Following weeks of delays, a St. Helena mother of three at the center of a high-profile murder will appear before a judge for the first time.
The bond hearing for Jamie Michele Bradley-Brun, accused of drowning her 6-year-old daughter and attempting to drown her 8-year-old, will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Beaufort County Courthouse.
Bradley-Brun was arrested May 19 and has been in custody at the county detention center for 20 days, according to records from the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
These proceedings were delayed several weeks due to the case’s severity. Bonds for murder and attempted murder cases can only be set by Circuit Court judges, said Solicitor Duffie Stone, meaning court officials had to wait until Beaufort County General Sessions Court reconvened.
Bradley-Brun will appear Thursday afternoon before SC Circuit Court Judge Maite Murphy.
‘It’s pretty horrific’
Beaufort County deputies responded in the early morning hours of May 19 to a home on Sam Doyle Drive, finding the body of 6-year-old Mackaya Bradley-Brun, whose autopsy results she had died in a homicidal drowning.
Investigators say the mother most likely drowned the six-year-old, then allegedly tried to drown her eight-year-old daughter as well. The middle child’s “plea for help” awoke the household’s eldest daughter, who pulled her sister away and called 911 as both girls retreated to a relative’s home across the street, Sheriff PJ Tanner told reporters at a Beaufort press conference.
“I think she did an unbelievable job,” the sheriff said of the teen. “She defended her family when no one else was available to do so until we got there.”
Police are not releasing the names of the two surviving sisters.
Tanner stuck to a strict narrative during Friday afternoon’s press conference, refusing to answer questions about a motivation behind the morning’s gruesome outcome. “I know what happened, and it’s pretty horrific,” he told reporters.
He also steered clear of details behind the drowning, although he said the eight-year-old’s screams for help came from the bathroom.
Asked if the incident was tied to a psychological issue, Tanner said he is “not a mental health expert” and would not elaborate on Bradley-Brun’s state of mind. .