A Louisiana man allegedly shot and killed his wife, propped her body up in the passenger seat and drove through several states before he was nabbed during a traffic stop.
Tyronne Brazille, 50, was arrested Thursday night after police stopped him in downtown Memphis and found his 50-year-old wife, Lanessa Bradford, dead in the passenger seat from a gunshot wound, WREG reported.
The couple had been together at Independence Community Park in Baton Rouge — about 80 miles northwest of New Orleans — when an argument broke out and Brazille allegedly shot his wife, according to Baton Rouge investigators.
He then fled the scene with Bradford’s body and drove for more than five hours, through several states, before Memphis police made the grim discovery during the traffic stop.
Longtime friend Shelicka Decker told WREG the couple had been married for years but had recently hit a rough patch — claiming Brazille was suffering from mental health issues and that Bradford had told her last month she was leaving him.
“She had the money saved up. She had come up with a plan, and she was going to just vanish. That was the only way she would be able to get away from him,” Decker told the outlet.
“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.”
It remains unclear how long the two were married.
Decker said Bradford — who worked at a Baton Rouge elementary school — told her that whenever she tried to leave Brazille previously, he would threaten to kill her or himself.
However, Decker said she did not believe Brazille would follow through on his threats to harm Bradford.
“He never put his hands on her up until recently, like maybe like two or three months ago,” she told the outlet.
“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.”
As for why Brazille allegedly shot her and then drove through multiple states with her body in the passenger seat — Decker said she simply can’t make sense of it.
“I have so many questions, like, what were you doing in the car with her that amount of time while she was deceased,” Decker said.
“Where was his mind at during that ride? Like, it’s so crazy. It’s so crazy and heartbreaking.”
Decker said the couple never had children of their own, but Bradford poured her heart into the kids at her elementary school.
“It’s such an unfortunate situation, like everybody, she was such a good person. Everybody, she uplifted a lot of people, a lot of parents,” Decker told the outlet.
“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.”
Brazille was booked as a fugitive by Memphis police and is due in court Monday while he awaits extradition back to Louisiana.
Once extradited back to Louisiana, he is expected to face a murder charge in connection with Bradford’s death.
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