He deemed the victims claim not sustained, which is a really polite way of saying we don't
believe you and also we don't care.
Like what does that even mean?
Actually, this is what it means.
He had the thin blue line to protect him from any harm, even if just to his reputation.
Deserved or not.
Hi, Cassie.
Hi, Caitlyn.
Hi, creepy people.
Hello.
If you're new to our creepy corner of the world, this is PNW Haunts and Homicides, where
we chat about true crime.
The paranormal and all things creepy and other witchy stuff and whatever we really feel
like, frankly, in the Pacific Northwest.
Or the PNW if you're nasty.
You know what else is nasty?
Oh, what?
A tarot reading.
Oh, and we do those.
We do those.
We do those at the end of every episode for a little deeper insight into our topic for
the day.
We do.
So I guess before I get into it, you know, what kind of mood are you in?
Are you feeling over there?
What kind of mood should I be in?
No, I'm just looking for a baseline.
I was feeling pretty good.
Not like great, not like bad.
Oh, okay.
Good.
Cool.
Well, if you're not angry by the end of this, then I'm just going to have to assume you weren't
listening.
Okay.
She's like, great.
Okay.
Test.
There will be a test at the end.
Okay.
Someone to pop quiz.
Focus, Cassie.
Or is there?
All right.
So we don't do this a ton.
So hopefully this is all the warning that anybody who, you know, listens with regularity
will need, but trigger warning for domestic violence, coercion, both psychological and
sexual, as well as the emotional abuse of children and also that of a spousal relationship.
And if you're sensitive about any of the aforementioned, should be super understandable, or
about corruption and brutality at the hands of law enforcement, this is going to be a pretty
rough one.
Okay.
She's like, I actually just remembered I have a thing.
I have a thing.
I will see later or I will see you in another time.
Oh, what's that thing?
My uber, see?
Oh, yeah.
I almost wore that tank top today.
That's funny.
Oh, well, you're not allowed to catch an uber.
Fine.
All right.
I'm ready to get pissed.
Yes.
Let's go.
All right.
Tacoma police chief David Brame kept a picture in his office.
A framed portrait of Al Pacino from his role as Michael Corleone in the cult classic The
Godfather.
Hmm.
I'm sure that having him on my wall or can you picture the portrait?
I've never seen that movie.
I mean, I think I've seen parts of it.
I don't know that I've actually sat down and watched it like all the way through.
I know what he looks like older.
I'm assuming he was younger than that or was he older than that?
He is younger than that.
That's a pretty old movie.
Who does he play in that?
Michael Corleone.
I've very said I was like, she literally just said it.
Yeah, it doesn't help because I don't know.
Okay.
I need you to like mobster guys, right?
Yeah.
Okay.
So here's what I'm going to do.
I don't think it's this portrait, but very similar.
I'm assuming I will see if I can just air drop this.
Oh, that's it?
Yeah.
You feel like the main character?
Yeah.
Oh.
Okay.
Wow, that's really young.
That's quite dashing.
Maybe I should watch the movie.
She's like, I'm going home and I'm watching the Godfather.
Wait a minute.
You didn't tell me there was a handsome man in it.
Did you think that it was about like a Godfather like at the church being like there for the
baptism or?
No, I knew what it was about.
You know, I watched Gilmore Girls and they watched that on Gilmore Girls.
So it's kind of like I watched this.
Basically the same.
I'm sure.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
All right.
So now you know.
Okay.
No, no.
Thank you.
I'm informed.
Yes.
The portrait was a gift.
Apparently part of an inside joke amongst him and a bunch of his cop buddies, which is I'm not
going to lie, that was an immediate red flag for me because I don't know a lot of cops that
would be like, yeah, I'm going to hang that on my wall.
Yeah.
If they did the legal stuff in that movie, right?
Yeah, like quite a bit.
It's like kind of the whole thing.
Oh.
Yeah.
All them.
Weird.
Okay.
Yeah.
So anyway, sincerely - XOXO "The Clitorati"
I like it.
I just hate that.
I mean, they would never like use like a term that downplays that for a woman.
Yeah.
And be like, seriously?
Yeah.
So why, why, why are met and why are we excusing men?
Do you know why?
No.
I know why.
Why?
Also Taylor Swift knows why.
Huh.
Because the play is going to play.
Well, that's.
Play is going to play.
No.
He was a man destined for success in all avenues, seemingly.
He was the classic high school sports star turned small time local celebrity.
I could see that.
Yeah.
Sorry, we had to pause from my audible I roll.
After graduating from Lincoln high school, he followed in his father's footsteps as a
second generation law enforcement officer.
When he joined the force in 1981, it wasn't just his father already established in law
enforcement.
He joined three other family members already serving with a badge.
Whoo.
It's a cop family.
Beneath his shiny all American hometown hero exterior, there were a few.
Cobwebs.
He needs a swiffer Duster.
Yeah, they were real big spiders.
Brame's start in law enforcement.
Perhaps hadn't been the easiest.
He took three psychological evaluations before he was deemed eligible.
Was he deemed eligible on the third one or on the fourth one?
Mm-hmm.
And it's a little unclear.
It's kind of neither here nor there in the end.
But yeah.
There's a lot of follow up questions.
Few new or noticed.
Braim had also submitted what some job screeners called a questionable list of personal references
that were incomplete and misleading.
