User:Queen of Hearts/Drafts/David Brame murder–suicide
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| Queen of Hearts/Drafts/David Brame murder–suicide | |
|---|---|
| Location | Gig Harbor, Washington |
| Date | April 26, 2003 |
| Target | Crystal Brame |
Attack type | |
| Weapon | Department-issued handgun |
| Deaths | 2 (including the perpetrator) |
| Perpetrator | David Brame |
On April 26, 2003, David Allen Brame (born 1958), the chief of the Tacoma Police Department, shot his estranged wife, Crystal DeEtte Brame (née Judson; born April 24, 1968), in a parking lot in Gig Harbor, Washington, before shooting himself.
Background
[edit]David Brame
[edit]David Brame | |
|---|---|
| Chief of the Tacoma Police Department | |
| In office Whenever – April 26, 2003 | |
| Preceded by | Someone |
| Succeeded by | Catherine Woodward (acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | David Allen Brame 1958 |
| Died | (aged 0) Gig Harbor, Washington |
| Spouses |
|
| Children | 2 |
| Education | |
| Police career | |
| Department | Tacoma Police Department |
David Allen Brame was born in 1958. His father, Gene, was a Tacoma Police Department (TPD) detective; his mother, Beverly, was a housewife. He was raised in eastern Tacoma, Washington, alongside older brothers Gene and Dan and older sister Jane. Gene and Dan later joined the TPD alongside David; Jane became a secretary at a children's psychiatric hospital. Brame's parents described him as quiet and a sports fan; in high school, Brame played basketball and baseball.[2] He was considered the favored child by his family.[3]
Prohibited by his parents from dating until the age of 16, Brame married a fellow student[a] at Tacoma Community College when he was 19; they moved to Spanaway. He graduated from the University of Puget Sound, where he was taught by future mayor of Tacoma Bill Baarsma.[2] According to Brame and his family, his first wife was often depressed and suspected of cheating. They divorced after eight years when Brame caught her cheating with a fellow police officer and his neighbor.[4]
Brame remained in his Spanaway home after the divorce.[4] Paul LaRosa described Brame after the divorce as "obviously [...] lonely and uncomfortable around women despite his good looks and solid job", citing an incident where he asked out a waitress at a restaurant he was visiting with fellow officers and left the restaurant out of embarrassment after being rejected.[5]
Police career
[edit]Brame joined the TPD after graduating from the University of Puget Sound.[2] Gene claims David didn't wish for a police career but he saw the TPD was hiring and thought it was a good job to raise a family.[4]
Crystal Judson
[edit]Crystal DeEtte Judson[3] was born on April 24, 1968.[6] Her father, Lane, was a member of the United States Navy from 1952 to 1957 and worked for Boeing, beginning as a machinist and retiring as a supervisor. Her mother, Patty "P. J.", was a stay-at-home mother. She had a two-year-older sister, Julie, and was raised near the Tacoma Mall. As a child, she was a ballerina and ice skater – as a nine-year-old, she won an ice skating competition against future Olympic ice skater Tonya Harding.[7][8] Like Brame, she was the favored child in her family.[3] She attended the University of Washington Tacoma alongside her sister and graduated with a degree in criminal justice. She became an intern with the TPD to pose as a prostitute in sting operations.[9][10][11]
Relationship and marriage
[edit]The 29-year-old Brame met the 20-year-old Judson during a sting operation in the Hilltop neighborhood. Brame commented on Judson's looks, describing her as "really something" and "really good-looking", but did not engage with her. Judson later asked Brame for a ride home, where he asked her out, which she accepted.[10]
11 hours before their marriage, Brame divulged to his parents that he considered canceling the marriage after an argument with Judson, but ultimately decided to do it after Judson expressed remorse. On August 3, 1991, Brame and Judson married with an audience of 175 people. Crystal moved into David's Spanaway home, where Crystal claimed to her parents she found lists by Brame's first wife detailing every expense she made.[12]
David and Crystal had two children – Haley (born 1994) and David Jr. (born November 1997). After the birth of Haley, Crystal became a stay-at-home mother[13] and the family moved to a US$200,000 ($411,136 in 2023) house in Gig Harbor.[14] Crystal's family also later moved to Gig Harbor, while David's stayed in east Tacoma.[15]
Criticism
[edit]Crystal: You wouldn't believe how cheap [David] is. I only get one hundred dollars every two weeks.
Clark: For a family of four?
Crystal: Yes.
Clark: Well, you have credit cards and checks, right?
Crystal: No. That's it. One hundred dollars every two weeks. Period.
Clark: Crystal, it's none of my business but...
Crystal: I know.
Clark: Well, this isn't the way things are these days. You should stand up to him.
Crystal: But you don't understand. He controls everything I do. He checks the mileage on the car to see where I've gone, he asks for receipts.
Clark: You don't have to live that way. You have to stand up to him.
Crystal: I know, I know.
