An Investigation Discovery series that has been airing for over a decade, American Monster relies on at-home videos to tell the events that surround and continue to affect the afflicted family. While a nice break from the sometimes laughable acting, crime channels have, the show feels more intense than others. Like nearly every other show on the station, friends and family of the victim are also interviewed to get further insight into the past.
On Tuesday, Ovt. 28, the premiere of American Monster season 13, titled “Control Freak” aired at 8/7c. Centering on Tricia Green, “Control Freak” features interviews from her sister Terri Pettit, son CJ, and her best friend, Katrina Hoyt. Together, they tell the heartbreaking story of someone who entered Tricia’s life who, in a fair world, would have been kept far away from her. Combined with law enforcement testimony, the events begin.
Before relationship with Galen
Originally, Tricia married her high school boyfriend, Bryan Briggs, and had two children, CJ and Noah, with him. Unfortunately, marriage issues began to arise. Despite this, Tricia was determined to continue with the marriage.
Around the time the marriage issues started, Tricia met hunter and "gun enthusiast" Galen Westfall at her job. For the record, there is nothing wrong with being a hunter or owning guns. However, I will say that the way it was said set off warning lights in my head so straightforwardly.
It should be mentioned that Galen, at the time, was still involved with his ex-wife, with whom he had a daughter with, but, regardless, was pursuing Tricia. Although his behavior at the time, leaving her flowers and asking her out to lunch, was a bit discomforting after Tricia had previously told him she wasn’t interested, nothing was yet concerning.
This would come to a head on Thanksgiving when Tricia, who had gone to her home state of Michigan, received a call from Galen, who decided to surprise her in Michigan and tagged along when she went out with family and friends.
Relationship with Galen
After her 14-year marriage ended in divorce, Tricia ended up in a relationship with Galen. While the details of the divorce were never disclosed, Katrina believes Galen played a role in it, emphasizing that Tricia couldn’t see that Galen was bad news.
From this point on in the documentary, Galen’s multiple forms of control are on full display: he pretends to be the perfect "stepfather," attempting to befriend CJ and Noah, to control Tricia. The eventual isolated lifestyle they ended up living is another form of control in emotionally abusive relationships.
Once the question of marriage entered the picture, Galen took it a step further to make himself look better in CJ’s eyes: asking the boy if he was ok with him proposing to his mom.
After this, we cut to Katrina, who recalls asking Tricia if she was sure about the marriage. Sometime later, we get a look into the family life, with Galen being somewhat rude about a Christmas gift Noah was interested in, saying, “No, the other one, I don’t play with dolls”. Also evident on the Christmas videos? Galen was constantly surveying everything.
CJ mentions that Noah wasn’t as interested in guns, making Galen less interested in trying to win over the younger brother, being cold and distant towards him.
When a shoulder injury meant Tricia’s sister's husband was let go from the army, they were presented with an offer by Galen, with the condition that they pay back in five years. While this might have seemed like a considerate gesture, it was just another form of control: this time, over more of the family. Flash forward 2.5 years, and we get another glimpse into Galen’s true colors when he claims Terri and her husband still owe him money after they paid him in full before the deadline, friction arose. As a result, the sisters were separated for 1.5 years.
Further friction
The final time Tricia went to Michigan, for a funeral, Galen’s presence was evident, even without him physically there. Constant phone calls were remembered by her sister.
Things only got worse near and during the COVID-19 Pandemic, with Tricia isolated from her job and constantly miserable, and Galen fearing that she will leave now that Noah, thanks to Galen’s constant apathy, moved out prior to high school graduation.
In 2021, after everything started opening up again, Galen supposedly received a call from one of Tricia’s co-worker. This aforementioned co-worker, if they even exist, claimed Tricia was having an affair with another worker at the DMV where she worked. Though HR investigated this after Galen reported it, an attempt to get Tricia fired, they found nothing. Even still, this is ultimately the climax to what happened next.
On the afternoon of Nov. 13, 2021, police received a call about a car accident outside the DMV where Tricia worked in Arapahoe County. A pickup truck had collided with an unoccupied vehicle before coming to a stop.
Upon police arriving at the scene, they find the truck occupied by a male driver and a female passenger: both deceased. The woman, later identified as Tricia Green, fell out of the car and onto the ground upon the passenger door being open, two bullet holes in her head. The driver, Galen Westfall, had a single bullet wound to the head.
The investigation
The biggest question for investigators was “who pulled the trigger?” Interviews with work-friends revealed Galen’s controlling nature and Tricia’s mental state. While Tricia was considering divorce, Galen didn’t want that and, furthermore, wanted Tricia to quit her job. Meanwhile, the trajectory of the bullets, evidence at the scene, and later an autopsy, proved that the driver was the shooter.
Interviews with Galen’s daughter from a previous marriage complete more of the picture. She remembered him telling her not to go home after school that day but, rather, to go to her grandmother's. Home security camera videos show Galen disassembling them at 4:30 AM on Nov. 7, just days before the murder-suicide occurred.
From this, along with Galen forcing a friend to send texts from a burner phone, claiming to be the co-worker that new of Tricia’s affair, police concluded that he had originally planned to murder Tricia at home, most likely claiming a burglary gone wrong. However, an argument may have ensued in the car, resulting in Galen shooting Tricia and, after, himself. The messages? A way of making him look ‘less involved’.
Further investigation showed that Galen shot himself after the airbags deployed, as bullet holes were found in the devices.
Tricia’s legacy
Despite Tricia’s life being taken from her in such a cold, heartless way, her name and memory continue to live on. Her family and friends have started Forever Pretty in Pink: The Tricia Green Foundation to advocate for and support domestic violence survivors.
American Monster airs on Tuesdays at 8/7c on ID.
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