Swirly Girl

May 1, 2003

<FONT COLOR=00FF33NO IRISH BAG PIPERS

Mystic Bay has always been a very sleepy little fishing village up until recently. The town made the news in New York Times. This news worthy event was the third news story with the first being the Iraq war and the second being SARS.

The Tacoma Chief of Police David Brame 44, who was at the pinnacle of his 21 year career in law enforcement, shot his 35 year old wife, Crystal, in the head with his department issued 45 Glock and then committed sucide. This Gruesome event happened at a Mystic Bay shopping center in front of their two children 8 and 5 years old.

The police chief had been locked up in a contentious divorce, legal filings and traded accusations of abuse. His wife said that her husband pointed his gun at her, choked her and threatened to kill her. He alleged his wife beat him, berated him and threaten to ruin his career.

His wife now lays in a coma. 17 years ago she was a happy, studious honor student who loved to hang out with her friends and study ballet after school. She was even selected to be a member of the Daffodil Court. This is a very prestigious honor for local highschool girls.

After highschool, she attended the Universty of Washington and obtained a degree in crimianl justice. Shortly after college, she married Brame and had two children. It was supposed to be the perfect marriage, the children, the white picket fence. So she thought.

Seventeen years later she was a terrified wife of a man she said abused her. A women, just days before the the violent act, signed up for a $99.00 “Frontal Force Adrenal” self defence course at her son’s karate school. A class that she never got the chance to attend.

Crystal’s happy moments in highschool contrast sharply with the life that she described in a psychologists’s evaluation.

She was required to weigh herself each day in front of her husband.

He insisted on being present when she used the toilet and at her gynecologist examinations.

He forced her to ask permission before making purchases

He made her explain every vist outside of the house

He monitored the mileage on the car

Falsely accused her of being unfaithful, but he could have affairs

Restricted her use of the telephone

He only gave her $100.00 every two weeks for gas and family expenses. If she spent more she had to show him the receipts and reinburse him

Her sister reported that David would send her flowers with a card from an anonymous admirer. He than would berate her about who the flowers were from.

He tried to to get her involved in wife swapping, group sex and threesomes, she refused which made him angry.

Crystal wasn’t allowed to have any friends. In her divorce precidings, she needed to have letters of support of her parenting abilities. Her letters are from a neighbor she didn’t know well and a local shop keeper at a Mystic Bay store.

There will be no Irish Bag pipers at Brame’s funeral today. His Chief of Police picture has been taken down at the County City Building. There is an empty spot now. Just like the empty spots in many peoples hearts today.

Crystal is fighting for her life and is on life support. Please pray, light a candle, have a moment of silence today for her and her family.

If you are being abused, berated or know somene that is, get help as soon as possible. Don’t let the violence bring you down.

Get help here

ADDENDUM Tacoma News Tribune

Crystal Brame lived a week and an hour after her husband shot her.

The 35-year-old mother of two was declared dead at 4:40 p.m. Saturday at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

At her side were her parents, Lane and Patty Judson; her sister, Julie Ahrens; and Ahrens’ husband, David. Crystal’s 8-year-old daughter, Haley, and 5-year-old son, David Jr., were not at the hospital.

The family was “beyond devastated” by her death, said their attorney, Joe Lombino. The family declined interviews. Crystal struggled for life for a week after her estranged husband, Tacoma Police Chief David Brame, shot her April 26 in a parking lot and then killed himself. The couple’s children were close by during the shootings.

Within hours of Crystal Brame’s death, local residents created a memorial for her in the Harbor Plaza shopping center where she was shot.

Sarah Bennett-Bower, a family friend, wept as she collected paper cut-out flowers her daughter had put there Friday.

“What a waste,” she said. “What a waste.”

An evening rain soaked the flowers, cards, notes and small toys left for Crystal and her children. Memorial candles and their holders collected water. A solitary half-deflated balloon rested on the concrete.

How to help

Memorial contributions can be made to the Brame Children’s Fund at branches of TAPCO Credit Union. For information on the fund, call 253-565-9895 or visit http://www.cityoftacoma.org.

Nurse Betty

May 2, 2003

I have always wondered how men can hide all these traits until after they are married. It seems to me that it would be so obvious, but it isn’t.

jmelyn

May 4, 2003

RYN: Of course I watched Pensacola Wings of Gold! We used to watch it all the time and snort at how unreal it was! It was filmed in San Diego, for one thing, and there are no Marine f-18 squadrons in P’cola. But the guys *were* hot, weren’t they? I admit, that was the main thing I was looking at. 🙂

And why was he hired in the first place? Seems like there’s corruption through and through in the Tacoma police force. Terrible about that poor woman and the children, who witnessed the whole thing.

kaibab

May 5, 2003

reading the news, it seems that this dirt-bag had a long history… and the system covered his ass all the way… wonderful 🙁

RYN: that’s what I did… forced my hand away from the power switch on several occasions. The urge is stronger than crack 🙂

.wow.

Well, I guess it’s a little late for prayer as Crystal passed away yesterday. What a tragic story. Didn’t realize it happened right there in bucolic Mystic Bay, though.

At Last

May 6, 2003

ugh.

how terrible. 🙁