A Louisiana man arrested in Memphis with his wife’s body in the passenger seat is due in court Monday as he awaits extradition.
Tyronne Brazille, 50, was pulled over Thursday night in downtown Memphis for a traffic violation when officers discovered his 50-year-old wife, Lanessa Bradford, dead from a gunshot wound in the passenger seat, according to police. The Baton Rouge couple had been at Independence Community Park, about 80 miles northwest of New Orleans, when an argument broke out and Brazille allegedly shot Bradford, investigators said.
Brazille then fled with Bradford’s body and drove for more than five hours through several states before the grim discovery during the traffic stop. He was booked as a fugitive by Memphis police and is expected to face a murder charge once extradited back to Louisiana.
Longtime friend Shelicka Decker told WREG the couple had been married for years but had recently hit a rough patch. She said 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 worked at a Baton Rouge elementary school, and the school had asked police to conduct a welfare check at her home after she missed several days of work.
Decker said Bradford had 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 Bradford 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.”
The couple never had children of their own, but Decker said 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 is scheduled to appear in court Monday as he awaits extradition to Louisiana.