St. Helena mother sentenced to 80 years for drowning daughter, attempting to kill another
BEAUFORT, S.C. (WTOC) - A St. Helena mother has been sentenced to a total of 80 years in prison for drowning her 6-year-old daughter and trying to kill her 8-year-old sister.
Jamie Michele Bradley-Brun, 40, pleaded guilty on Dec. 18 to murder in the drowning death of 6-year-old Mackay Bradley-Brun, according to a press release from the South Carolina 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
Bradley-Brun also pleaded guilty to attempted murder for trying to kill her 8-year-old daughter by drowning.
Prosecutors said on May 19, 2023, Bradley-Brun woke up Mackay, then told the girl to undress and get on her knees in the bathtub. Bradley-Brun held the girl down in the water by her hair until she drowned.
Bradley-Brun then put the girl in a “funeral dress” and placed her body on a bed, according to prosecutors.
She then woke up her 8-year-old daughter and attempted to repeat the process. Officials say the girl fought off her mother until Bradley-Brun’s oldest daughter heard screams and intervened before the 8-year-old could be drowned.
The two older daughters fought their mother off before running outside and calling for help.
Bradley-Brun received a 50-year prison sentence for murder, in addition to a 30-year sentence for attempted murder that will be served consecutively.
“This wasn’t an accident or a mental health crisis,” said Deputy Solicitor Mary Jones of the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, who prosecuted the case. “This defendant planned it. She is competent and she knew what she was doing. She placed blame on others and on her alcoholism, neither of which is a legitimate defense in South Carolina. She held her daughter under the water and tried to do the same to her middle daughter. There is no excuse.”
Judge Marvin Dukes handed down the sentencing on Thursday, Dec. 18.
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