A teenager who stabbed her grandfather before watching him bleed to death in his kitchen cried with grieving family members despite being behind the murder, the killer’s mother has revealed.
Brittney Jade Dwyer, then 19, from Redbank Plains, Queensland, stabbed 81-year-old Robert Whitwell in the neck and chest at his Adelaide home in August 2016.
She wept alongside other relatives for weeks after, supposedly mourning her ‘poor poppa’.
But speaking to 7 News Spotlight Tonya, whose daughter was behind the horrific attack, recounted: ‘She would hug us, she would cry with us, but she chain smoked, I can see why now.’
The teenager and her friend Bernadette Burns, then 22, travelled from Queensland to South Australia to steal Robert’s life savings.
The pensioner had $100,000, hidden in a padlocked shed in his back garden because he ‘didn’t trust the banks.’
The murder was part of a plan to steal the life savings, and was inspired by the macabre television show American Horror Story.
Brittney was unable to find the money he had hidden in his shed and instead stole $1,000 from her grandfather’s wallet – as well as two digital cameras.
Brittney Jade Dwyer, then 19, from Redbank Plains, Queensland, stabbed her grandfather before watching him bleed to death in his kitchen
A few days before the murder Brittney recruited her friend Shelby Lee Angie Holmes to drive her to her grandfather’s house to try and steal the money when he was out. However, they got spooked by a flood light and left empty handed.
But Brittney wasn’t ready to give up and she later recruited another friend, Bernadette – who had a drug addiction – to help rob and kill her grandfather.
When she arrived at Robert’s house, Brittney pretended like it was a normal visit. She went inside and sat on the couch looking through old family photos with her grandfather.
Brittney claimed that she had decided she couldn’t go through with the murder and texted Bernadette, who was waiting in the car, to tell her she had changed her mind. However she got the reply: ‘Just harden up and do it.’
As Robert walked his granddaughter to the front door to say goodbye, Brittney pulled out a knife and stabbed him repeatedly in the neck and chest.
Robert simply asked ‘why’ and then he staggered back to the kitchen to find bandages for his wounds.

The pensioner had $100,000, hidden in a padlocked shed in his back garden because he ‘didn’t trust the banks’

Brittney Dwyer cried alongside family members for weeks after the murder, supposedly mourning her ‘poor poppa’ (pictured as a baby with her grandfather)

A few days before the murder Brittney (left) recruited her friend Shelby Lee Angie Holmes (right) to drive her to her grandfather’s house to try and steal the money when he was out, however they got spooked by a flood light and they left empty handed
Brittney inexplicably washed the dishes as Robert sat down in a chair and died.
She texted Bernadette ‘it’s done’ then ransacked the house looking for the money, however they didn’t find it and ended up stealing $11,000 from his wallet.
Brittney’s mother Tonya recalled the day she found out her father had passed away.
She told the 7 News Spotlight episode, which originally aired in 2017: ‘The police turned up at my house at 10 O’clock one night, they didn’t know if it was a suicide or an accidental death or if someone had done it to him.’
Tonya rang Brittney, who was still driving home from Adelaide, to let her know that her grandfather had passed away and the teenager burst into tears.
Brittney drove straight from her grandfather’s house to meet up with her distraught family.
Tonya said: ‘She turned up looking like she hadn’t had a shower for a week, she hadn’t brushed her hair for a week, hadn’t brushed her teeth for a week but I didn’t put two and two together, I was in a state of shock I think.’
Brittney, her mother Tonya and brother Ryan then boarded the first flight to Adelaide, returning to the scene of the crime.

The teenager and her friend Bernadette Burns, then 22, (pictured) travelled from Queensland to South Australia to steal Robert’s life savings

Brittney’s mother Tonya, pictured, had recalled the day she found out her father had passed away

Ryan said: ‘She was distraught, so emotionally, being comforted by family, myself, mum, but we were all their together with his killer’
She managed to act like a grieving granddaughter and openly cried over the death of her grandfather.
Ryan said: ‘She was distraught, so emotionally, being comforted by family, myself, mum, but we were all there together with his killer.’
Criminologist Dr Xanthé Mallett said Brittany may be a psychopath, who was able to fake emotion to cover up her tracks.
‘They [psychopaths] are very good at that, they are basically chameleons . They will adapt and see how other people respond, her mother was probably devastated so it was clear to her how she should behave in that scenario.’
For three weeks Brittney pretended to be in mourning but an anonymous tip led police straight to her.
Tonya recalled the night she found out her daughter might have something to do with the murder.
She said: ‘Police were on the phone, he tells me how sorry he that he has to tell me this but my daughter has been arrested for murder with Bernadette.’
Ryan recalled what he said to police, saying: ‘What? No, you have got the wrong person, this can’t possibly be true.’
The family were even more hurt when Brittney claimed in court that she had been molested by her grandfather, a claim which the court dismissed.
Tonya said: ‘I was furious, and that’s the reason why I think I would still slap her in the face, the anger that’s inside.’
The mother-of-two described the situation as a ‘nightmare’ and berated herself constantly for ‘missing the signs’ that her beloved daughter could commit such an evil crime.
Brittney pleaded guilty to murder and she was jailed for life with a minimum non-parole period of 21 years.
Also charged over the vicious murder was Bernadette, who drove her to Adelaide and waited in the car while she was inside.
She was jailed for at least 13 years and six months for her part in the killing after earlier also pleading guilty.
Meanwhile Shelby spent a week in prison for trespassing over her role in Brittney’s first try at stealing her grandfather’s savings.
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