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Today, we’re diving into a case that is equal parts horrifying & infuriating – the murder of Alisha Bromfield & her unborn baby girl, Ava Lucille. Trouble became apparent on Sunday, August 19, 2012 when a man walked into a gas station in Door County, Wisconsin, his clothes were soaking wet as he asked the cashier to call 911. When the cashier handed the phone over, he told the dispatcher that he needed to report a murder; a murder that he’d not only witnessed, but had committed. At the time of her death, 21-year-old Alisha Bromfield was nearly seven months pregnant with her daughter, Ava Lucille, & only a semester shy of receiving a forensic psychology degree.
Alisha was born on August 28, 1990 to parents Sherry & James; she had a sister & three brothers. After graduating from Joliet Catholic Academy in Joliet, Illinois which sits about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of Chicago, Alisha moved on to Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois, a three hour drive from Joliet. At the time of her death, she was one semester away from graduating with a degree in forensic psychology & criminal justice.
Alisha’s pregnancy came as a surprise & the father of her baby was a man she’d met at school who chose not to be involved in their daughter’s life. As the idea of becoming a mother settled in, shock turned to excitement as she purchased adorable outfits & baby gear for the little girl she named Ava Lucille.
According to her mom, Sherry Anicich, Alsha was an incredibly fun, giving & loving daughter & friend who was always up for having a good time & enjoying her life.
In addition to finishing up her college classes, Alisha was working summers in the garden department at Home Depot in Plainfield, Illinois in a seasonal position that had the bonus of paid winters off. During the summer of 2012, she was looking forward to graduating as well as eagerly anticipating the birth of her daughter & becoming a new mother in a few short months, but sadly, all of her plans were cut short.
During her five years of working at Home Depot, Alisha had been working with her supervisor & regional manager, 36-year-old Brian Cooper. When she was hired on as a teenager as young as about fifteen, Cooper initially gave off the appearance of a friendly, affable person & he & Alisha eventually formed a casual friendship. The two were never romantically involved, but would occasionally meet up after work & Alisha sometimes dog sat for him.
Because Alisha was gearing up to be a single mom, she was trying to save up as much money as she could before her daughter’s birth. She valued her job at Home Depot & the fact that it came with the benefit of paid winters off & because of this, she ended up dealing with abuse from Brian Cooper, fearing she could lose her stable gig. Cooper hid behind a facade of professional authority & was known to berate Alisha in the presence of not only co-workers, but also customers. He would verbally abuse her, calling her disparaging names such as a slut & a whore as well as sometimes even getting physical with her, throwing things at her.
Cooper was known to threaten Alisha’s job, saying he would fire her or cut her hours if she didn’t follow his orders. He would purposely schedule her to work during times that he knew she was busy & had a doctor’s appointment. It was also obvious that when he made the schedule, he would purposely place her on shifts that overlapped his own schedule so he could work alongside her. Despite his obvious attraction toward Alisha, she made it very clear that she had no interest in him. Her family was growing concerned about what was going on & felt that she stayed & put up with the abuse because she didn’t want to lose her job.
Cooper would sometimes lie & tell co-workers that he & Alisha were dating, but while she continued to reject his advances, he refused to take no for an answer.
Later reports would emerge that proved that many people were aware of the workplace harassment that not only Alisha, but other employees had been dealing with. Despite the fact that Cooper was edging toward forty, a high school-aged employee ended up quitting because she could no longer stand the discomfort of working for him. In response to the workplace harassment, Alisha had spoken to upper management, but sadly, nothing was done. She was working in a job that she loved & valued with a manipulative, controlling manager that was making her life miserable
As August 2012 rolled around, Cooper told Alisha that his sister was getting married & she needed to come to the wedding as his plus one. He elaborated that if she didn’t attend as his date, he would fire her. As in previous instances, Alisha was in a vulnerable position, fearful of losing her job, needing the money to support her child, so with this, she reluctantly agreed to go.
