Hey y’all, it’s Julie Mattson, and in this episode of Pushing Up Lilies, we’re diving into a heartbreaking case of love, betrayal, and murder. This is the story of Brandon and Rachel Dumovich, a couple who seemed to have it all, until their picture-perfect life took a deadly turn. What happens when the vows “till death do us part” become a grim reality? I’m walking you through the investigation, the shocking motive, and how one tragic decision shattered multiple lives. This case left an entire community stunned, and serves as a reminder that sometimes the greatest danger can lie within our own homes. Join me as we uncover the truth behind the Dumovich story, piece by chilling piece. * Listener discretion is advised.
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00:06
Welcome to Pushing Up Lilies. I'm your host, Julie Mattson. Pushing Up Lilies is a weekly true crime podcast with spine tingling, unusual and terrifyingly true stories from my perspective as a forensic death investigator and a sexual assault nurse examiner.
00:24
Do I have some stories for you? Are you ready? Hi, y'all. We're back for another week of Pushing Up Lilies and I can't tell you again how well our first annual murder mystery dinner party went. We had around 35 people, I believe, actually show up.
00:48
The food was amazing. The waitstaff was amazing. I was greeted with the staff there and the management. They helped me set up and it was really, really fun. The murder mystery code that I hired to do the actual play was amazing.
01:07
It was a little more interactive than I thought it would be, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun everyone had. There was not one complaint. Everyone said they wanted to come back next year.
01:19
I've already secured a venue for next year and it actually holds 100 people. So, start thinking it'll be in October again, probably around Halloween. It's going to have a different theme every year. So, I'm already excited.
01:35
I'm already kind of in my head planning next year's event. We had a lot of giveaways and thank you again to those who came and showed me support. We had a great raffle, and a lot of people won some wonderful prizes.
01:52
It was just so much fun. I wanted to follow up a little bit on a case that I covered several weeks ago. ago, the one about the schoolteacher, Ellen Greenberg. Ellen's story, and I know that a lot of y'all have been following it, she was the young lady found in her locked apartment in January of 2011.
02:14
She had 20 stab wounds to her back, neck, and head. The knife was actually still lodged in her chest when her fiance, Samuel Goldberg, forced the door open and discovered her body. Now, initially, if y'all remember, Ellen's death was ruled a homicide.
02:34
Seemed pretty obvious, that many stab wounds. But not long after, the ruling was changed to suicide. This is because investigators claim there were no signs of forced entry. There were no defensive wounds and no DNA from her fiancé on the knife.
02:56
But for years, Ellen's parents, Josh and Sandy Greenberg, have fought to challenge the conclusion. They've raised questions about the evidence. Number one, the number and location of the wounds, the bruises, remember, and different stages on her body, the fact that the surveillance footage was missing, and even the 3D reconstruction that experts did say that self-infliction was impossible.
03:27
Their persistence paid off earlier this year when a settlement with the city of Philadelphia required that the police review the case again. And many hoped that that would bring clarity or even justice to Ellen.
03:41
But this week, the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office announced that once again Ellen's death is being rolled a suicide. The new report actually acknowledges that the injuries are unusual, but it does insist that Ellen could have inflicted them herself.
03:59
They actually cited her history of anxiety and the lack of DNA evidence linking anybody else to the crime. So, her family's attorney called the review deeply flawed, and Ellen's parents say that they're heartbroken, but they're not surprised, but guess what?
04:18
They're not done fighting, and that's what you do for your kids. For those who followed her story since the beginning, this latest ruling kind of feels like Deja vu. The case is closed, but it's not really resolved.
04:33
It's funny because I actually got a lot of messages, private messages, mostly on Facebook about this case, people who saw that it was changed back to suicide and who were just like floored. But floored by the fact that they think that this could be a suicide when you stab yourself 20 times.
04:52
And again, I've had someone shoot themself twice, but they... grazed themself the first time. These injuries were significant. I mean, there's a lot of things that go into play when the pathologists are trying to determine the cause and manner of death.
05:08
And I would actually like to try to get one of our pathologists in Tarrant County on the podcast to discuss this case, to see what their thoughts are, just to hear it from their viewpoint. Because 20 times, I don't see with the extent of these injuries and the depth of these injuries, how that's possible.
