MEMPHIS, TN - A man in his fifties has been arrested after his wife was found dead in the passenger seat of their car during a traffic stop in Downtown Memphis.
Officers arrested 50-year-old Tyronne Brazille after discovering the body of 50-year-old Lanessa Bradford in his passenger seat. She was reportedly shot to death, WREG reported. Brazille was taken into custody in Memphis as a fugitive and is awaiting extradition to Louisiana.
Longtime friend Shelicka Decker said Bradford and Brazille had been married for years and had their ups and downs. She said Brazille suffered from mental health issues, and last month Bradford told him she was leaving him for good.
"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,” said Decker. “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."
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, investigators say Bradford and Brazille had been together at Independence Community Park in Baton Rouge before her death. Police say the two got into an argument and Brazille shot Bradford. Investigators alleged that Brazille then fled Baton Rouge and drove through several states before he was stopped in Memphis.
"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."
She said Bradford worked at an elementary school in Baton Rouge, and the school asked police to do a welfare check at her home after she missed a few days of work.
Decker said that Bradford had previously told her that when she told Brazille she was leaving him, he would threaten to kill himself or her. Decker said that she never believed he would actually follow through with it.
"He never put his hands on her up until recently, like maybe like two or three months ago,” said Decker. “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."
She said Bradford never had any children of her own but cared for other people's kids at her school and will be missed by many.
"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 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."
Once Brazille is returned to Baton Rouge, he will face a murder charge in connection with Bradford's death.
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