DENY THE EARLY RELEASE OF SADE KNOX, WHO WAS GRANTED A PLEA BARGAIN AFTER ORCHESTRATING THE MURDER OF BRANDYN DAYNE FOSTER AND BURYING HIS BODY UNDER HER HOUSE, SLEEPING OVER HIS CONCRETE GRAVE FOR OVER A YEAR.

We the Undersigned request that, 

the parole committee consider denial of early release for inmate Sade Knox, upon review of the circumstances leading up to, after and the brutal murder of our beloved Brandyn Dayne Foster. For reasons mentioned and further elaborated below, our community remains in mourning along with his young son, parents; Bonnie & Al Foster and their family. This petition serves as the most efficient way for friends and a family to be heard by those reviewing parole.

Sade Knox and Ashton Adams were indicted for 2nd degree Murder and Conspiracy in consortwith the murder of Brandyn Dayne Foster. District Attorney, Joe Stanzione, dismissed these charges against Knox and Adams opting for a plea bargain to a single charge: Criminal Facilitation - where they can be released in as little as 5 years. This plea deal does not even sentence Sade to the minimum for the 3 crimes to which she had plead guilty. Now she is up for early parole and we are outraged, frightened and sickened by the lack of human empathy and brutality that would allow someone we once considered family to concoct such a brutal murder and the concealing of Brandyn’s body. 

The plea bargain leading to the charges she received were in themselves a miscarriage of justice. We the undersigned feel that to deny early release to Sade Knox is in the best interest of the community, the Foster-Steinberg family, Brandyn’s son and most of all, future potential victims. 

Thank you, 

Brandyn’s mother, Bonnie Steinberg-Foster, has written a more detailed account below:

(Trigger Warning—the following account details a brutal murder)

​Miscarriage of Justice in Judge Wilhelm’s Green County Court

I last spoke with my son, Brandyn, on January 26th - of year 2017, the day before he was murdered.

I reported my son missing to the Woodstock Police on January 30th. 

Within a few of days, I received a call from the Chief of Police, Officer Vandebogart. Brandyn’s car had been found in the parking lot of the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut.

Sade Knox, my son’s ex-girlfriend, along with her boyfriend, Carlos Graham and his friend, Ashton Adams, had all been recorded by the Mohegan Sun Casino video camera entering and leaving the Casino.

I immediately called Sade. She told me that Brandyn had told her that he had to leave town. She said that he had asked her to drive his car far away and to park it in a public parking lot. 

Brandyn had a five year relationship with Sade. Sade had told me that Brandyn had broken up with her on November 10th of 2016. I could not understand why Brandyn would have asked Sade, his ex-girlfriend, to drive his car far away and park it in a Casino Parking Lot.

Two months later, the State Police took over my son’s case.

For 13 months, Senior Investigator, Pete Kusminsky’s team investigated and searched for Brandyn, leaving no stone unturned. They used helicopters, search dogs, and they even excavated behind my son’s last home - for two days from dawn to dusk.

Sadly, on February 6th, 2018, thirteen months after Brandyn went missing, I received a call from one of the investigators. They had found Brandyn buried in a crawl space under Sade Knox’s home. In May of 2018, the District Attorney, Joe Stanzione, said, ” They, (Adam’s , and Knox,) poured cement over the body, and covered it with dirt, and gravel. They assisted in hiding the body.”

I was horrified to learn that Sade Knox had taken part in Brandyn’s murder! Sade had been a part of our family for all of the years she had been in a relationship with my son, Brandyn. I could not believe that Sade Knox had assisted Carlos with Brandyn’s murder, had hidden his body and with Carlos Graham, who brutally shot and killed my son, had slept over my son’s grave for 13 months.

Sade Knox was arrested. She was charged with: Tampering with Physical Evidence, Concealment of a corpse, Hindering the Prosecution and Grand Larceny.

Carlos Graham was on the run. He was soon caught and arrested. Carlos was charged with the same crimes as Sade, except Carlos had one additional charge; Possession of a gun. I believe that Ashton Adams had been previously arrested before Brandyn’s body was found.

After further investigation, the investigators learned that on the 26th of January, the day before my son was murdered, Sade along with Carlos and Ashton all went to get a gun from a woman named Brice Hallback. Brice became a witness at Carlos Graham’s trial, which began on February 4, 2019. 

Brice Hallback testified that she asked Carlos, "What will you do with the gun?” Carlos replied to her, "I will kill and rob Brandyn.” Carlos added that Sade would rock Brandyn to sleep, and then Brandyn would be shot. This is evidence that Sade was aware of the plot and that she shared the intent with both Carlos and with Ashton to kill and rob my son.

The assistant to the DA, Dave Costanzo, told me that this newly discovered evidence was the reason that Sade Knox, who had previously been released from prison after paying bail, was now REARRESTED in June of 2018. .

On the day of her arrest, the DA, Joe Stanzione, spoke in Court. He said, “After further investigation, we discovered what we believe to be critical and solid evidence and what the Grand Jury has determined is appropriate to charge Sade Knox with Conspiracy and 2nd degree Murder". Joe Stanzione also said,  “New evidence revealed that Carlos did not act alone. He worked in conjunction with Sade Knox and Ashton Adams. They worked in concert to engage in this murder.” Again, this was clearly why Sade Knox was REARRESTED and charged with 2nd degree murder, and Conspiracy.