05:29
I mean, I'm surprised by things every day, but it kind of blows me away. I will say that this story of Brandon and Rachel Dumovich has really got me a little perplexed. I'm not quite sure why they are not actually releasing the manner of death.
05:56
But let's talk a little bit about this story. So, love stories begin with a spark and a laugh and a moment or a memory that stays with us forever. But sometimes those same stories end in ways that nobody could ever imagine.
06:10
And this is one. I've also gotten private messages about this case. I mentioned on Facebook that I was going to cover it on the podcast. I commented on another post about the story. And I started getting messages.
06:24
Leave them alone. Let them rest in peace. My goal is just to educate and to get rid of speculation. I mean, there's always going to be speculators. There's always going to be people who think they know exactly how the story went down.
06:40
And I try to just offer the facts and not place blame. And part of my job, and I've been writing my book, and I focused a lot on this in the chapter that I wrote yesterday. But part of my job is to remain unbiased.
06:57
I do not go in with an opinion covering this story. I'm not blaming one person or the other. I am not accusing him of abusing her or accusing her of abusing him. I am simply telling the facts. And this is the latest facts.
07:16
And I try to keep up to date just to keep you all a little bit educated on the story because we're all interested. I mean, it's in the news. It's a story that we're all, I mean, we hate it. We hate that this stuff happens.
07:29
We don't like to read this. But the reality is that it does happen every day all over the world. And there's nothing we can do to stop it. But this case left this quiet Wisconsin community heartbroken and totally confused because this young couple, high school sweethearts turned newlyweds found dead inside their car in Illinois just six days.
07:56
before their first wedding anniversary. Police are considering this a possible murder-suicide. The circumstances raise more questions than answers. And maybe that's why they haven't actually made a ruling on the cause.
08:09
But today we're going to explore this love story that began in middle school and ended far too soon. Now Rachel and Brandon's story reads like something straight out of a movie. They met at 12 years old in middle school, that awkward innocent time when crushes bloom before either person even knows what love means.
08:32
I can remember those days; we used to play Kiss and Catch or something. I recessed; I was gonna say on the playground. I was gonna say in the parking lot, but then I was like, no, we were on the playground.
08:42
I can just remember that in second grade, I dreaded recess, y'all. Because I knew that those stupid boys in my class were gonna be chasing me around and try to kiss me and I did not wanna kiss anybody.
08:54
I mean, boys have cooties, and I don't want to kiss anybody and so it's almost like I wanted to pretend to be sick so I didn't have to go to recess. Recess was my least favorite subject because I spent the entire freaking 30 minutes running from boys.
09:10
But anyway, according to the wedding website The Knot, Rachel first caught Brandon's attention in a little bit of a mischievous way. She stole cologne from his locker and then ran away with it. That little moment being playful, youthful, and spontaneous sparked a connection that lasted for over 15 years.
09:29
Now they stayed in touch through many stages of life, college, new jobs, relationships, that kind of on and off connection that never quite fades even when life moves on. Then in 2022 they reconnected and this time it stuck and so by 2023 Brandon proposed at Big Cedar Lake in Slinger, Wisconsin, a little scenic spot that locals know for its calm water and glowing sunsets.
10:00
So, their friends described him as inseparable, and I think that's why this has been so difficult for everybody to wrap their heads around. Rachel was bright, compassionate, very career driven. She worked in human resources and she made the Dean's List every semester at the University of Wisconsin and then Brandon was funny and kind and was known for his big personality and his mom even said from the moment he entered her life that he bought a measurable joy laughter and love.
10:34
They just sound like an amazing couple and even the people who have reached out to me about this story are friends with them or were friends with On October 12, 2024 surrounded by their loved ones and they got married and their wedding photos were romantic and full of color and they captured everything people love about young marriage.
10:58
The hope, the excitement, the feeling that life is just beginning, but not even one year later that promise would end in the most tragic way imaginable. So, it was October 6, 2025, Harvard, Illinois, just across that Wisconsin border, around 11.52 p.m., Harvard police officers noticed a car parked on North Division Street and the hazard lights were flashing.