He still got the job.
Of course he did.
He is a white man.
That's probably fine.
Yeah.
As chief, he seemed to take after the man who hung on his wall, promoting those he favored
and ensuring that those he didn't were too fearful to move against him.
Yikes.
Which is definitely what you want when someone's in a position of power.
Yeah.
You have to be feared.
Yeah.
Otherwise you're just going to get someone else is going to take power, right?
Exactly.
It reminds me of actually, and it's funny and the story is not funny, but I just pictured
that scene where Michael Scott, they were asking him, do you want people to love you or fear
you?
And he's like, I want people to be afraid of how much they love me.
People were actually afraid of saying anything against him or trying to bring attention to
anything that he might be doing wrong, and that apparently included far more serious crimes,
including that one time that he was accused of rape.
I forgot you were talking about that shit.
Yeah.
Man.
The 1988 internal investigations complaint was kept relatively quiet by the department.
So remember, this is well prior to him becoming the chief also.
Oh, yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
Then chief Ray Fetland, which it's like a Finnish name, so there's like F's and J's.
I'm just guessing at the pronunciation there.
He deemed the victims claim not sustained.
Which is a really polite way of saying we don't believe you and also we don't care.
Like, what does that even mean?
Actually, this is what it means.
He had the thin blue line to protect him from any harm, even if just to his reputation,
deserved or not.
A frightening departmental cover up has come to light years since.
Reportedly, a fellow police officer stated that Braim had admitted to the rape.
This fellow officer agreed not to speak up if Braim went for counseling.
Which is particularly upsetting given the fact that a detective who investigated the case
in question stated there was definitely there was definitely enough evidence to sustain
a charge despite what the chief said at the time.
Wow.
Yeah.
Put a pin in that for now because it wasn't his only overtly sexual misconduct.
Oh, I can't imagine that would be it.
Yeah.
Usually, we don't.
Yeah, it's kind of a...
Becomes a pattern far too often?
A female officer, a single mother of a six-year-old daughter, detailed numerous conversations
both in person and over the phone, including in her off-duty time, that occurred as a means
of trying to coerce her into having group sex with him and his wife.
Was his wife involved?
Yes and no.
I think we're going to have a little bit of an opportunity to revisit that in greater
detail.
So interesting.
Yeah.
Did I mention that she was also trying to make detective?
Hmm.
I don't think you did.
Yeah.
If you did it, it went over my head.
I didn't.
I'm...
I...
Like, I literally put it in my notes.
Did I mention?
I don't know.
I can't trust my own brain.
I mean, that's fair.
Same.
God.
Yeah.
So, of course, he is like trying to...
Yep.
And this is literally the type of shit that brought on.
It brought about the Me Too movement because as someone who's in a position of power, this
is her livelihood.
She's a single mother.
And a lot of people would feel like they have no other choice.
For real.
It's a very sad and desperate circumstance that you could be put in.
Yeah.
What year did you say this was?
So, at the time of the rape allegation, that was 1988.
Oh, okay.
So, like, not even close to the Me Too movement.
No.
Not really.
Yeah, we're like not really.
It's like not...
Not at all.
Yeah.
Like, 40 years later.
Yeah.
Oh.
Ugh.
In case you hadn't guessed, today, our story is about a bad cop.
You know, one of those bad apples we keep hearing about.
Here.
Stinky.
Yeah.
A really deeply troubled man in more ways than one.
Or as he was described by an article by the news tribune, a human resources newt.
A joke.
A roadmap of wrong turns and bad decisions.
Geez.
That's a really good way to describe it though, the human resources newt.
Yeah.
Yeah, because that's exactly what he is.
Yeah.
And that is on the less serious end of the spectrum.
But enough about his professional feelings and misdeeds for now.
Don't worry.
We'll totally come back to that.
So neither she or her family were familiar with the term at the time, his wife, Crystal.
Formerly known as Crystal Judson or more affectionately, Crissy Boo, all, was all too well-equainted
with her husband's frequent gaslighting.
He would send her flowers anonymously, calling himself a secret admirer.
According to a accused Crystal of having an affair when she questioned who sent the flowers.
What?
This is some seriously psychoshit.
Meanwhile, he was the one trying to coerce female officers into having three sums.
I mean, that's how it goes.
The one who's cheating accuses the other one.
Yup.
Cheating.
We know that ain't the pot.
He closely monitored the odometer on her car as well as her weight.
Why?
He may have made some particularly questionable comments about her appearance that have been
documented in a number of the sources that I used for this.
Hmm.
I'm sure he was a perfect kind of guy, huh?
I mean, he was relatively physically fit, but yeah, I mean, she was a very petite woman.
But it's about control.
Oh, yeah.
It was all about control.
Yeah.
And of course, it extended to their finances as well to say that he was tight-fisted would
have been an understatement.
While he couldn't prevent her from having pockets, he wouldn't allow her to have a checking
account.
And I didn't actually specifically add this into my notes.
It's just something that every time as I've been proofing my notes and thinking about this
case, it just keeps flooding back to me from the book that I read.
And somebody, I think it was a family member of hers that talked about at one point they
were with Crystal and she was like, I don't know how I can get away.
Like he gives me this crazy type budget for groceries for, you know, our whole family
and he's checking her odometer.
Like she literally can't go too far.
