Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.

8 august 2012,on that day the  sherif  of Garvin Ci9unty received a distrerssing call from the oklahoma state bureau of investigation,this call originated from a concerned resident named van emblem who had reported witnessing something deeply  unsettling.  van emblem believed ‘he had seen  the disposal of  abody and an attempt to conceal all traces of the gruesome act.

Emblem recounted  that the night prior to his call to the authorities , a friend with whom he had been  laboring  on a  ranch for four years aproched him for assistance.

when he arrived at the ranch his friend reluctantly confessed to needing  help to dispose of a body , initially  van emblem  thought  it was some  sort of macob jest

however his perception shifted  drastically  when he laid eyes on plastic buckets stained  with red  . realizing the  gravity of the situation,recognizing the weight of the buckets and the potential legal consequences of his involvement 

he initially  assisted his friend  in loading them in  a pickup  truck,however as he began to grasp the implications of becoming  un unwitting accomplice to a crime, he abruptly left the scene ,urging his friend to deal with the situation alone.

In the hours that follows van emblem  consulted a lawyer who advised him ,the only way out of this situation was to reported to the police.

failure to do so could resulting  in criminal charges as an accomplice.

The tale takes a Twist as we delve into the backstory of brandon duranborn in  1980 in San diego california

Brandon’s father  was a fervent motorcyclist and a former member of the bandidos motorcycle club

an organization the FBI regarded as a criminal entity ranking second in size only to the notorious

hells angels.

at age of 10 , brandon’s  parent’s went through a  divorce but  they remained amicable co- parents in his upbringing.

His father’s  passion for motorcycles,gradually transferred to brandon and by the time he turned 25 he had  meticulously assembled his own cherished  motorcycle.

while  frequently socilized with other bikers  brandon did not  officially belong to any motorcycle  club.

the unexpected death of  brandon’s father in april 2005

dealt a heavy blow to him . plunging him into a deep depression.in  an attempt to overcome this emotional turmoil brandon enbarked on a transformative jorney .

he mounted  his motorcycle and set out for las vegas where  he resided for approximately a year. it was during this period that he crossed paths with amber andrews a 24 year old  women hwose companionship offered solace from his troubles

their whirlwind romance blossomed  into marriage  a mere two months  after they first met.

by december 2006 amber was pregnant and she gave birth to brandon’s son, brando. 

the arrival of their  child marked a pivotal turning point in brandon’s life. 

he transitioned into a devoted father and husband, securing a high- paying  job and prioritizing  his family over his previous interests.

how ever the same could not be said for amber who seemed oblivious to the responsibilies of parenthood,continuing to embrace her freewheeling lifestyle. she remained a constant presence at biker gatherings in various parties causing strain within their young family.

arguments and even physical altercations became commonoplace inevitably leading leading to divorce .which  was filed for just  four years after their wedding.

In the end it was brandon who was granted full custody of their child, unlike amber  he possessed  the means to provide for both  himself and their son.following the finalization of their divorce i  2010 amber returned to her  hometown of meeker oklahoma, while brandon  headed back to  san diego with his son.

he found solace in loving support of his family who played a pivotal  role in helping raise his child. with time  the emotional wounds inflicted by the failed marriage gradually  began to heal and brandon  started looking forward to a brighter  future.

however  just as he was contemplating what lay ahead the past  unexpectedlyresurfaced.in  the summer of 2012 amber appeared at his  doorsteps seeking reconciliation and and a freh start in their relationship.

brandon sruggled to supress the surfacing feelings  he had for his ex-wife and convinced of her sincerity  agreed to give their love another chance.

 by september their son brando was preparing to enter kindergarden and amber proposed a trip to oklahoma to visit her parents who were eager to meet their grandson.

brandon consented and they began  making arrangements for the trip  planning to spend approximately a week in oklahoma.

 a few days before their intended return to san  diego a shocking turn of events  occured when van emblem contacted  the oklahoma state bureau of investigation, van disclosed  that his friend and employer a 30 year old man  named justin hammer from garvin county had asked him for assistance in disposing of  a body claiming it was the body of non  other than brandon duran.

Upon receivig this alarming call from van ,the local sheriff and  his  deputy  wasted no time and headed straight to hammers  ranch

additional after reaching out  to brandon’s relatives in san diego ,authorities discovered that he had been untraceable for several days.

until they could  confirmed  the validity of van’s information ,they opted to withold the details of the case from from brandon’s family . to the astonishment of the detectives, justin hammer swiftly addmitted to the murder of brandon duran  during questioning.

however a pivotal detail emerged in his confesssion, hammer claimed that he had  acted in self defense depicting duran as a menacing mtorcyckling gang member . who had threatened him.

according to justin hammer’s account  on august  7 brandon arrived at his residence on  a motorcyle forcefully  kicked the door open , entered the house and begin making  threats .

 hammer alleged that brandon´s visit was triggered by an alleged romantic connection between hammer  and amber whitch prompted brandon’s unexpected appearance.

Brandon  Duran   Justin hammer.

