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Man charged with murder offers no clue to motive
By MARK I. JOHNSON
Staff Writer
EDGEWATER -- Police, friends and family of Lisa Memro asked the same thing Tuesday -- why would anyone want to slash the 21-year-old's throat?
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Memro
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The New Smyrna Beach resident's accused killer, Russell Bradshaw, 20, may have confessed to the crime, but investigators said he gave no clue as to the motive of the Monday night slaying.
Police said Memro's throat was cut in the bathroom of the home Bradshaw shared with his parents in Edgewater. He then carried her body into a bedroom where Bradshaw told investigators he raped her, likely after his victim had died.
"This is a very unusual case," Edgewater police Detective Heather Brady said Tuesday morning after charging Bradshaw with first-degree premeditated murder. "(It is) bizarre. There is no motive at all and he gave no indication (of one.)"
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Bradshaw
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Bradshaw walked to the East Park Avenue police station at 9:43 p.m. Monday and told dispatchers he thought he had killed someone, Brady said.
Bradshaw also gave officers a key and permission to search the house, Brady said. He also told investigators they could find the bloody knife used in the killing in a kitchen sink.
Police found Memro's naked body in a bedroom of the single-story lakefront home at 914 Lake Ave. Bradshaw's parents were out of town, police said.
N-J | Mark I. Johnson
Edgewater Police Detective Heather Brady and a man, who said he was the boyfriend of Lisa Anne Memro, talk outside the Edgewater home where Memro's body was found. |
Bradshaw told investigators he punched Memro in the back of the head and cut her throat "from ear to ear" with a kitchen knife over a bathroom tub.
The details of the crime shocked family and friends of the victim.
"I am devastated and angry," Memro's mother, Helen, said when contacted by phone Tuesday.
Helen Memro of Daytona Beach said the reality of her daughter's death still has not sunk in, but the feeling of disbelief that accompanied the early morning notification of her death has remained throughout the day.
"I am still in shock," she said.
Helen Memro said the last time she saw her daughter was earlier this month at a birthday celebration. And the spunky and independent young woman was moving forward with her life.
She said Memro was attending Daytona Beach Community College and continuing her dream of becoming an actress, a goal she pursued throughout high school.
"We use to call her Vocal Girl," Helen Memro said.
Lisa Memro lived in an Lymestone Court apartment with Keri Sachse, who said she last saw her roommate at home Monday evening.
She said Memro was doing math homework when she got a cell phone call and told Sachse she was going out.
"She said she would be back later," Sachse said.
The next she knew police called about 3 a.m. Tuesday looking for information about the slain woman.
Like Helen Memro, Sachse said she could not fathom what happened to her friend.
"I do not understand how someone could do that to her," she said.
Both women said they never heard the name Russell Bradshaw before Monday's murder. However, that was not the case with one of Memro's co-workers.
Audrey Dyer of Edgewater said Tuesday that Bradshaw was an acquaintance of Memro. He may have once even shared a residence with her. Dyer believes Bradshaw was a friend of Memro's boyfriend at the time and may have stayed at their place until the couple broke up in January.
But Dyer had no idea why Memro might have gone to Bradshaw's home about 8 p.m. Monday.
"She always wanted to help people out," she said. At one time Dyer said she even assisted Bradshaw in getting his driver's license.
"She did not deserve this at all," Dyer said, her voice breaking with emotion. "She was a sweet, beautiful girl."
Memro's boss , Kim Long, also from Edgewater, said helping others was one of her "semi-adopted" daughter's best traits.
"She would drop everything to help someone," Long said.
She said the 2004 New Smyrna Beach High School graduate had worked for her cleaning service since she was a junior at the school.
"This is so senseless," Long said.
That sentiment was echoed by Memro's boyfriend, who would only identify himself as Will. He arrived at the crime scene Tuesday morning and collapsed with grief while talking with investigators.
"This should not have happened," he said. "She was too nice a girl for this to happen."
Bradshaw's former co-workers at a New Smyrna Beach pizza restaurant were equally shocked to learn he was accused of murder.
"I would not have expected that," said Kristie Bishop, manager of Stavro's Pizza Place, where Bradshaw worked as a prep cook until about a year ago. He left to take a job at a furniture store after about five months at the restaurant, but Bishop did not know which one.
"He was a soft-tempered guy, very passive," she said.
But a check of court records showed Bradshaw had a violent side.
In a May 2005 Edgewater police report he was accused of punching a former girlfriend's car and damaging other property during a domestic disturbance. While that victim said she did not recall Bradshaw hitting her, he was charged with domestic assault and felony criminal mischief.
He was slated to go to trial on those charges on Oct. 9 after violating a pretrial agreement. He tested positive for marijuana in April, court records state.
During his first appearance on the murder charge before County Judge Shirley Green on Tuesday afternoon, Bradshaw said nothing.
Daytona Beach attorney Thomas Mott said he was representing Bradshaw and declined comment on leaving, as did a group of about eight people who sat in the courtroom.
Bradshaw is being held at the Volusia County Branch Jail without bail.
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