And they said that as she's telling this story, she was like, at this very moment, I have less
than a dollar available for gas.
She had like 50 cents in her pocket.
Now granted gas was like less than a dollar back then.
And that's, you know, a single gallon.
I just the way that he controlled her in, I mean, every aspect of her life, their kids'
lives really, really scary.
Scary to be in that situation.
Yeah.
Knowing like on the other side of it could have been worse too.
Like I have experience with this stuff and it wasn't as severe.
But like if I had stayed, right, I'm sure it would have gotten that experience.
Things have a tendency to escalate.
Yeah.
That's usually how it goes.
I mean, we all want to believe that things will get better, right?
They get better if you leave.
Yeah.
Even if you have 50 cents.
Yeah.
I mean, just.
It's just, it's such a classic story.
Yeah.
Initially, Crystal's parents had steered clear of any conflict within their daughter's marriage
unaware they were seeing warning signs, which I will say as the parents, it's a smart
strategy to not, you know, getting gross or but your head in with, you know, your kids'
family life or marriage until there's a problem.
And when they're, you know, when it became apparent to them that something was really wrong,
they were leading the charge to try to help Crystal and their grandchildren.
That's great.
Yeah.
Yeah, the kids make it like a thousand bazillion times harder to do anything.
For sure.
Even petty arguments and emotionally abusive or coercive behavior gave way to physical violence.
David would still claim to be the victim of abuse at Crystal's hands.
She couldn't have weighed more than 120 pounds soaking wet.
Sorry, I'm laughing because I am.
It's so unbelievable.
Yeah.
It's so unbelievable.
This is like a man who outweighs her has, you know, we're talking about potentially, I think
he probably had somewhere between 60 and 80 pounds on her.
He's probably, you know, yeah, maybe not a full foot taller than her, but like I'm sorry,
the physical advantage.
And that's not to say that men aren't abused.
And even in a dynamic where this falls, oh, yeah, for sure.
But that is so not what was happening here.
You look at all the other evidence and it's like obvious.
It's obvious who is abusing who when you see all the like other things that they will do.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Exactly.
However, despite all the established threats and conflict after 12 years of escalating degradation
and disagreements, Crystal was ready to leave.
Her decision was likely hastened in no small part by her husband behaving suspiciously as
he prepared to leave for his evening shift one night.
We're going to talk about this a little bit more.
Okay.
Because there's some really important aspects to Crystal's background that inform this scenario
and make it all that much more heartbreaking.
He tried to get her to handle his gun before he left.
And we're going to talk about why.
Okay.
We'll come back to that.
So I have a lot of notes.
A lot of notes I have actually some excerpts that I'm going to read from the book that I
used kind of to supplement what information is out there from really great like newspaper
articles and things.
There are a couple of specific excerpts that I'm going to read.
We'll do like a little Patreon bonus because I think it's really important to understand.
One of these pieces of her background and the logic behind it.
It is chilling.
I understood in a way why that made her so fearful.
I think there's, I think you can just understand that someone is behaving really strangely.
And I think there's intuition piece of it but there's so much more to it and it just, it
brought me to tears.
It was just, it was too much.
And you're going to read it to us?
I think you need to know that piece of it.
I think it's important to understand about Crystal and about the situation.
So yeah, I'm going to read it.
Within weeks Crystal had packed up for her parents and taken the children with her and even filed
for divorce.
Wow.
Yeah.
I mean that's like she put her big girl pants on and she was like, listen, I'm afraid of
him and this is dangerous and but I have to make a change.
And that is a really, really hard thing to do.
Yeah.
And usually takes more than one dry.
Yeah.
Oh gosh, and the kids.
Yeah.
At work, David droned on and on about his failing marriage to anyone unfortunate enough
to have lent a willing ear.
We fix it.
The chilling details of David's abuse would only be revealed in court papers once her
mind was made up.
Crystal stated he had tried to choke her four times the very same year he had been promoted
to chief.
Oh, she also detailed threats he'd been leveling against her with his service weapon.
God.
Prompting her to move out and initiate the divorce proceedings.
Still, even with 70 pounds and nearly a foot of height on Crystal's much smaller frame,
David claimed Crystal was the abuser in the brain family home.
I know he touched on that, but I just, it's just shut up.
Just shut up.
All right.
Now, this next part taken word for word from my source material.
As far back as 1996 court papers indicate he was telling gig harbor police that he was
being physically abused by her and was ashamed to admit it, possibly laying the groundwork
for a defense should his abusive habit come to light.
Geez.
He's just a sneaky little snake.
Yeah, I mean, playing the long game, I guess.
Crystal's parents, Lane and Patty Judson could stay out of it no longer.
They would become domestic violence advocates henceforth.
Like them.
We didn't even know what domestic violence was until this happened to our daughter.
Her father said.
The thought that their daughter's husband might threaten that he could snap her neck if he
wanted to was a new and alarming sensation.
The whole family seemed finally to be aware of just how violent and unstable David
Brame could be.
It should come as no surprise that Crystal had tried to leave before.
In 1998, Crystal was scared, miserable, likely some combination of both at every waking moment.
And she was motivated to try meeting a divorce attorney secretly in downtown Tacoma.
Starting to her father, David Brame showed up unannounced and took over the meeting.
How did he know?
Adding that his son-in-law had several officers sit in a police car outside the attorney's
office.
