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Brittany Lee Cole, 37, pleaded guilty in Muskingum County to murder and gross abuse of a corpse after giving her bedridden father-in-law Tylenol No. 3 and ZzzQuil at their Zanesville, Ohio, home, and was sentenced on February 26, 2025, to life in prison with parole eligibility after 16 years. Murder was an unclassified felony and gross abuse of a corpse was a fifth-degree felony, with the corpse abuse term running consecutively.

David Cole Sr., 80, lived on Somers Street with his son, David Ralph Cole Jr., 44, and Brittany Cole, his son's wife. Cole Sr. depended on the household for care, and Brittany Cole, a nursing student, looked after him day to day. His Social Security benefits, about $2,300 a month, went into an account managed by his son. Accounts of the case said Cole Sr. had been depressed, had talked of suicide and had said he wanted to be with his late wife. Cameras recorded common areas of the house, including the living room and kitchen.

On December 24, 2024, Brittany Cole gave Cole Sr. Tylenol No. 3, a combination of acetaminophen and codeine, with the sleep aid ZzzQuil. About 90 minutes later, after he said he was in pain, she gave him a second dose of both. Prosecutors said she administered the combination knowing it would kill him. He was dead on the morning of December 25, 2024.

Brittany Cole did not call 911. She searched online for how long it takes a body to begin to smell after death, told relatives Cole Sr. had gone to a nursing home, and left with her husband and their child on December 26 for a week's vacation in Orlando, Florida. His body remained in his bedroom. On January 8, 2025, Cole Jr. found the decomposing body. Camera footage captured the discovery and his call to his wife, who answered "at least three days" when he asked how long his father had been dead. Neither called authorities. They ordered a plastic mattress cover, wrapped the body in a tarp, rope and the mattress bag, and carried it to a backyard shed. Cole Jr. texted his wife that the smell was too strong and spraying was not helping. The couple continued receiving and spending the Social Security payments for 48 days after the death.

On the evening of February 10, 2025, Zanesville police responded to a report of a dead body in a shed on Somers Street. They found Cole Sr.'s remains in an advanced state of decomposition, wrapped in a tarp and plastic mattress cover. Investigators recovered the January 8 camera footage and the couple's text messages about the smell and moving the body. During her interview with Zanesville Police Department detectives, including Detective Bryan Ruff, Brittany Cole said she had awakened to find her father-in-law dead and denied harming him. Detectives told her the living room and kitchen cameras had recorded everything in the house. On February 13, 2025, she admitted giving him Tylenol No. 3 and ZzzQuil. She and her husband were arrested and indicted on February 20, 2025. Investigators identified financial gain, through the continued Social Security payments, as the motive for concealing the death.

David Cole Jr. pleaded guilty on April 16, 2025, to five counts: tampering with evidence, possessing criminal tools, gross abuse of a corpse, obstructing justice and endangering children. Judge Gerald Anderson sentenced him on May 28, 2025, to nine years in prison, with the terms running consecutively. No appeal by either defendant has been reported.

The video is a police interview-room recording that runs about 101 minutes. It presents the interview itself and opens with a short narrated introduction naming the people involved.

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Part 2 of 2 of the recording described above.