taking Zoloft for his depression, it was the meds that had made him do it. 

Helmick brought many pretrial motions attempting to get evidence suppressed or excluded, including the interview Hanson gave to the police, which was denied. 

One of the key pieces of evidence the prosecution and defense were at odds about concerned Brandon’s behavior while he was on that trip to Japan. According to text messages and other evidence, Brandon had met up with a woman while in Japan, and the two of them had slept together. The defense argued that bringing this up at trial would be too prejudicial against Brandon and that it wasn’t relevant to the murder case.

[Shaun]

The prosecution disagreed. They stressed this isn’t a “prior bad act” which would mean it should potentially be excluded. It was a consensual sexual encounter between two adults, and the prosecution wasn’t trying to use that evidence just to make the defendant look bad or to shame him with this evidence. 

Why this evidence was important, according to the prosecution, was that it showed what was going on in Brandon’s mind. Brandon had told his friends, his family members, and the detectives that he was distraught over his breakup with Makayla, that he was devastated to find out she had cheated on him while he was in Japan, and that this had sent him into a deep depression. 

His expert witness, Dr. Norman Roitman, gave an opinion about Brandon’s mental state that was in part influenced by Brandon telling him this story about Makayla cheating on him. Brandon had told Dr. Roitman that sleeping with the other woman was a one-time mistake due to drinking and the intense guilt he felt over that mistake contributed heavily to his depression. 

But, before he even KNEW that Makayla had met someone new – He had texts on his phone that showed he was already involved with someone else. He also had texted her AFTER they had sex to plan another meet-up, showing that it wasn’t a one-time mistake.  Despite all of this, Brandon had continued to play the victim in their relationship and now he attempted to play the victim in the courtroom. 

[John]

The court saw through these arguments, given the facts. It’s no secret who the victim was in this case, and the court recognized that. 

The key here was that the evidence about the encounter in Japan wasn’t being used to shame Brandon for his sexual history. Rather, it was being used to make the point that it was absurd that he was so broken up that Makayla had started a new relationship when he had already done the same thing. 

It simply didn't pass the smell test.

[Shaun]

On June 15, after deliberating for approximately six hours, the jury unanimously found Brandon Hanson guilty of all the charges: 1st-degree murder, burglary with a deadly weapon, robbery with use of a deadly weapon, and two counts of breaking, injuring or tampering with a motor vehicle. 

During the sentencing hearing - Makayla’s mom Lynn spoke saying  “I delighted in watching her grow up and most of all in the woman she became. I cry because I know that Makayla won’t fulfill her dreams, or achieve the goals she set for herself, and I cry because of what I won’t have with Makayla. Your honor, I’m not going to have everything I hoped and wished for my only daughter. “

[John]

Hanson was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole. His first parole hearing could be held as soon as 2034.

In 2020, Brandon Hanson filed an Appeal to the Court of Appeals for Nevada. 

Hanson’s appeal challenged only his first-degree murder conviction. He and his attorney argued that there was insufficient evidence to prove that he “premeditated and deliberated” prior to murdering Makayla.

The Court stated that to prove premeditation or what was going on in a defendant’s mind, it is permissible to use both direct and circumstantial evidence. 

The Court cited prior case law and wrote that “Circumstantial evidence is particularly relevant when determining premeditation and deliberation because there rarely is direct evidence of those elements.”

At this point, I think we should pause and talk a bit about circumstantial versus direct evidence. I think that because of all the courtroom dramas we’ve all seen, sometimes people think that “circumstantial” means “weak” evidence but that simply isn't accurate. Circumstantial evidence is just INDIRECT evidence that someone committed a crime. 

[Shaun]

Yes, that’s right and I wanted to look up some examples of this to help explain it better. 

Direct evidence is where there is a piece of evidence where you don’t need to make any logical jumps or inferences to reach a conclusion. That could be physical evidence like surveillance video a witness’s testimony or a defendant’s confession. 

Circumstantial evidence is where you have to draw your own conclusion, or where there might be another explanation for something.

Example - direct evidence would be a store clerk seeing someone take a candy bar off a store shelf, stick it in their pocket, and walk out of the store with it. 

Circumstantial evidence would be that the police stop someone outside of the store, and they have a candy bar in their pocket. 

I found this post online from a law school professor named Alice Baker - and we put a link to it in our show notes. 

These would be examples of circumstantial evidence that the defendant robbed a bank - 

The defendant’s fingerprints were all over the inside of the bank vault. From the fact that the defendant’s fingerprints are in the vault, we infer that the defendant was physically there at some point in time.