Though Crystal's father would attempt to assist her in setting up another meeting with
an attorney following that incident, it would be roughly another five years before
she filed for divorce in February 2003.
It reminds me of the, was it murder at the end of the world where she tried to leave him
and went through this whole crazy thing.
I won't get into it.
And then he was there.
Yeah.
Because it's like I own you and I know everything that happens.
You can't get anything past me.
But David Brame was not one to give up easily.
After all the mind games, playing cat and mouse clearly amused him.
He continued gaslighting Crystal and claiming he told everyone she was crazy.
Worse still, he threatened that if she tried to leave, he'd take away their kids.
The intimidation didn't stop there.
At an April 10th divorce-related court hearing, he appeared with a show of force that would be,
I think even if you were a cop yourself, it would prove intimidating.
I mean to nearly anyone.
By his side were three other to come up police officers, which is like why?
Yeah. What fucking role did they play in your divorce proceedings?
One of them was assistant chief Catherine Woodard, a woman.
Uh-huh.
Okay.
Yeah.
It's not the first and not the last time that I came across her name in this story and I
got to say there's a special place in hell for women that let men get away with terrible
things and are terrible to their fellow woman.
Not saying that Catherine is or did or allegedly.
Allegedly.
Allegently.
Hmm.
Yeah.
So, um, she would later become briefly the acting chief.
Uh.
Yeah.
David isn't going to be the chief forever.
Mm-hmm.
I, but I can't imagine why.
She was placed on administrative leave as of May 1st.
This year?
Uh, new.
Oh, I was going to be of what?
Yeah, it's going to be of 2003.
Um, and it's going to correlate with some very specific events that take place and, um,
so I'll have to say about that.
Okay.
Speaking to the impact of that show of force for Crystal, those closest to her shared that
she felt that she had to go up against the entire police department.
Well, yeah.
Clearly.
Because she kind of did.
Woodard would go on after some very troubling events that happened that, um, I'm going
to tell you about in a second.
Um, she would say there were no warning signs, which further reading has proven to be
in surveys that's a lie.
Where's, where's more when you need them?
I remember reading the passage and going, are you fucking kidding me?
Yeah.
No warning sites.
So we're just lying to each other's faces now.
I can't wait until you tell us all the warning signs.
What?
No, Kathy's trying to get my goat now too.
Okay.
Two weeks before the incident, Crystal complained of intimidation and death threats by
her recently estranged husband.
She called 911 after a weekend transfer of the couple's two children turned ugly.
Daddy, brain brought assistant chief Catherine Woodard along for the exchange because of course
every custody exchange needs a police escort.
Wow.
A group of officers learned of the incident and anonymously sent a note to the city manager
seeking an investigation into the inappropriate behavior.
The complaint was essentially ignored.
I know you're shocked.
I was like, yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, okay.
The city manager essentially stated that he wouldn't respond to anonymous complaints.
Which seems like I don't think you get to decide that actually.
I think you need to investigate that.
Okay.
Yep.
It's anonymous.
It doesn't matter.
It's a guy called and said someone's murdered on the street, but it was anonymous.
Yeah, it was anonymous.
Probably not real.
Yeah.
So I mean, he's dead, but it's a bummer because the complaint was anonymous.
So what are you thinking about it?
Sorry.
Nothing to be done.
Anonymous.
Oh my God.
There's so many examples that tie this bitch into it that I forgot about.
That's, I thought this was where I was going to tell you the thing that makes her a dirty,
dirty cunt.
And that's not even the thing.
This is a different one.
Oh God.
There's so many things.
She's fucking terrible.
Assuming she wasn't like being threatened by him.
I mean, maybe she was, but she does some stuff that.
Okay.
Yeah.
Anyways.
You guys, we have something really exciting to share with you.
Let's hear a few words from our new pod besties.
Hi, I'm Shaun.
And I'm John.
We're the hosts of Sins & Survivors, a Las Vegas True Crime podcast.
Each week we cover important true crime stories from Nevada, focusing on the Las Vegas area.
We cover current cases in the news, as well as cold cases and missing persons, but there's
a twist.
Our focus is primarily on crimes with a domestic violence component.
Sins & Survivors is centered on the victims and the families they leave behind.
Our goal is not only to tell the stories, but also provide victims with resources to help
in their own lives.
We're focused on Las Vegas, but as we'll remind you in every episode, what happens here,
happens everywhere.
So listen now wherever you get your podcasts or just visit Sins & Survivors.com.
Check them out, creepy people.
You can find their info in our show notes.
Days before the incident, as word of Braim's divorce and allegations of domestic abuse were
becoming public.
The city manager continued with what had essentially become the party line that the chief's divorce
was a civil matter and again declined to take action.
Just so they want to do anything to them.
He's like, I'm really not interested in commenting on that or taking any sort of action about
any allegations made against the chief that is not of interest to me.
April 24, 2003 was Crystal's 35th birthday.
That night, her soon-to-be ex-husband called her from Las Vegas, where he was attending
a labor management seminar.
He said, I have a really big birthday gift for you.
But you'll have to wait until I get home because I have to give it to you in person.
I don't want it.
Just the thing, if it was anybody else, I would have assumed that was a dick joke.
I didn't even think about that.
Yeah, it's cute.
If your nice husband's calling you from Vegas, I hate you.
I miss you so much.
I got a really big present for you.
