Left inset: Tyronne Brazille (Shelby County Sheriff’s Office). Right inset: Lanessa Bradford (WREG). Background: The downtown Memphis area where authorities say Tyronne Brazille was stopped after allegedly driving through multiple states with the body of his wife, Lanessa Bradford, in the passenger seat (WREG).
A Louisiana man is accused of killing his wife and then driving across several states with her body sitting upright in the passenger seat, according to police.
Officers in Tennessee stopped 50-year-old Tyronne Brazille, of Baton Rouge, over a traffic violation in downtown Memphis and discovered the body of his wife, 50-year-old Lanessa Bradford, in the front passenger seat with a gunshot wound, local CBS affiliate WREG reported.
A longtime friend told the Memphis station that Bradford had been preparing to leave Brazille and had “come up with a plan” before he allegedly shot her after an argument at a park in Baton Rouge.
The friend said the couple had been together for years but had struggled with marital problems. She also told WREG that Brazille had dealt with mental health issues.
“[Bradford] was going to just vanish,” the friend, Shelicka Decker, told WREG. “That was the only way she would be able to get away from him. She was going to leave her car, she was going to leave all the things behind, and she had been in touch with her family that was out of town, and that’s how she was going to make this move to get away.”
Police said Brazille was eventually pulled over in downtown Memphis after allegedly traveling through multiple states with Bradford’s body propped up beside him. After officers realized she was dead, they took Brazille into custody and booked him as a fugitive.
“I have so many questions,” Decker said. “Like, what were you doing in the car with her that amount of time while she was deceased. Where was his mind at during that ride? Like, it’s so crazy. It’s so crazy and heartbreaking.”
Decker told WREG that Bradford worked at an elementary school and her colleagues requested a welfare check after she missed several days of work. Decker said Bradford told her that Brazille threatened to kill Bradford or himself if she ever tried to leave him, and that he was abusive.
“He never put his hands on her up until recently, like maybe like two or three months ago,” Decker alleged. “It wouldn’t have surprised me if someone had called and said that he killed himself because he always says this. It surprised me that he killed her.”
Brazille is scheduled to appear in court Monday in Memphis and is expected to be extradited to Louisiana, where he will face a charge of murder in connection with Bradford’s death, WREG reports.
“It’s such an unfortunate situation,” Decker said. “My prayers are with her family and friends as well as his, because we were all friends. We all, you know, hung around each other, and this is just not the same person that we grew up with.”
Describing Bradford, Decker added, “She was such a good person.”
The post Husband propped up dead wife in passenger seat and went on a road trip through several states before being pulled over for traffic violation: Police first appeared on Law & Crime.