Because Sherry was very well aware of how Cooper had been treating her daughter, she begged her not to go away with him for the overnight wedding getaway. However, Alisha assured her mom that they would only be going as friends & she’d be back the following day. Since Brian offered to pay Alisha over the winter months when she wasn’t working, Sherry believes that her daughter didn’t want to throw that away since she had a baby on the way, otherwise she would have never agreed to go.
According to what Cooper told Alisha, the wedding party would be staying together at the Sand Bay Resort in Door County, Wisconsin, a quaint town nestled along the Lake Michigan shoreline about 245 miles (394 km) north of Milwaukee. Sherry, still against the idea of her daughter going, felt a little relief that there would be safety in numbers.
On Friday, August 17, 2012, Cooper & Alisha left for the Door County wedding, making the five hour drive from her home in Plainfield, Illinois. Sherry was concerned about her daughter’s wellbeing as after they arrived at their hotel, Alisha texted her mom & explained that she & Cooper had just gotten into a fight after she learned that he’d lied about the accommodations & arrangements. The wedding party was not staying together at the same hotel & they would be on their own at the Sand Bay Resort.
About two hours later, Sherry received another text from Alisha, this time she explained that things had calmed down & she decided she would just stay. However, as the day wore on, as did Alisha’s patience with Cooper’s relentless advances. She told him that she would follow through with being his wedding date, but when they returned home, they would have nothing more than a work relationship. Brian later told police that when Alisha indicated that she was ending their friendship, he was highly upset & immediately began having thoughts of harming her.
As the night progressed, Cooper continued to drink & became increasingly intoxicated while his rage only grew. During the intimate outdoor ceremony, Cooper walked his sister down the aisle & when the wedding reception came to an end, Alisha & Cooper headed back to their hotel where they had two separate beds.
It was the following morning when Brian Cooper stumbled into the gas station, his clothes soaking wet & used the cashier’s phone to confess to murdering Alisha Bromfield. Minutes later, police entered the station, guns drawn as they instructed him to lay face down on the floor & 36-year-old Cooper was taken into custody.
Meanwhile, Door County Sheriff’s Investigator Mark Winkel was tasked with going to the Sand Bay Resort. As soon as he opened the door to Cooper & Alisha’s room, he could see a young woman lying on the floor. Alisha’s body was wrapped in a beige blanket that covered her body to her chest while her head was lying on a pillow. She was nude & on quick glance, it appeared as if she was only resting, but sadly, on closer examination of her body, it was clear that she suffered injuries that included bruising & scratch marks.
Winkel left the resort & headed to the police station to interview Brian, who went on to calmly report all of the grisly details that lead to Alisha’s murder & the death of her unborn daughter, Ava. He told Winkle that he & Alisha were co-workers who were somewhat dating. He confessed that he’d always wanted more than just a friendship with Alisha, but he’d respected her because of her pregnancy.
He elaborated that they’d argued earlier on Friday when Alisha told him that there would be no further relationship between them when the wedding was over, not even a friendship. When they got back to the hotel, Alisha climbed into bed while Cooper, already intoxicated, continued to drink. Alisha fell asleep while he continued to drink & think & stew about the fact that their relationship was over as of the next day.
While she’d been sleeping, he paced the hotel room, went outside to smoke a cigarette & came back inside repeatedly, his anger only growing. He said he began thinking about tying up Alisha’s legs with a cord from his computer or cell phone. He then woke Alisha & asked her if they could watch the TV show 24 on Sunday, but she told him no. It was at this point that Cooper jumped on her while she lay on the bed on her back. Alisha, nearly seven months pregnant, who had only just been peacefully asleep in bed, was stunned as her body was pushed down by his weight. He told Winkle that she’d gotten scared while he was on top of her & he began to strangle her with his bare hands. Alisha began to fight back & scream, begging him to stop for the sake of her baby, Don’t do it to me because of the baby. She continued to fight with everything that she had & bit his finger in the process.
Cooper & Alisha continued to struggle, eventually tumbling off the side of the bed she’d been sleeping on only moments earlier. The location where Winkle found Alisha’s body laying on the hotel floor is where Cooper had strangled her to death. He believes that once they’d fallen from the bed to the floor it was a couple of minutes later when he began wrapping his hands around her neck until she was still; the moment both Alisha & Ava lost their lives. When Winkle asked if it was his intention to kill her that night, he said, Yes.