According to hammer’s  testimony brandon issued menacing threats demanding that he disappear from amber´s life.brandon allegedly  went further aserting that he would  enlist thehelp of the his bikers  associates to ensure hammer’s permanent disappearance and even mentioned that his family

would suffer if hammer failed to comply.

reportedly  in  response to  these  threats hammer reach for a shotgun  positioned  in a corner of the  room and discharged it  after brandon’s menacing words.

realizing that brandon had been fatally  injured , hammer became apperhensive about  potential retaliation from  bandidos mtorcycle club.

consequently ,he refrainedfrom alerting the authorities and instead chose to concel all traces of   the crime.justin moved brandon’s  lifeless  body to the bathroom where he dismembered him using a swa  ,five,five gallon  buckets  and cement.

as for hammer´s statement he was unable to load the  heavy buckets filled with cement into his pick up truck  signle-handedly ,hence he sought assistance from his friend van who assisted him to loading  the buckets into the truck but  subsewuently abandoned the scene and  reported the crime to the police.

hammers property  featured a small pond into he which he disposed of the buckets. following  the disposal of the body  ,hammer comments the arduous task of cleaning his house he incinerated the  materials used for cleaning including  gloves and racks .

hammer claimed to have given  brandon’s motorcycle to  a relatives emphasizing  that  this relative remained unaware of the bikes origin and had disassembled it for  spare parts.

upon the recovery of   allfive buckets  from the pond , law enforcement officers traveled to meeker to deliver the heartbreaking news to amber. the women was utterly  shocked upon learning  of the death of her child’s father .

She revealed that  despite the divorce they  planes to reconcile and live together once more. Amber also  mentioned a heated argument between  her and brandon the day prior.

during which she discovered her  relationship with justin. hammer.

at first glance this  narative  appeaered plausible however. a significant twist in the case  soon emerged.

forensic experts investigating hammer’s  residence began unearthing new evidence that cast out  on his account of events.

justin claimed  that brandon had kicked  the door open from the outside but  shoeprint left on the door  was consistent with  hammer’s  sneakers suggesting that it was justin who forcibly breached the door.

additionally alongside the firearms  , investigators  discovered a list of items needed for disposing of a body inside a gun safe. this indicated that the crime might not have been a spur of moment act . and hammer might have been been pre-meditating it.

furthermore besides the five buckets a doghouse filled with cement was  retrived  from the pond containing fragments  that did not fit into the buckets.

based on this accumulating evidence, justin hammer was charged with first-degree murder .

the  forensic  medical expert  faced  achallenging task ,the analysis of 25 distinct fragments of brandon  duran’s body .

the autopsy revelead that brandon had sustained for gunshot wounds to the head with  three from a pistol and  and one from the shotgun.

significantly the expert determined that the shotgun wound was the final shot inflicted ,this reaised a perplexing  contradiction with hammer’s account as he claimed to  have fired just once and from the shotgun.

this incongruity puzzled investigators  promting them to question why hammer would use a shotgun after firing a pistol  three times.

 especially  when brandon was already  deceased,  this  discrepancy  suggested the possibility  of another  individua’s involvement in the crime alonside hammer.

 the investigators  call to brandon’s  mother , cyndi to inform her about her son’s tragic demise left  her in a state of shock, once she regained her composure cyndi clarified that

brandon had never been a member of the bandidos  mtorcycle club,she explained that although brandon had inherited his father´s  passion for motorcycles  it never involved to something more than personal interest .

cyndi’s account unveiled another  intriguing  detail . brandon’s motorcycle had been ind disrepair when he departed   for oklahoma., he had  loaded it  into  the back of his pickup truck with the intention  of fixing it upn his  arrival.

furthermore cyndi revealed that her son was averese to confrontations underscoring that amber his ex-wife  was the root cause of most of his troubles.

her infidelity had cast a long shadow over  their relationship  from the very  beginning. despite the birth of their son , amber remained devoted to her previous lifestyle.

whenever brandon expressed disapproval of her behavior  it would often escalate into physical altercations

this ultimately culminated in their  divorce ,with  brandon securing full custody of their son an outcome that left amber incensed , subsequently she disappeared for  more than a year.

displaying little  interest in her son’s life, with this new found information, which included ambers romantic involvement  with justin hammer  ,the investigtors decided  to delve  deeper into brandon’s ex-wife´s background.