11:27
It was dark, obviously, 11.52 p.m. at night. Now to them, it seemed like just somebody was having car trouble. Somebody might have pulled over after they hit a pothole, or they might be low on gas or run out of gas.
11:42
But when police approached the vehicle, what they found inside was very different. Rachel and Brandon were both slumped in their seats, dead, each with a single gunshot wound. And there was a firearm in the car.
11:59
We feel pretty sure at this point, it's a murder suicide. But again, the manner, which would be homicide, suicide, has not been ruled. They were each shot in the head, but we don't know who shot who.
12:17
And there's a lot that goes into that, but we'll talk about that here in a minute. Within minutes, this street became a crime scene. Yellow tape, squad cars, residents were told to shelter in place because they didn't know if a killer might be on the loose.
12:34
But soon after, police announced that there was no ongoing threat. And that's probably when they found the weapon and decided, hey, somebody shot somebody within the car, there is not somebody on the loose.
12:46
The car appeared undisturbed. There were no signs of a struggle, no broken glass, no evidence of forced entry. It looked like the couple had simply parked and just stopped. By dawn, the area was reopened to traffic.
13:02
I know that always stresses me out when I'm working an accident or a vehicle that's on a roadway, the pressure of getting the roadway cleared quickly always kind of gets to me. There's always rubber knickers.
13:16
There's people driving slow, you know, who want to look and want to see blood and want to speculate about what happened. And I've even had rubber knickers, you know, rear end each other because they're not paying attention.
13:28
They're looking at us and trying to see something and hit the car in front of them because they're not looking at the road or they're taking photos. One of the hardest things about working death investigation is that people's last moments often live online and in Rachel's case, just hours before her death, she updated her Facebook profile picture to a sweet smiling selfie of her and Brandon.
13:56
Then three minutes later she posted again a photo from a trip to Greece that they went on together And it said forever chasing sunsets wishing we were back in Greece Underneath that you know the comments began to pour in you know keep chasing sunsets never stop smiling and then rest in peace people were confused and a little bit desperate for answers because Rachel didn't seem like someone preparing to end her life or anyone else's In her photo.
14:28
She looked radiant, joyful newly married. She had plans She was celebrating an anniversary But as investigators would later reveal again both victims suffered single gunshot wounds and One gun was found at the scene Now again police haven't confirmed who pulled the trigger, but they did say the weapon was in the killer's hand We don't know we don't know whose hand that is yet to be revealed to us.
14:58
Harvard Police Chief Tyson Bauman said that the case appears to be murder suicide, though the final determination is still pending. As a forensic investigator, I can tell you that determining the cause and manner of death is never really simple.
15:16
I mean the cause, yeah, but the manner is sometimes difficult. When police find a gun in the car and no signs of struggle, they often lean towards murder suicide theory. But there's a lot to it, the key lies in ballistics, gunshot residue, trajectory, and some of the findings in autopsy.
15:38
It's just kind of a weird story, but I went on a homicide yesterday. And to determine trajectory, many times when the bullet hole is in the wall, they will put kind of like a dowel rod, I guess would be the best way to explain it into the hole to try to determine maybe how the bullet entered, at what angle to try to determine where the person was standing and all kinds of things.
16:06
Anyway, there's this dowel rod that looks like an arrow on a bow and arrow, sticking out of the wall. And I can't tell you how many times yesterday the police watched that rod, watched that rod. I seriously came really close to ending up with that thing in my head.
16:23
I was standing next to it and I probably was starting to lean backwards. But they kept telling me to watch that rod cuz they were afraid I was gonna hit it or end up with it in the back of my head cuz I wasn't paying attention.
16:36
But anyway, they're trying to determine which wound was self-inflicted. Was there any evidence of defensive posturing? What were the positions of the body? Rachel was in the driver's seat. So, who owned the gun?
16:52
Whose hand was the gun, and we don't know that yet. None of this information has been released publicly. There's always a question of location too. In a small town, it's residential, it's quiet, 30 minutes from where they lived in Crystal Lake, there were no reports of gunfire.