As if these details weren’t horrific enough, Winkle soon heard something far darker when he asked Cooper if he had sex with Alisha that night. Without hesitation, Cooper told him that after Alisha had been strangled to death, he removed her clothing because I wanted to see her naked, I guess. He then removed his own pants & raped her post-mortem.
The shocks just kept coming as Winkle continued his conversation. When he asked Cooper if he’d ever harmed anyone else in the past, he simply replied, Yes. He elaborated that he’d been unable to get through to his ex-girlfriend so he tied her up for the purpose of trying to like talk to her, something he was never arrested for.
After he murdered Alisha, he tried to kill himself with a butter knife & a corkscrew/wine opener, but neither worked so he climbed into the bathtub & fell asleep.
As the interview came to an end, Brian Cooper was charged with two counts of first-degree murder & third-degree sexual assault of a corpse. He was booked into jail & his injuries were photographed.
As the investigation continued, police found videos of Alisha that proved that Cooper had been spying on her for quite some time. While they were staying at the resort on Friday night, he placed a mini spy camera on the garbage can that recorded Alisha getting out of the shower naked. It was clear that this man was entirely obsessed with the innocent mother-to-be who was 15 years his junior. Investigators also discovered that he drilled a small hole in a shelf across from his toilet in his room at home with the purpose of spying on Alisha while she was dog sitting for him.
Despite his detailed confession, Cooper entered a plea of not guilty, claiming he had been too intoxicated to know what he was doing at the time he murdered Alisha. Because of this, Alisha’s grief-stricken family were forced to face this horrific monster in court & hear the anguishing last moments of not only Alisha’s life, but also that of her unborn daughter. The defense attorneys did not deny the fact that Brian Cooper had an obsession with Alisha & the fact that he was responsible for her murder, however they claimed that because he was intoxicated at the time, he was too drunk to form intent.
In June 2013, the trial lasted five days & during this time there was testimony as well as Cooper’s 911 call confession & his graphic interrogation where he not only confessed, but concisely indicated that it was his intention to kill Alisha when he began strangling her. Alisha’s family also had to sit through Cooper’s own testimony & shockingly, the trial ended in a 10-to-2 hung jury.
As Sherry heard the words hung jury, she was so stunned that she could do nothing but stand & exit the courtroom. It was incredulous that two female jury members had indicated that Brian Cooper was not guilty of murdering not only Alisha, but her unborn daughter, Ava, on the basis that he had been intoxicated.
Cooper was found guilty of third-degree sexual assault & many feared that he wouldn’t be held accountable for the two first-degree murder charges.
Alisha’s family had to wait nearly a year for the second trial to begin & once again Cooper relied on the intoxication defense as Alisha’s family had to hear the harrowing details of her last moments alive. In this case, the jury deliberated & within one hour they found Brian Cooper guilty of two counts of first-degree intentional homicide for the murder of both Alisha & her unborn daughter, Ava. With this, Cooper was given two consecutive life terms.
Sherry & her family were told by the judge that they couldn’t wear anything that depicted an image of Alisha, so in response, she wore a purple dress in honor of her daughter’s favorite color. Moving forward, Sherry wore purple to every motion hearing as a declaration of love. It wasn’t long before word of this spread & others began wearing purple to honor Alisha.
From this, the Purple Project was born which is an organization created to keep the memories of Alisha & Ava alive by extending hope to others in need. The organization provides financial & emotional support to single young mothers in need & also provides grief counseling & retreats for parents who have lost a child to murder.
In a bold & honorable gesture, Kellie Stryker, Brian Cooper’s sister, paired up with Sherry to help others as Kellie is a social worker who specializes in mental health, child abuse & domestic violence. During her brother’s first trial, she testified on his behalf, but was troubled by the fact that he took no responsibility for his actions. As the trial ended in a hung jury, Kellie felt that she needed to do the right thing & speak out so she reached out to Sherry, unsure of how she would be received. Sherry made the decision to open her heart & accept Kellie’s help & support.
