A sad story

Yesterday was a pretty unusual day as I photographed the fallout from the murder of Peninsula resident Lisa Bonney, who was shot in broad daylight at the Bolstad beach approach Friday. The man accused of doing it, former boyfriend Brian Brush, was seen by multiple witnesses and two police officers on patrol.
It was late Friday when I first heard about it. I found out it was Bonney later on. The next day I found out it was Brush who was arrested — an odd side note, we ran a photo I took of them dancing together in the paper just a couple months ago at a ballroom dancing class.
So yesterday I watched all the TV reports on the case online and then headed down to where people had made an impromptu memorial for Bonney on a park bench near where she was killed. A woman came and placed a flower, wiped away a tear and walked away. I made two pictures.


A few hours later I was on my way up to South Bend to photograph Brush in his first appearance in superior court. From the moment he was brought in he was sobbing off and on.

The prosecuting attorney had yet to arrive so they placed him in the jury box near me (this is actually the second time this has happened to me while photographing in court in the last year). It gave me a good opportunity to show him in his shackles with the deputies watching over him.
He had yet to be given an attorney, so the court took a short recess as he talked with counsel for the first time in the back of the court. I made a few pix like this, felt this one was the most emotional. Sometimes I feel odd about taking photos in situations like this, but honestly, I felt nothing this time as he sobbed away, facing possible life imprisonment. I thought about this a lot on the drive home. Maybe it had something to do with what I overheard the prosecuting attorney tell the defense attorney in regards to the wounds he witnessed during the autopsy —"quite possibly the worst thing I have ever seen in my life." This was also a factor in him asking for, and being granted, a record $50 million bail amount for Brush.

This story is of course the lead in the paper this week, here's a LINK to the lead story, and it's SIDEBAR

My photos are also being used as the lead of the News-Review in Roseburg, Ore. today, and you can see that story HERE

Such a sad story,

-DKM