17:11
No 911 calls, no witnesses, kind of out in the middle of nowhere. And just like my case yesterday, it was in an apartment complex. One of the questions we always have is, why didn't neighbors hear a gunshot?
17:24
But you know, sometimes I've been laying in bed and I hear something and I'm like, what was that? Where'd that come from? Oh, well, I'll never figure it out. I'd go back to bed. I mean, I don't go outside and knock on all the neighbor's doors.
17:34
Y'all okay? I think I heard a gunshot. You just don't. This was in an area though where there were no witnesses. There were no cameras. We always talk about cameras. There weren't any. This discovery by the place was completely accidental.
17:48
I mean, this officer just noticed the hazard lights blinking in the dark. Was this a planned drive? Was this a fight that escalated? Was this entirely unexpected? Without the full investigative reports, we may never know, but that doesn't stop the questions or the pain.
18:07
Now, Rachel's obituary describes a woman full of energy and ambition, a devoted friend, daughter, wife, someone who loved deeply and gave very generously. And Brandon, you know, there were a lot of comments on his sense of humor and generous spirit.
18:23
So, it's impossible to reconcile those descriptions with the reality of what really happened. I mean, when families lose loved ones to violence, especially when there's a possibility of suicide with this unbearable combination of grief and confusion.
18:42
And in this case, I think it's left a lot of people really confused. There's guilt, anger, regret, and silence because people stop asking questions because they don't want to sound accusatory. And again, that's not my goal is to sound accusatory.
18:58
I'm not pointing fingers at anyone. I'm just telling you what's reported in the news. If mental health played a role, and we all know it does, understanding the warning signs could really save another couple.
19:12
If domestic tension or control was involved, it highlights how easily hidden abuse can be missed. I've been involved in hidden abuse before, and there are a lot of women who don't talk about it. It's embarrassing to let people know that you can be controlled.
19:32
And yeah, I mean, a lot of people just don't admit to it. It's not something you go, yeah, guess what? My husband's psychologically and physically abusing me. I mean, I look at people, like even at my med spa, when people come in and sit down, I look at them.
19:47
I look at their whole body. And of course, they tell me a lot of stories. And I know what a lot of them are going through. But if I see a breeze on someone, aren't, what happened? I'm sorry, I'm gonna ask if it looks like, especially if it looks like fingerprint.
20:00
I'm trained to do that. Again, not to be accusatory and not to say, you know, but sometimes it opens up that opportunity for someone to tell you what's going on. And sometimes that's all they need, speaking from someone who's been there.
20:17
If this was a planned double suicide, we also have to ask why two people who seem so happy felt so hopeless. But in cases like this, again, I'd like to consult one of our forensic pathologists. The outside world rarely matches what's happening inside a relationship.
20:37
And we comment all the time, you know, everybody's Facebook posts make them look so happy and life is perfect and life is great. Well, they're not gonna get on there and say, you know, my life sucks." Because if they do, everyone's going to reach out and start asking questions, and then they're going to have to explain, and they really don't want to.
20:57
So, I mean, we all have seen stories of couples that have been involved in murder, suicide, and their life seemed perfect, or husbands who killed their wives and their children, and vice versa, wives who killed their husbands and children.
21:12
They look happy on Facebook. There's very few people, but there are people who will come out and talk about what's truly going on behind closed doors, and what's going on in their head, and the mental health issues that they're having.
21:25
But couples present the perfect image online. Vacations, matching outfits, anniversary countdowns, and sometimes they're just privately struggling with that or some sort of conflict. But when we look at social media, we see the curated version of life, and not the cracks that form.
21:45
The post about chasing sunsets, and this is the first thing I thought, it could mean, like, goodbye. It could have been a goodbye post. I mean, when we first look at it, we think, oh, oh, you know, they're newly married.
21:55
They're going to have children. They're always going to be chasing sunsets and being happy and spending time together. But it could have also been a goodbye post. But we can't always know, and that's the haunting truth.
22:08
Rachel and Brandon were found together. Their anniversary was just six days away, and their story reminds us of how fragile love and life really are. Behind every smiling picture and every post, there's a human sometimes just trying to hold it all together.