Sade, Knox, and Ashton’s sentencing was scheduled to begin on May 9th. Yet at Sade’s and Ashton’s sentencing, Joe Stanzione made a statement which contradicted his previous statement that he had made in Court when Sade was rearrested and charged with Conspiracy and 2nd  degree Murder. Mr. Stanzione said, "Additional evidence showed that Sade Knox and Ashton Adams were involved in crimes related to the death of Brandyn Foster - primarily actions taken after his death. We did not believe we had the elements to prove the charges of Murder and Conspiracy”.

Again, both Sade and Ashton went with Carlos to buy a gun to kill my son on the day before they killed him. They also planned his murder and followed through with their plan. These were not actions taken “primarily after my son’s death", as Joe Stanzione had now come to say.

Senior investigator, Pete Kusminsky, told Joe Stanzione and me that  “Sade Knox had orchestrated my son’s death". He said that Sade was a “danger to the Community".

The investigators had discovered that Sade had sent a text message to Brandyn’s phone in the early morning of January 27th. This was the morning that my son was murdered. I was a witness at Carlos Graham’s trial. I testified that on January 28th I called Sade Knox, when I could not find my son, to ask her if she had seen Brandyn. Sade told me that she texted Brandyn at about 1:30 in the morning on the 27th of January to say that she had a new tattoo. She told me that Brandyn had texted her that he wanted to see her tattoo. Sade told me that she called Brandyn, but he didn’t answer. She said, “I assumed that Brandyn had fallen asleep. When I woke up in the morning, I looked out my window, and Brandyn’s car was gone. “ This, I believe, is how Sade lured my son to his death! This was the text message that the investigators discovered Sade had made to Brandyn’s phone. Brandyn had already been murdered when I spoke to Sade on the morning of January 28th.

At Carlos Graham’s trial, Joe Stanzione said that Sade had lured my son to her home, knowing that Carlos Graham and Ashton Adams were hiding in the closet in Sade’s bedroom - waiting with guns in their hands to kill Brandyn.

My son, Brandyn, lost his young life on that morning of January 27th - year 2017.

Carlos Graham’s trial began on February 4th 2019. I recently learned that before Carlos Graham’s trial, the D A , Joe Stanzione, dismissed the Charge of Conspiracy. My criminal NYC attorney, who has 25 year’s experience, told me: “the critical and solid evidence spoken by the DA was proof of a Conspiracy”, that Sade Knox, Carlos Graham and Ashton Adams all went to get a gun, and told Brice Hallback (a witness at Carlos Graham’s trial) that Sade would rock Brandyn to sleep, and Brandyn would be shot, then robbed. Carlos, Sade and Ashton had all been charged with Conspiracy and 2nd  degree Murder after Brandyn was found buried under Sade Knox’s home. The DA, Joe Stanzione, told me that he disagreed  with my attorney, and he told me that this evidence which my attorney said was proof of a Conspiracy was “Hearsay”.  He told me that this evidence could not be used at Sade Knox’s trial. If the District Attorney really believed that this “critical, and solid evidence” was Hearsay, then how could Sade have  been  rearrested in June of 2018  and charged with Conspiracy and second degree Murder - based on Hearsay? Carlos was found guilty of 2nd degree Murder and of every other charge brought against him. The elements were there for Carlos to be convicted of 2nd degree Murder. Why would Mr. Stanzione subsequently say that the prosecution did not have the elements to convict Sade of Murder - when all three did everything together?

Sade Knox’s trial was set to begin this year on March 4th, but I received a call from Dave Costanzo, the assistant to the DA. He told me that Sade’s trial had been canceled, and Sade had been given a plea deal.

I was outraged by Sade’s plea deal! 

Sade Knox deserved the same punishment as Carlos Graham received for committing all of the same, horrific crimes together with Carlos Graham!

Carlos Graham along with Sade Knox and Ashton Adams were indicted for 2nd degree Murder and Conspiracy. District Attorney, Joe Stanzione, dismissed these charges against Knox and Adams - where they could have been sentenced to life, like Graham. He allowed Knox and Adams a plea bargain down to only one charge, Criminal Facilitation - where they can be released in as little as 5 years. This plea deal does not even sentence Sade to the maximum for the 3 crimes to which she had pleaded guilty. All the sentences could run concurrently and give her 10 to 30 years in prison. Yet, she’s been promised 5 to 15 years.

It is Judge Wilhelm’s role to ensure that Justice is served, despite what deals are made by the Prosecution. It is Judge Wilhelm’s role to not be an overseer of deals, but an overseer of Justice. The plea deal given to Sade was not even half Justice. It was no Justice at all!

Brandyn’s son will not have his father back in 5 or 10 years, and I will not have my son back in five to 10 years, but Sade will have her life back in 5 to 10 years.

Brandyn is gone forever! I have been struggling every second of every day to accept this!

Sade Knox and Ashton Adams have not been held accountable for conspiring to murder 

and for the murder of my son.

Judge Wilhelm and Joe Stanzione have sent a message to all; that in Green County, one can take another person’s life, and hide that person under their house for 13 months, and not be held accountable for their murder.

This was a serious Miscarriage of Justice!