While the officer David was with when he met Crystal congratulated David on his new relationship, he became more critical as he knew her more:[17]
We went out a couple of times with Dave and Crystal, me and my wife. They were in different places in their lives. He was a veteran cop and she was just out of school. She was spontaneous and wanted to go out and have fun and David was like, 'Well, maybe a week from Tuesday we could go to a movie.' They were totally different. So I said to him, 'Is this what you really want?' And he said yes and what could I say? My friend was happy.[17]
On Christmas 1994, David Ahrens, a brother of Brame, recalled an incident where David Brame asked Crystal, who was holding Haley, to make Ahrens a cup of coffee despite not being busy. Ahrens claimed he was "mortified" by the incident, saying "Here's a brand-new mom [Crystal] with her brand-new daughter in her hands and [David Brame]'s ordering her around when he's doing nothing. I couldn't believe it." and calling David Brame "a textbook example of how not to be a husband".[18]
Linda Lee Clark, owner of Seasons on the Bay, a gift shop Crystal often visited, noticed Crystal frequently being low on money, to the point that the store claimed to have a sale on what Crystal wanted. In response to Clark asking what her husband worked in, Crystal replied that David was a police officer and claimed she only got US$100 every two weeks, was not allowed a credit card, and that David "controls everything".[16]
Supporting David's suspicion that Crystal had obsessive–compulsive disorder, a woman who helped Crystal change Haley's diaper claimed that Crystal insisted that the diaper was wet, repeatedly replacing it.[19]
From Crystal's family
[edit]Crystal's sister Julie was cynical of Brame, believing he was too controlling but not wanting to interfere in her sister's life. Crystal claimed to Julie that Brame asked her to seek woman-only jobs, which made Julie suspicious:[17]
I didn't feel [Brame] was quite right but that was [Crystal's] decision. He was having a big say in where she could apply for jobs because he didn't want her working around or with men. That was something that bothered me because, at that point, they weren't married and I felt it was my sister's decision on where to apply for work.
— Julie Judson on Brame's nature[17]
According to Paul LaRosa, Crystal's parents believed that David had "control issues" and that Crystal was becoming a puppet of David's. They also accused Brame of limiting Crystal's money after they moved to Gig Harbor, with Lane saying that "[s]he'd go driving around with fifty cents in her pocket and that's it. This wasn't once. It went on for three, four months at a time." When told that not all couples live like her and David, Lane claimed that Crystal replied "[w]e have to save and this is the way David wants it".[20]
Crystal's family claimed that after David and Crystal moved to Gig Harbor, David forced Crystal to stick to a US$100 ($206.00 in 2023) budget. As a cost-cutting measure, her family said Crystal didn't buy new clothes for years, but never asked her family for help. Patty, Crystal's mother, later said "David had convinced her that this was the way to live and she went along with it."[21] They also said that Crystal would sell unneeded clothing for extra money; when David was informed of this, he demanded half of the profit.[22]
Crystal's family claimed that when she went shopping, David would ask what place she was going to and what she was buying. When Crystal returned home, David would check the time on the receipts and her car's odometer. Crystal urged her family to keep quiet, not wanting to hurt David's career.[23]
Julie described Crystal as isolated, claiming that "Mom and I tried to get her to go shopping or meet for lunch but something always came up with David. He wouldn't let her go anywhere and, when she did come along, she had no money." The family said that David believed Crystal did not need friends.[24]
Patty claimed David's mistreatment of Crystal was beyond financial, recalling an incident where David insisted that he attend Crystal's gynecologist and watch her receive a Pap test. She also said that David ordered Crystal to weigh herself in front of Brame every day, verifying that she weighed under 105 pounds (48 kg).[25]
From David's family
[edit]We used to have a lot of fun with Crystal. We loved her like she was our own daughter but something happened to her after Haley was born.
David's family denied the claims from Crystal's family, believing that Crystal abused David and potentially had a personality disorder or mental illness. David first noticed a potential disorder after the birth of Haley, when he returned home early and saw Crystal looking through the window in Haley's room on all fours, claiming she saw a monster. With previous incidents of Crystal repeatedly inspecting the house stove and turning lights on and off, David suspected her of having obsessive–compulsive disorder.[26]
Paul LaRosa described Crystal according to David's family as "a neurotic mess with wild mood swings", with David saying the family was "like I'm raising three kids". David claimed to Jane, his sister, that he could not talk with her for long because Crystal checked the temperature of his phone to see how long David's calls were.[27]
Murder–suicide
[edit]Aftermath
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ a b Brame's first wife is known pseudonymously as "Betty" in LaRosa 2006.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ LaRosa 2006, p. 28.
- ^ a b c LaRosa 2006, pp. 27–28.
- ^ a b c LaRosa 2006, p. 21.
- ^ a b c LaRosa 2006, p. 29.
- ^ LaRosa 2006, p. 30.
- ^ Robinson 2013.
- ^ LaRosa 2006, p. 22.
- ^ LaRosa 2006, p. 24–25.
- ^ LaRosa 2006, p. 9.
- ^ a b LaRosa 2006, pp. 18–19.
- ^ LaRosa 2006, p. 26.
- ^ LaRosa 2006, pp. 31–32.
- ^ LaRosa 2006, p. 33.
- ^ LaRosa 2006, p. 34.
- ^ LaRosa 2006, pp. 37–38.
- ^ a b LaRosa 2006, pp. 38–39.
- ^ a b c d LaRosa 2006, p. 20.
- ^ LaRosa 2006, p. 35.
- ^ a b LaRosa 2006, p. 44.
- ^ LaRosa 2006, pp. 36–37.
- ^ LaRosa 2006, p. 38.
- ^ LaRosa 2006, pp. 39–40.
- ^ LaRosa 2006, p. 40.
- ^ LaRosa 2006, p. 41.
- ^ LaRosa 2006, pp. 41–42.
- ^ LaRosa 2006, pp. 43–44.
- ^ LaRosa 2006, pp. 44–45.
Works cited
[edit]Academic sources
[edit]Books
[edit]- LaRosa, Paul (2006). Tacoma Confidential: A True Story of Murder, Suicide, and a Police Chief's Secret Life. Signet Books. ISBN 978-0-451-21726-4. OCLC 62768031.
News stories
[edit]- Robinson, Sean (2013). "Retrospective: 10 years later - Looking back at former Tacoma Police Chief David Brame". The News Tribune (published April 25, 2023). Retrieved December 2, 2024.