Tacoma Confidential

A True Story of Murder, Suicide, and a Police Chief's Secret Life

Paul LaRosa

- 4.4 • 26 Ratings

- $5.99

- $5.99

Gig Harbor, WA, a quiet Tacoma suburb, knew little of tragedy and scandal—until April 26, 2003. On that day David Brame, distraught over his impending divorce, shot his wife to death in a busy public parking lot. Then, with the couple’s two children only feet away, he turned the gun on himself.

It was a horrific event, but Tacoma residents had special reason to be shocked. Many would have considered Brame their city’s least likely murderer. He was, after all, the chief of police. . . .

But as the investigation unfolded, another side of Brame and his marriage came to light. Bizarre behavior. Years of abuse. Liaisons with multiple partners—and constant death threats. Here, in chilling detail, is the full story of Gig Harbor’s most violent and disturbing crime, meticulously pieced together by an award-winning newsman. Every secret is revealed—even the most confidential.

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY NOV 14, 2005

LaRosa, a journalist and TV producer who was won two Emmy Awards, does a fine job detailing the tragic chain of events that led to the 2003 murder of Crystal Brame at the hands of her estranged husband, David Brame, the chief of police of Tacoma, Wash., who immediately killed himself. That this murder-suicide came as a shock to the local citizens was a testament both to the timidity of the press and the mishandling of David Brame's growing instability and violence by city government, including fellow members of the police force. The essential sadness of the tale comes through in LaRosa's careful prose, though he leaves some important ambiguities unresolved, perhaps by necessity. Some readers might have preferred more of an emphasis on the local politics that contributed to the enabling of Chief Brame's domestic violence, but this is a solid summary of the depressing basics of the case.

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