Yeah, no, it wasn't that way.
Was definitely in the horror movie.
When the call's coming from inside the house, type of situation.
So it was specifically the following day, April 25th, when news stories really seemed to
hit full force about the chief's divorce.
So there's been some things kind of slowly coming out.
There's a little bit of information about allegations, and then all of a sudden it's like,
everybody knows your business.
Like, a lot of it.
News of the city's human resources department, they met with city attorneys and discussed
what I can only imagine was euphemistically described as an inflammatory situation.
Leaders within HR said they recommended placing Braime on administrative leave as well as
taking his badge and gun.
Yeah, please take the gun.
City attorney said they heard no such recommendation.
And in light of what happened the following day, it makes sense they'd want to claim very
same in their position.
No, no, I don't want to.
I don't want to hear the end.
Yeah.
I mean, hey, listen, whether I work in HR or as like an attorney for the city, I'm going
to say, I would want to, I would want to play the fifth.
I'd be like, nope, never heard of any of that before.
Yeah.
Nope.
So that very next day, April 26th would be marked by gun violence that in this country,
I think we've all been a little desensitized to unfortunately.
So sadly, I have a feeling that this might not feel all that shocking.
I think we're a little bit numb to the death tolls being in the double digits and the senseless
loss of innocent life, even when it comes to children at this point, I mean, but this is
pretty rough.
Investigators say Brame 44 shot his wife, Crystal in the head, then killed himself inside her
car at a shopping center parking lot after what police believe was a pre-arranged meeting
Saturday.
I don't know that this was a pre-arranged meeting.
I think some of the early articles said that it was, but other sources that I read that
as kind of the case develops seem to indicate like, no, he cornered her.
In his wife, 35-year-old Crystal Brame had been going through a divorce.
The day before the shootings, as we all know, allegations that he had abused his wife were
made public, though to be fair, they weren't the first.
The chief put their kids, Haley, who was eight years old, and David Jr., who was five in his
car before getting in his wife's vehicle.
After a heated conversation, witnesses reported hearing two shots.
Medics found Crystal Brame lying on the pavement next to the open driver's door.
Witnesses who saw to come a police chief, David Brame, shoot his estranged wife in a parking
lot just south of Seattle.
Remember one thing in particular, the couple's children.
They were nearby when their father shot their mother before turning the gun on himself.
This is a quote from one of the newspaper articles that talked to a witness.
The girl was over top of her mother after she had been shot and was pulled off by a witness.
That was actually...
There's a couple of different quotes in here about the family.
This one was Ed Troyer of the Pierce County Sheriff's Department.
Another witness to the shooting said, "Anybody that was out here heard the children screaming.
They were terrified."
Following the horrific murder suicide with Brame now deceased, both his vehicle and workspace,
could be searched without obtaining a warrant.
The apartment where Brame had lived for just nine days was also searched.
No suicide note was found, though Pierce County detectives did take a laptop, along with
a briefcase and its contents, as well as a mini cassette tape from his apartment.
Beyond that, little appears to have been publicly shared regarding the results of the search.
Probably a lot of that has to do with, you know, there's not a trial.
And while either her husband was found dead at the scene or just no one cared to report
on the details of his status following the horrific crime, Crystal hung to life following
the horrific shooting.
She didn't die right away.
She was with her daughter.
Yeah.
Her injuries were detailed in reporting.
The bullet entered the left side of her brain on a downward trajectory all the way to the
base of her skull, causing significant damage on its path.
Though she was initially admitted in extreme critical condition with little expectation
of survival, she had shown unexpected progress in the following days, impressing the doctors
on staff.
She was a real like Crystal.
By the late hours of May 2nd, however, her condition had rapidly deteriorated.
This may have been due to rapid encephalitis, or it could have been due to a possible seizure
or other metabolic causes, but the end result was the same, regardless.
At approximately 8 a.m. on Saturday, May 3rd, 2003, tests were administered on Crystal to
determine if there was any brain activity.
There was none.
Additional testing was administered to confirm the results of the initial test.
Again, there was no sign of any brain activity.
Crystal's condition was determined to be irreversible and she was declared dead.
She died Saturday, May 3rd, at 4.40 p.m.
She lived for a week following the shooting.
It's like amazing, but I'm sure it gave all of her family so much hope.
I think the worst part is that I think when she first went into the hospital, I don't
think that they were hopeful.
I think it seems like the communication from the medical staff there was that the chances
of her surviving were very slim.
Even if she did, the damage that had been done to her brain at that point was so severe.
But the fact that she came in and she was in really bad shape, and then seemingly she
starts what might have looked like, "Oh my gosh, is she going to make a miraculous recovery?"
And then out of nowhere, just declines again.
I can't even imagine.
I think no matter what you're told, the fact that she's...
She's still here.
So they had a week of grieving her because she's not there.
Yeah.
But until she actually passed, I feel like you live in this limbo and you can't really fully
process that loss and that grief.
The only right side is that she didn't die that day.
They got to say they're goodbyes to her.
Obviously she wasn't conscious.
The earliest research on police who perpetrated domestic violence came out in the 1990s, finding
that 40% of officers surveyed had assaulted family members in the last six months.
The research since then has been sparse and highly variable.
40%.
Oh, sorry, 40%.
40%.
Jesus.
Look to your left.
Look to your right.