[John]

Yes, that’s not direct evidence because no one saw him in the vault stealing the money, maybe he was just there to make a repair. There’s another possible explanation for his fingerprints being in the vault, and we have to make an inference to conclude he’s the one who robbed the bank. 

[Shaun]

Here’s another one – The fact that the defendant was covered with dye from the bank’s bait pack at the time of his arrest. From the fact that the defendant was covered with bait-pack dye, we infer that he was holding the bait pack at the time it exploded.

Or another piece of circumstantial evidence would be surveillance video from a mini-mart half a block from the bank, taken two minutes after the robbery, showing the defendant running down the street covered with dye from the bank’s bait pack. From the fact that the defendant was located half a block from the bank immediately after the robbery, covered with bait-pack dye, we infer that he robbed a bank located close to the mini-mart.

As you can see from these examples, there’s nothing wrong with circumstantial evidence and this evidence isn’t necessarily weaker.

While direct evidence can be more straightforward in proving a fact, circumstantial evidence can be equally compelling, especially when you connect the dots – when multiple pieces point toward the same conclusion. 

In a case - both types of evidence are valuable. And when it comes to drawing a conclusion based on the defendant’s state of mind, the Nevada Court of Appeals said, you need to rely on circumstantial evidence because it’s not often you have direct evidence. 

[John]

Another thing that is important to keep in mind is that direct evidence isn't always conclusive. Eyewitness testimony can be unreliable as well with variations due to time of day, level of vision, distance from the crime, and so on.

In their opinion, the Court of Appeals determined a reasonable jury would have found that Hanson committed the crime with premeditation and deliberation based on both the direct and circumstantial evidence. 

• He damaged the cars leading up to the crime
• He had texted his friend that he was having murderous thoughts. 
• He left his phone at home on the day of the crime, even though he had a charger in the car; likely so his location wouldn’t be traced
• He didn’t park in the guest parking lot, he parked further away and snuck in through the gate
• He brought his backpack with him, which had the knife in it
• And he continued to stab her after she fought him physically 

After he killed her, he got rid of the knife, his bloody shoes, and her purse and cell phone. 

In his car, and had a fresh clean pair of shoes to put on, which demonstrates he had a plan.

Hanson’s expert testified Hanson was suffering from clinical depression at the time of the attack, but the expert also testified that people suffering from clinical depression could still make plans.

In our Swing Shift bonus episode, we dig much more into this topic with Kenna from Diagnosing a Killer. 

It is a fascinating interview, so if you’re interested, head over to sinspod.co/apple to subscribe to our premium tier and give that a listen! 

Also, when you’re done listening check out Diagnosing a Killer on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts!

We’ll play a snippet of that interview now

(SNIPPET OF INTERVIEW)

[Shaun]

The Appeal was denied. Brandon Hanson is in Lovelock Correctional Center and is eligible for parole in about 10 years. 

Makayla’s mother, Lynn has stated in more recent articles about her business that she was struggling after Makayla’s murder and “at the bottom of a pit” - she has moved to Minneapolis and was able to finally obtain the patent for her work and her business is doing very well – with the help of her son, and due in part to the encouragement and hard work of Makayla.

There are hundreds of photos and testimonials out there about Makayla. I thought I would share one that I found on her memorial page:

“Makayla was our babysitter for the last 3 years. I have never met a sweeter, nicer, more charming, responsible, loving, person in my life. She treated our kids like they were her own, and we all love her very much. Words can't express how sad we are about this tragedy. Makayla and her entire family are in our prayers every day. We love you so much, Makayla, and will miss you more than you could ever imagine. You truly had a huge impact on our family and we will never ever forget you.”

[John]

If and when there are developments in this case with Brandon’s parole, we’ll let you know. 

Please remember to check out the Swing Shift bonus episode. We think you'll find it really interesting.

It's also so important to remember that in a case like this, there are fact patterns that play out over and over, and as we often remind you, these stories are happening all over the world. 

It’s important to keep these patterns in mind with your friends, and with your loved ones, and don't be afraid to reach out to them and check in to make sure they’re safe. 

If you are in a situation like this, also look for signs of escalating violence and get the help you need to be safe. No one thinks this is going to happen to them until it does.

[Shaun]

As Paul said, if the tragedy of Makayla losing her life to this violent domestic homicide raises awareness and prevents one other promising young woman from dying at least some small good can come from this tragedy.

Thanks again for listening, and always remember…. What happens here, happens everywhere.