Because of the horrific ordeal of sitting through two grueling trials in the wake of her daughter & grand daughter’s murders, Sherry vowed to never allow another parent to face a similar ordeal. She turned her grief & anger into action by making changes in the voluntary intoxication law that Wisconsin has, amongst a dozen other states. It is her goal that voluntary intoxication cannot be used as a defense for murder.
At the time of Alisha’s murder, Wisconsin law had a clause that you cannot form intent if you were intoxicated so Sherry got busy working with two lawmakers to amend the law. She realizes that she can never get Alisha or Ava back, but she wants to prevent other families from enduring a trial or allowing a murderer to walk free because they were intoxicated.
In 2014 Governor Scott Walker signed Assembly Bill 780 into law which eliminates drunkenness as a defense for accused criminals. Not only that, but Sherry also got the voluntary intoxication law banished in 31 other states in addition to Wisconsin.
Alisha’s family also went on to sue Home Depot, Grand Flower Growers, Grand owners John & Todd Mossel & Vinca Solutions for wrongful death after they failed to take action on multiple sexual harassment complaints against Cooper. Grand Flowers supplied flowers to Home Depot where Alisha began working in 2006 in the garden department. Brian Cooper was a Grand employee & Home Depot was in charge of the job site & of the safety of the employees working there.
Cooper was outwardly aggressive & violent, publicly disparaging Alisha in the presence of others & was known to throw objects at employees when he was angry, yet no action was taken & complaints were ignored despite his pattern of abuse. Cooper’s manager ordered him to take anger management classes, but never followed up to ensure that he did, which he had not.
When a female high school student named Jessica worked with Cooper, just like he’d done with Alisha, he would introduce her as his girlfriend despite the fact they weren’t dating. He would also make inappropriate comments about his genitals to her, rub himself against her & he once insisted that she ride with him from Joliet to Chicago. During the drive he made sexual comments which led Jessica to complain to her group leader about her discomfort. Jessica ultimately quit after no action was taken & Cooper only got louder, more aggressive & increasingly inappropriate.
When Alisha began working for Cooper in 2006, she had only been about sixteen while he had been about thirty. Despite the large age gap, the fact that she was a minor & he was her boss, he often referred to her as his girlfriend regardless of the fact that they weren’t dating & Alisha politely declined his advances. Frustrated by the rejection, he publicly lashed out in outwardly angry & aggressive outbursts. He called & texted her outside of work & pressured her to spend time alone with him. Alisha repeatedly complained about his behavior to other supervisors & managers & told her group leader that she didn’t want to be alone with him. One supervisor sent Cooper home after he was heard calling Alisha a slut & a whore. Regardless of this shockingly unprofessional, inappropriate behavior, he remained her supervisor until he ultimately murdered her.
The suit was thrown out at district court in 2015 & again in 2016 as the court emphasized lack of prior explicit threats or physical violence from Cooper which was a barrier to establishing liability. However, in March 2017, the court reversed this dismissal though further details are not widely documented so it’s possible that the case settled out of court confidentially.
Alisha’s life had been brimming with promise; she was ready to become a mother to baby Ava Lucille & begin her career in forensic psychology & criminal justice yet she never had a chance to do any of these things. It is an employer’s duty to protect their employees from abuse in the workplace, but sadly, Alisha endured ongoing harassment & abuse while her supervisor was allowed to carry on despite her complaints to upper management. Brian Cooper’s unchecked harassment wasn’t only a workplace issue, but a prelude to murder. He leveraged his authority to coerce Alisha Bromfield into what became a final, fatal trip.
References:
- Courthouse News Service: Killer, employee sued for grisly murder
- Sherry Anichich v. Home Depot
- Patch: Plainfield family wins fight against drunk-defense law
- CBS News: Plainfield family fights to change Wisconsin law
- True Case Files: The murder of Alisha Bromfield
- Hub Pages: Mother-to-be Alisha Bromfield murdered & defiled by boss Brian Cooper
- True Crime News: Man makes disturbing confession about killing his pregnant crush after his sister’s wedding