Essentially.
That's almost a coin toss.
And how many didn't admit to it or isn't reported?
Obviously, we know that.
That old thing, how many aren't reported?
Yeah.
And I don't know specifically if this study is generally regarded as having been a high
quality study now.
Because sometimes we look back and we understand that the controls weren't valid.
There's so many things that can invalidate a study.
I just don't know if that's a case with this one or not.
I would say it's pretty believable to me.
I don't think it would be lower than that.
Yeah.
While we may not know the numbers, we do know the power dynamic is uniquely imbalanced,
even compared to other domestic violence cases.
These officers have been trained not only to act as authority figures within society,
but they are also permitted in many cases to use force to enact said authority.
And sadly, as has been evidenced, when an officer acts in a way that represents excessive
force or undue violence, they may often be legally protected and met by few if any consequences.
In some cases, the coupling of advanced training and access to weapons can lead to not only
abuse, but fatality.
I'm going straight from source material here in this next part because I cannot even pretend
to have a more eloquent way to put this right now.
I'm like, I'm going to cry and also if I cry too much, then I'll snot all over and I'm
shaking with rage.
And anyways, the blue wall of silence promotes secrecy around conflict rather than encouraging
intervention.
Similarly, the development of the warrior cop and a violent form of militarized masculinity
empowers abuse while also punishing survivors who come forward.
And I also want to share a quote from Carolyn Drake's piece in the Seattle PI, which is
always a fantastic source in my experience.
Drake violence kills more women each year than breast cancer.
End quote, let that sink in.
And I'm hard pressed to think of anyone more willing or eager to make a cheap joke about
those fleshy fat sex than either myself or Cassie, but in a rare moment of restraint,
I'll say this instead, nearly all of us have boobs, probably arguably more of us than
have romantic or domestic partners, but still it's the latter that's killing more of us.
Right?
How many bears kill women in a year?
I know.
I thought about that several times during this.
I'm like, and we're still having this debate.
And so many women have put forth like the most eloquent and honestly logical arguments
about why their team bear.
And you're just like, I'm sorry, it just, we don't even need that level of explanation.
Yeah.
But thank you for doing it because maybe it'll help some of the dumb dumbs out there.
Well, we have to start woman explaining things to them.
The statistics grow more and more abysmal as we examine the figures related to women of
color.
And of course, other minority groups such as transgender women.
When Braim was brought on his chief, the salary range for his position was $87,027 to $134,9992.
The Tacoma Police Department had a biannual budget of $102,000,000 and employed 378 sworn
officers.
These stats date back to 2001 before this entire tragedy unfolded.
But we've given people a badge with what feels like almost a limited authority.
And we've given that to an average person.
And we're paying them into the six figures, which a lot of people are going to have a lot
of feelings about.
But I would argue, let's take it a step further because I think our government owes
it to its people to make sure that people on the payroll, especially in those positions,
don't pose a threat to the very citizens that they're intended to be protecting or serving
in some other capacity.
Yeah, it just, it seems like it should be a very logical and straightforward thing.
Yeah.
But it's not.
Should we take a break for tarot?
I think we should.
Let's do tarot after we...
We're going to snack first.
Snack first?
Yeah.
Can't do tarot on an empty stomach.
No, we can't.
Simply calm.
So we're at the tarot.
We are at the tarot.
And we grab our tarot, book.
Okay.
Ooh, and she didn't blow out any candles this time.
I'm just surprised that that did it.
What was her name?
Oh, Crystal?
Yes.
Crystal.
This one just popped out.
Yeah, and I see it.
This was on the underside of one half of the deck, like the first time that I shuffled.
Okay, that's really weird.
There's a couple like weird...
I don't know, it's weird.
Oh, it's weird.
This is the Nine of Cups.
Oh my gosh.
It's so weird that I was like, I was asking her name and it's like Crystal and then there's
like a pearl in there.
Yeah.
I count Pearls as crystals, whatever.
I think they count.
Ooh, okay.
So we got nine of cups upright.
Yeah.
It's so wild too, because I just feel like it's such a positive card, but I was seeing
it as we're like shuffling.
And they're cool.
I don't know.
Okay.
It's the card.
I guess.
It's a Pacific oyster.
Just you know.
Yeah.
Yeah, she is.
Well, and I was thinking as I'm like that one popped out, I might still draw another
card.
We might have to, because I feel like this might leave us a little bit like, huh?
Okay.
Keywords are wishes come true.
Good luck.
Happiness, abundance and generosity.
Often called the wish card, the nine of cups is the most fortunate of all cards and both
well in any reading.
Some decks show a wealthy person, perhaps a tavern owner or in-keeper, sharing his or her
largest with others, filling their cups.
You've received a position of comfort, abundance and happiness.
Now you eagerly share your wealth, your warmth, love, good cheer, and other goodies with
people you care about.
The universe is smiling on you.
I'm like as soon as you started reading it, I just like got her parents, like her, yeah,
the vibe of her parents.
And like this is like how her life should have been.
Her parents were supposed to swoop in and help her out and share their wealth with her,
you know, like, help her.
Well, and knowing, knowing a little bit more about Crystal's background, because I'm going
to read some extra excerpts for the Patreon, I think there's a lot about Crystal that
unless you're really willing to kind of dig in a bit deeper, it's not told in the surface
level story that I feel like maybe I'm connecting with some of those pieces.