Amber had informed the police that brandon left on his motorcycle following  their argument. however brandon’s family had asserted that the motorcycle  was inoperable.

this raised the question ,if the motorcycle had only minor issuses, why would brandon  takr it to  oklahoma  rather than repairng  it at home.

amber had  never mentioned brandon’s intentions to fix the motorcycle furthermore she claimed to have  attended a doctor’s appointment after brandon departed  to confront hammer. 

yet the policed  could not find evidence of her prescence at any  of the city’s  medical facilities that day  undermining her alibi.

detectives subsequently uncover that  amber had  enlisted a friend to babysit her son on the day on brrandon’s death.when the friend arrived around 3.

both amber and brandon left  the house toghether in brandons  pickup truck which held the motorcycle in its back.

remakably amber left her phone at home and did not return for a span of eight hours  

however upon  her return home , neither  brandon or his  mtorcycle were found in the truck. upon examining amber’s phone records.  investigators  stumbled upon a message she received, just before leaving the house with brandon. the text sent by justin hammer read ”  the ink is ready “

investigators believe this might be a coded message indicating that  everything was prepared for dealing with brandon . 

 during  interviews with ambers’ close  friends, detective uncovered that she had no intention of reconciling with her ex-husband and consistently spoke unfavorably about him .

Her resentment toward brandon stemmed from his obtaining full custody of their son and his transformation into a responsible parent.

physical evidence further contradicted amber´s  narrative. 

forensic handwriting analys  confirmed that the note found in hammers safe  listing the items  required for body  disposal was indeed written by amber.

The police obtained  access to CCTV footage from a local  hardware store revealing that the crime had been premeditated and prepared in  advance. the footage  recorded  the day before  brandon’s death showed  hammer purchasing  backets and other  items from a list penned by amber .

however  while awaiting trial hammer maintained that he had no accomplice

and acted in self-defensehe insisted  that the items on amber’s list were meant for house repairs not body disposal 

moreover hammer’s explanation for using two different weapons and assertion that he held  the shotgun in one hand and a pistol in the other raised  eyebrows among investigators who found this claimed highly unusual .

In trial  that many had anticipated would span several  weeks  ,the jury deliberated for a mere  hour and a half before delevering their verdict  but recommended life sentence without  the possibility of parole 

In ocober 2014  justin hammer hammer was  officially sentenced to life without  the possibility  of parole. 

two months later amber was apprehended and charged  with first- degree murder in the death of her ex-husband along with charges of desecrating the remains and conspiracy to commit a felony .

Amber pleaded not guilty .with hopes of securing release on bail as she expressed her longing to be reunited  with her son . 

district  judge jeff virgin presiding over the trial  in Norman  concurred wit hthe state’s request to deny bail for amber andrews  cosidering the  gravity of the charges.

virgin stated with the nature oof the allegations this court finds that bonds should be denied at this time.

It was more than two years before the trial commenced in spring of 2017 amber entered a plea not guilty with her legal team asserting that she was not present at the crime scene.

on the other side prosecutors christy miller and  jennifer austin argued that amber andrews was the sole individual with a motive to kill brandon duran.

according to miller  amber orchestrated  the crime luring brandon to her lover’s residence.

there hammer alllegedly shot brandon three times with a pistol and amber delivered the final shot with the shotgun .

Miller informed the jury  that all witness testimonies and trial evidence pointed directly to amber’s active involvement in the crime.miller argued :

Miller continued 

they thougt they had the perfect plan: the motive as described by miller was to eliminate brandon so that amber could regain custody  of their young son .

considering amber’s eight -hour absence from home on  the day of brandon’s death, couple with the lack of corroborating  evidence for her alibi the  prosecutor  contended that amber had assisted hammer in  disposing of the body and cleaning the crime scene.

Unable to regain custody of her child through legal means she resorted to eliminating brandon. however defense attorney J mendros countered that the prosecution had presented no concret evidence of amber’s involvement in the case.asserting there’s no evidence.

Jaye  mendros argued : ” thats what  you do when you have no evidence, they smear her character”

 mendros characterized  the situation as a perfect recipe for  disaster with duran attempting to reconcile with andrews in oklahoma while hammer how had been in a relationship  with andrews  for  a year,feared losing  her  to duran.

the defense attorney presented the following arguments

Jurors   rendered  their guilty verdicts after listening over four hours of closing arguments in  A Garvin County District courtroom

They recommended a life sentence for  35 years old amber andrews.

June 12,2017

The sentencing was  scheduled for june 12,2017.on that day amber  appeared in court  seemingly in good spirits.

before the judge  delivered the verdict  defense  attorney J  Mendros made one finally statement.

“it still the defense’s position that nothing that ties  her  to this murder  mendros told the judge.there´s no evidence  that she was involved in this murder.  i would ask the judge todisregard the jury´s verdict.and reset  this case

Amber andrews was  subsequently sentenced to life in prison  wihtout possiblility of   parole for  the first-degree  murder  of brandon duran

in addition she received seven years for desecrating the remains and an additional 10 years for  conspiracy to commit  a felony.

meanwhile justin hammer is currently serving his sentence at oklahoma state penitentiary in McAlester Oklahoma.

and amber andrews remains  incarcerated at the Mabel Bassett correctional center in Mcloeod Oklahoma.

since august 7 ,2012 brando had been in the custody of  the Oklahoma departement of human services  living with a foster family 

after a  legal battle brando was alowed to returned to san diego to live  with his grandmother in january 2013.

however it took cyndi 5years before shecouls secure full custody of  brando.

after the trial , she and her relatives disclosed the truth about the verdigt  and his mother to him.