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A father who deliberately drove his twin two-year-old daughters off a cliff to ‘send them to heaven’ has pleaded guilty to attempted murder.
Robert Duane Brians, 51, will be imprisoned for 31 years next month in a plea bargain four years after they plunged from Sunset Cliffs in San Diego after Brians initially pleaded not guilty to all charges.
He and his daughters were all saved by hero policeman Jonathan Wiese, who rappelled down the cliff and swam to the sinking car to drag them out of the water.
Brians abducted Hailey and Aubrey from his parents’ house during a planned visit and drove off with them on June 12, 2020.
His wife Jenna Brians called police about 4:30 am on June 13 after getting a series of texts and calls from Brians ‘clearly stating she may not see her kids again’.
Robert Duane Brians, 51, will be jailed for 31 years next month in a plea bargain
Hailey and Aubrey Brians narrowly avoided death when their father drove them off Sunset Cliffs in San Diego on July 13, 2020
‘The girls are going to Heaven and I’m going to Hell to wait for you,’ one read.
Brians earlier made a Facebook post reading: ‘Tonight, I’m sending my babies to Heaven.’
Jenna believed her estranged husband was going to drive off the Coronado bridge, but police spotted him driving near Sunset Cliffs about 5 am.
Suddenly, his pickup truck swerved off the road and went over the edge as police tailing him watched in horror.
Brians had Hailey and Aubrey on his lap as he drove, which saved their lives as they would have been killed if they were in the back seat.
The car landed upside-down in the water after Brians drove it off the cliff
His wife Jenna Brians called police about 4:30 am on June 13 after getting a series of texts and calls from Brians ‘clearly stating she may not see her kids again’
Wiese, a K9 officer, used a 100-foot dog leash as a makeshift rope to rappel down the cliff, while five other cops held the other end.
Then he dived into the ocean to rescue them, finding Brians with the girls in his arms, Aubrey crying hanging on to his neck for dear life.
Hailey was limp and looked like she was dead, and Brians was talking angrily about his estranged wife, Wiese said.
Brians told Wiese that ‘he was going to die and the girls were coming with him.’
Other officers on the cliff top lowered a backpack down to hoist the little girls back up to an ambulance, while Wiese pushed Brians to shore.
Jenna is a single parent to the twins and grateful to have closure
Both girls suffered minor scrapes and cuts but Hailey had brain bleed and compression fractures to her vertebrae, and couldn’t breathe on her own for a while.
They were admitted intensive care, but within weeks were happily playing at the beach and putting the ordeal behind them.
A GoFundMe has been set up toward the twins’ futures and has raised $18,260 toward its $25,000 goal.
Brians and Jenna married on November 6, 2017, and appeared to have a happy family life until just months before the horrific crime.
‘My little family is the best team I could ever have!’ Jenna wrote next to an Instagram photo on March 5, 2020 – the last photo he appeared in.
Other photos showed them on family vacations, celebrating birthdays and holidays, and playing and the beach, parks, and pools.
But it all went horribly wrong, and among Brians’ long list of charges was a domestic assault on Jenna.
Wiese in 2020 described how he saw the pickup truck go over the cliff and how he rescued the twins and the father who tried to kill them.
‘Literally, my heart sank. Please tell me the girls were not in the car,’ Wiese said he thought to himself to the San Diego Tribune.
‘I could see him and he had one of the girls in his arms, and I have a two-year-old daughter at home so I imagined, what if that was my wife and kid down there? You’re not going to stand there on the cliff and watch it happen,’ Wiese said to ABC10 as he set about rescuing them.
Wiese tried to think of a way to get down the cliff and recalled he had a 100-foot leash with him.
He handed one end of the rope to five other cops who had shown up to assist and jumped over the edge.
‘I said, “Hey, hang on. I’m going”,’ Wiese said to the Tribune.
Brians and his daughters were all saved by hero policeman Jonathan Wiese, who rappelled down the cliff and swam to the sinking car to drag them out of the water
Wiese ended up being lowered down to the rocks below and the ocean. He then swam, still wearing his police uniform, toward the dad who now had the children in his arms.
The rescue was made all the more difficult as waves kept on coming ashore but Wiese appeared to be the man for the job having served in the Marine Corps.
‘They taught you how to do water safety rescues and I had a little flashback of okay grab him under the armpit and push him so I swam and held them above water and brought them to shore,’ he said.
While down below, Wiese had time to speak with the father as the pair waited for a rescue helicopter. He decided not to leave him alone in case made another attempt at ending his life.
Brians pleaded guilty to a dozen felonies including murder, kidnapping, burglary, child abuse and domestic violence to have others dropped.