I am really interested.
I'm really excited to kind of delve into some more of the background stuff that I have.
Look out, Patreon.
But I'm going to finish the tarot first.
Yeah.
One thing at a time.
Yeah.
In a reading about money, you can expect good fortune when this card appears.
An investment pays off, you get a raise, maybe even win the lottery.
Rather than hoarding your loot, however, you share some with others.
Or you give your wife 50 cents for gas.
Oh, God.
You need to get promoted, though.
So I'm assuming that came with a raise.
If the reading is about your job, the nine of cops suggest a promotion or landing the
job of your dreams.
Okay.
Well, I think we just found at least one tie-in.
Too bad it didn't last.
Yeah.
You feel fulfilled, happy, and inspired in your work.
Whatever you undertake brings success.
I can't say that I agree, but in a reading about love, you've learned to open your heart
and enjoy a richly rewarding love life.
It feels super gross to say in hindsight knowing just how awful he was to his wife and to
some of his female employees.
I guess I'm trying to subordinate.
That's the word I'm looking for.
You know, some of the things that God, the things that he said, "Roll gross."
Just roll, icky.
It gives me the ick.
This card may describe a joyful, emotionally fulfilling, committed relationship or an abundance
of romantic partners.
Interesting.
Any actress?
There is one.
Yeah, somehow she knew.
She's which nature is held together by the energy of love.
Which is interesting because to me immediately I just become a total smart ass.
I go, "Well, what happened was very unnatural."
Nature is held together by the energy of love and the opposite energy absolutely rips
apart everything that is good and natural for people in life.
It does.
You saw almost both in this too, like I said, the vibe of her parents.
That's what I think this card is.
I don't think it's a reading about your love life or whatever.
I think it's just the vibe of helping people when they need it if you can.
Her parents, I think I have a little bit more information about some of their efforts
and some of the things that they've done to try to make the world a better place since
Crystal's past.
It sounded like they were advocates.
The thing is, is very easy for that to become your, that's a hot button thing.
Maybe initially in the aftermath, you feel very passionately about that.
Because time goes on, you move on to other things or you go back to your normal life as it
were.
But they have stuck with that.
It's been a very central focus for them.
Wow.
I think that's really, yeah.
That's what this card was.
It wasn't any of the other stuff.
It was a very clear, what's it, a parallel?
Yeah.
What it is for the opposite.
I don't know what I'm trying to say.
What am I measuring?
I don't know.
But yeah, I think you definitely should draw another card.
Okay.
Let me read this though.
It's really short.
Okay.
A little paragraphy.
It has all the same keywords.
A small spec enters the shell.
But oyster doesn't know what it is, but it reacts all the same.
Liquid jewel coats the spec, protecting the oyster's soft body.
Over and over a thousand times, the oyster patiently builds up layer upon layer of neck,
neck gray.
It's NA C R E.
I'm assuming that's the whatever they're talking about, the liquid stuff.
Look up neck, neck gray real quick.
Naker.
Interesting.
Okay.
So this says it's a composite material produced by some mullisks as an inner shell layer.
So literally part of the oyster.
Yeah.
Interesting.
Okay.
So it's building up layers of Naker.
The same material that coats the inside of the oyster shell forms a perfect gleaming sphere.
It was that's so funny because the other part of it that I sort of left out of, you know,
the Wikipedia definition is it is also the material of which pearls are composed.
And it just like keeps, ooh, I have a thing, I have a thing in here.
Yeah.
Almost.
Two more sentences.
Okay.
So that's low growth pass so that someone might pop open the shell and feel ever so briefly
a fleeting moment of incredible good luck.
Huh.
So it's like someone is finding the pearl in the oyster shell.
Yeah.
The thing I was kind of getting is like there's all of this crap layers upon layers of all
of this stuff that's like pressuring and building this thing.
Yeah.
And it's like a beautiful pearl in the end.
Yeah.
Kind of like, you know.
Yeah.
You're put through a lot of shit and you're still, you're a beautiful pearl crystal.
That's all.
It's so funny.
I literally was looking at the shell that you gave me and I was like, why do I feel like
I don't know.
It doesn't seem like it really.
Oh.
But it part of me was like, hmm, I don't know.
I don't know.
I feel like that's very sort of that like diamond in the rough kind of a, I don't know.
That's kind of what I was picking up as well.
Right.
Okay.
We're going to give this the old college try.
We'll give it a try.
We're going to give it a try.
Yeah.
I don't know.
I feel like that's very sort of that like diamond in the rough kind of a, I don't know.
That's kind of what I was picking up as well.
Huh.
Right.
Okay.
We're going to give this the old college try.
We'll give it.
Okay.
I think this one.
Oh.
Interesting.
Okay.
Um, this looks like two of swords.
Two of swords.
Oh, okay.
I know this card is like the, the blindfolded lady with the, yeah.
We're learning.
I know it is, I feel like doing a terror reading like every, sometimes multiple.
Every week.
It's like, okay, I'm sure.
I'm going to learn.
You do it.
I don't know.
Right.
But I'm hard pressed to come up with a better way.
Okay.
So our keywords are combined resources, courage, faith, friendship, conflict and balance.
This is two of swords.
Yes.
Oh.
Interesting.
I mean, I'm going to read my keywords real quick says, okay.