22:26
If you know anybody who is struggling, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24-7. All you have to do is dial 988 in the U.S. So, you're never alone even if you feel like you are. And as for Rachel and Brandon, we may never know the full story of what happened.
22:47
in that car on North Division Street but we can remember who they were before this tragedy, and I think that that's the biggest takeaway. Again, you never know what's going on with somebody. You never know what's going on behind closed doors.
23:04
It may not have been planned. I mean, some people just don't think about what they do, obviously. I mean, we have young people who hang themselves and they don't really realize the finality of death.
23:16
I mean, we know that Rachel and Brandon probably did but not everybody takes the time to think through the decisions they make so we just have to always remember that but I think it's important to just remember in this case and in all similar cases who they were before tragedy struck.
23:34
They were two people who found each other after 15 years apart and they just wanted to chase sunsets together. We do see murder suicides all the time. They still again have not revealed whose hand the gun was in, so we don't know.
23:52
I'm not accusing one or the other. These are just the facts and unfortunately this happens every day. Some of the stories end up in the news and some don't. So, who knows why that's the case? I've often wondered, you know, why some cases are so big.
24:12
I think this one might be just because they were both genuinely known as good people. And those are the cases that stick out. You know, if it's a couple that has called the police multiple times for domestic violence issues and they've never gotten along and there's holes in the wall at their apartment because they're constantly fighting and throwing things.
24:36
We expect it. We're not surprised. We're not at all surprised when that happens. But in cases like this where, and again, I didn't know either one of them, but genuinely seemed like amazing people who were very, very loved and had many, many friends.
24:53
That's the reason that this sticks out. And I think that our biggest takeaway is going to be mental health issues and issues that go on behind the scenes that are sometimes not addressed. And again, just keep an eye out on your friends, you know, talk to them.
25:09
If something's going on in their life, give them the opportunity to discuss it with you without being judgmental. Sometimes they know what they need to do. They know they need to leave or whatever. They just don't want you to tell them.
25:24
They just want to talk it through so that it can make more sense to them. Again, speaking from someone who's been there, I can tell you that it really helps to have someone to talk to who's not judgmental and is not automatically going to tell you what you need to do and pretend that they know what's going on in your life and understand the situation.
25:47
And I'm not a counselor, nor do I play one on TV. But it does help to talk about it. That's why when I see a bruise, I'm going to ask. I'm not trying to be nosy, not trying to end your marriage. I just want to give you the opportunity to tell me a story if you have one to tell.
26:06
So anyway, curious again, waiting for the manner of death to come out and not judgmental. Things are going on in people's lives that we don't know about. You can be a nice person and not carefully think something out and make a quick decision based on your feelings that you really haven't thought through.
26:28
This can happen to anybody, you know, any couple that seems happy, any couple that's both sweet. I mean, both loved, you know, so just always remember that and reach out. We ask each other all the time, how are you doing?
26:43
And you know, I always say, I'm fine. That may not really be fun, but you don't really want to hear about how challenging school is and how messy my house is. Like, you don't want to sit there and listen to me tell you that.
26:58
So, I'm fine. But give them the opportunity, if you can, to talk and just be in ear. And sometimes, again, don't give your opinion. That may not be even what they want. They just want somebody to listen.
27:12
Anyway, I am going into the office this morning. I hope the county is good to me. Like I said, I worked a homicide yesterday, reminded me so much of the very first homicide that I ever worked. I did start writing my book.
27:25
Slowly but surely, I'm up to 4,000 words. And so, I'm a decent writer. I think I'm pretty good at English and punctuation and all those things. I won awards for editorial writing in high school and did some journalism and some writing for a couple of newspapers.
27:45
I kind of enjoy it, but it's kind of easy because the words just flow. I mean, when you have a story to tell, the words just flow. I'm enjoying it. I hope that y'all have an amazing week. Try to stay out of trouble.
27:59
Hug your loved ones and just be a good person. See you next week, y'all. Bye. Thank you so much for joining me today on Pushing Up Lilies. If you like this podcast and would like to share with others, please do me a quick favor and leave a review on Apple Podcast.
28:17
This helps to make the podcast more visible to the public. Thanks again for spending your time with me and be sure to visit me at PushingUpLilies.com for merchandise and past episodes.