Alisha Bromfield was a 21-year-old pregnant woman that was murdered by her boss, Brian Cooper, on August 19, 2012, in Door County, Wisconsin. Brian Cooper used his supervisory authority to control Alisha and threatened to fire her from her job if she refused to be his date at his sister’s wedding. After the wedding, Brian strangled Alisha Bromfield to death, killing her and her 7 month unborn baby.
Gas Station Confession
As a co-owner of a Shell gas station, Denise Bhirdo has dealt with just about everything. One event that Bhirdo will never forget, however, is the Sunday morning when a completely drenched man, Brian Cooper, walked in to her gas station asking if she could call 911.
While on the phone with the police dispatcher, Cooper says that he has witnessed the murder of Alisha Bromfield. When the operator asked who killed Alisha, Cooper responded, ‘I did’. Brian Cooper was arrested and charged with first degree murder of Alisha, first degree murder of her baby, and third degree sexual assault.
Brian Cooper confessed to a horrible crime.
Alisha Bromfield, Taken Too Soon
After graduating from Joliet Catholic Academy, Alisha Bromfield had her mind set on a future working in forensic science and forensic psychiatry. At 21-years-old, Alisha was in her last year of classes at Western Illinois University.
Alisha had unexpectantly gotten pregnant after meeting a guy also attending Western Illinois University. Although the guy who got her pregnant wanted nothing to do with the child, this did not deter Alisha from looking forward to a single-mother life with a beautiful newborn. She had already named her daughter Ava Lucille.
“I miss her talking to me about her baby and her plans for the future. I miss her asking me for my advice and my opinion. I miss being my daughter’s mother,” Bromfield’s mother, Sherry Anicich.
Since Alisha was 16, she has been working in the flower department at the Home Depot in Grand Flower, Illinois. Her job was always important to her, but recently even more so as she would soon be the sole provider for her baby, Ava Lucille.
Alisha was looking forward to motherhood and had named her daughter Ava Lucille.
Alisha’s supervisor, Brian Cooper, created a work environment of hell by verbally abusing those under him. According to a complaint, Cooper’s hostility “included verbally abusing her while throwing things, controlling and monitoring her both during and outside her work hours.”
He would even tell employees that Alisha was “his girlfriend.”
If Cooper knew Alisha was spending her lunch with a guy, he would call her a ‘whore’ and even deny her lunch breaks. Cooper would yell at Alisha and even call her a ‘bitch’, ‘slut’, and a ‘whore’ while in front of customers.
Brian’s actions were reported by Alisha repeatedly to other supervisors, but not much was done to mitigate and stop his lewd behavior. His superiors had reprimanded him slightly, sending him home early and even requiring him to attend anger management, but none of these steps helped.
Another employee Cooper verbally abused quit after he made “comments about his genitals and rubbed himself against her.”
Bottom line, Brian Cooper is a creep and Alisha Bromfield despised him, but he forced her to make a decision. Either attend his sister’s wedding with him as his date, or find a new job.
Unfortunately, Alisha Bromfield agreed.
After The Wedding
Brian Cooper and Alisha Bromfield went back to their shared room at the Sandy Bay Resort and immediately argued. Bromfield went to sleep on the bed and according to the police report, “for the next 2 1/2 hours, Cooper watched her sleep, drank beer and smoked cigarettes.”
The reality for Brian was kicking in. Once they were back home, Alisha was going to have absolutely nothing to do with him.
Brian confessed to Detective Winkel how the murder happened.
Brian Cooper: Then I kinda just jumped on her bed.”
Winkel: “Okay was she on her back?”
Brian Cooper: “She was. And I jumped her, and she got scared, I got scared.”
Winkel: “So you were on top of her then. And you kind of straddled over her?”
Brian Cooper: “Yeah, and then I just started strangling her.”
Winkel: “Did you have sex with her last night?”
Brian Cooper: “Yeah, after I strangled her.”
Winkel: “So after she’s dead you took her clothes off and then um she’s on the floor right?”
Brian Cooper: “Right. I just wanted to see her naked I guess.”
Winkel: “OK. And then did you take your clothes off, or were you already . . .”
Brian Cooper: “I just took my pants off.”
Winkel: How long did you have sex with her?
Brian Cooper: “Probably a minute or two, maybe three, tops.”
Police searched through Brian Cooper’s computer, finding hidden camera videos that he has been secretly recording. The camera hid in his bathroom in a “small hole in a triangular shelf that was positioned in front of his toilet.
Weeks before he murdered Alisha, Cooper had her go to his home and walk his dog. He would then film her as she used the bathroom in his home.
He even brought the hidden camera with him to the wedding trip and had it hidden in the trash can. Police found video of Alisha Bromfield coming out of the shower nude.
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