In decision, difficult choices, confusion, stalemate, acting with incomplete information,
blindness.
Oh.
So they're kind of, like you had some positive words in there.
Well, I don't know.
I mean, there are somewhat, okay, somewhat.
You guys heard you wrong.
No, I think, um, I think different books have a different way of kind of interpreting.
I guess we'll see.
But yeah, I think those feel very spot on for me.
Um, in some tarot decks, this card depicts a blind-folded woman holding two swords crossed
over her chest.
Two's generally signify balance or conflict or a murder suicide.
Yeah.
And so, as well as pairing, I think of the two of swords as the blind faith card because
it can represent courage and making decisions based on your own truth.
And in some cases, spiritual guidance.
She definitely had courage to make a decision to leave.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
She had to have that, like, the blind faith.
She didn't know what was going to happen.
I mean, no.
And if anything, she had a pretty good idea that whatever was going to happen wasn't necessarily
going to be super positive.
The upright two can symbolize balancing the right and left hemispheres of your brain,
combining intuition with intellect.
Drawing this card may mean you must make a decision and need to call on both.
When you say she was using her intuition earlier when he was acting weird that day.
Yeah.
I would say actually that story, which I'm going to get to here when I read some excerpts
from the book, it calls on her to act on both her intellect and intuition, using both
kind of the head and the heart.
Wow.
Two can also advise you to take off your blindfold and look at a situation, honestly.
All the people who are blindfolded at the police station.
Right.
Or to, you know, look at the situation.
To me, the first thing that pops into my head is sort of like, it's not going to get
me better.
Right.
That children with this person doesn't mean that you should stay.
I feel like everyone in this situation had like blindfolds on like you said the parents
and, you know, realize until the end.
Yeah.
I mean, because people see what they want you to see in a lot of situations.
In a reading about money, the upright two recommends trusting your own wisdom and inner
guidance in a financial matter.
Pay attention to your intuition as well as logic.
If the reading is about your job, you may be confused or conflicted about a work related
issue.
Have faith in your own judgment and ideas.
Sometimes, the upright two represents a job that requires both intellect and imagination.
In a reading about love, this card suggests listening to both your head and your heart.
Oh my God, it's like literally what I just said.
It can mean you and your partner hold conflicting perspectives or that you're trying to resolve
differences and find harmony.
Interesting.
I don't know if one of them was trying to resolve anything.
Yeah, that feels like perhaps not.
And the way he did resolve his issues was not the way anyone should resolve any issues
ever.
Not the way that we want to see that wrap up.
That's for sure.
Yeah.
Well, should I read this one?
It's pretty short too.
Yeah.
Okay.
Also for anyone who doesn't know, I don't know.
We're using the little guidebook from the Pacific Northwest Tarot deck with these little
stories in here.
And that was a coast mole.
Oh, coast mole.
Interesting.
All right.
We've got both kind of like sea shory things, you know?
Yeah.
The mole stopped digging as she sensed a change in the soil ahead.
To one side, the earth was drier and potentially more stable.
To the other side, the dampness might mean a more abundant selection of worms and slugs.
Mmm.
Delicious.
It tastes like chicken.
I love it.
That sounds right.
Or maybe she should go deeper where the soil was more densely packed.
She wrinkled her nose and rested, paralyzed with indecision.
Her mind sniffing down the infinite, branching paths that the future tunnel before her could
take.
But she couldn't deliberate forever.
The mole made a choice and resumed digging, taking the first blind stats in her journey
onward.
Mmm.
So more of that.
Yeah.
More totally tying in with what everything we talked about.
I would say so.
Yeah.
The mole was interesting.
I don't know.
He, I felt like he kept her like small and like hidden.
Yes.
Like people were abusive do that.
Yeah.
They keep you and your tunnels and you have to like dig your way out from underneath them.
Yeah.
Do you think that's really interesting kind of both of these acting in like acting as metaphors
in maybe more than one way, but also another one you're like in the tunnels in the ground
in the dark and then once you escape you're in the light, you're free.
You're a pearl.
Okay.
I'm done.
You're a peach.
You're a pearl.
Hey, listen.
You're a crystal.
A juicious, ripe, this peach.
There's still always going to be someone that doesn't like peaches.
That's true.
And is a total dick and will behave in a completely unacceptable and abusive manner.
And then I'm sure that's how the quote ends.
Yeah.
I'm going to add on to it.
Yeah.
And then there's other people who will eat the shit out of that peach.
Mm hmm.
I love it.
I don't know what kind of face.
I don't know what kind of face I made if it was a trotious, talon, feel free to blur it
out.
It's a little smiley face over it.
Oh, we definitely keep the sound effect because that was really good.
Yeah.
One more.
Well, we hope everyone is safe out there.
And if you are experiencing any sort of domestic violence, we're going to link a website
for you just to have the resource just in case.
And we love you and we hope you're okay.
And have a creepy ass day.
See you next Tuesday.
We'll be here.
Yeah.
I mean, probably.
[laughs]
[music]
What if it's a Boober?
Yeah.
I mean, probably.
[laughs]
[music]
What if it's a boober?
A boober?
Was that like a new hip uber or?
It's like an uber but with boobies.
You are a 14 year old boy.
You know?
My Blink 182 shirt.
Yeah.
Yeah, never more fitting than for that comment. pnwhauntsandhomicides.com