Story Published:
Sep 30, 2003 at 8:09 AM PST
Story Updated:
Aug 31, 2006 at 12:11 AM PST
TACOMA - A worried-sounding Crystal Brame told a
counselor's answering machine the day before she was shot that her
husband, Tacoma Police Chief David Brame, had threatened her and
that she had increased concerns about her safety. The next day,
David Brame fatally shot her before turning his gun on himself.
The message was recorded after news of the Brames' messy divorce
filing broke in local publications, and Mrs. Brame, 35, was worried
about her husband's past threats.
"He has told me that he hasn't even begun, that I haven't seen
anything yet" she said on the message she left Dr. Max Knauss on
the afternoon of Friday, April 25. "I have a greater concern for
my personal safety, now more than ever."
Knauss apparently didn't hear the message until after her
shooting, Gig Harbor Police Chief Mitch Barker said.
The tape and various crime-scene photographs were released by
Barker's department on Tuesday as a follow-up to last week's
release of the department's police file on the case.
The police department's investigation found that David Brame,
44, told at least four people during the 24 hours before the
shootings that he thought his career was finished.
"We had a number of requests for the entire police file,"
Barker said. "We released the bulk of it last week. The reason
this was delayed - we had to get them to her family so they had the
opportunity, if they wished, to have some of it blocked for privacy
reasons and they did not."
The photographs are mostly of the Brames' cars and the store
parking lot where the shootings took place. No bodies are shown,
although there is a close-up of Brame's pistol, as well as shots of
bloodstained pavement and the gore-soaked interior of Mrs. Brame's
car.
Barker said his investigators took only a comparative handful of
photographs because most of the crime scene work was done by Pierce
County sheriff's investigators.
The message tape was the only audio tape in the file, Barker
said. Although Mrs. Brame made 911 calls in the months and weeks
leading up to her death, they went to a regional system that is not
administered by the city of Gig Harbor.