In the cold of February 2016, the life of Adam Petzack, a 28-year-old Caucasian male, was tragically cut short in Great Falls, Montana. A U.S. Army veteran who had served his country in Iraq, Petzack was left with a frontal lobe traumatic brain injury from an IED, a disability that he would carry for the rest of his life. This life, however, would be stolen from him not on a foreign battlefield, but in the place he was living.
His roommate, Brandon Lee Craft, shot Petzack in the back of the head. The act was one of ultimate betrayal, leaving a grieving family to wonder what had become of their son.
For months, Adam Petzack was simply missing. The truth of his disappearance remained a dark secret buried in the dirt floor of a barn on the property where Craft lived outside of Great Falls. In the time following the murder, Craft and his then-wife, Katelyn Zdeb, began to methodically erase Petzack from existence while profiting from his death. They sold his pickup truck and, for a period of three months, set up a credit card reader to steal his Veterans Affairs disability benefits, accumulating over $3,500.
The grim discovery of Petzack's remains finally came in August 2016. The break in the case occurred when Brandon Craft confessed to the killing, even drawing a map for investigators that led them to the shallow grave where he had buried his former roommate. This confession brought an end to the search for Adam Petzack but began a new chapter of legal proceedings for those responsible for his death. Brandon Craft was charged with deliberate homicide, and both he and Katelyn Zdeb faced charges related to the theft of Petzack's assets.
In the end, justice was delivered in a courtroom. Brandon Craft was convicted of killing the disabled veteran and was sentenced to 110 years in prison, with no possibility of parole for the first 50 years. Katelyn Zdeb, who pleaded guilty to stealing Petzack's benefits and testified against her ex-husband, received a 20-year prison sentence for her involvement. During the sentencing, Petzack's mother spoke of her son's simple nature and the future that was stolen from him, a future where he would never marry, have children, or realize his dreams.
