Father kills 4 children, self after spousal dispute (2006 US murder totals - 8788 and rising)

Fort Wayne Journal Gazette ^ | 7/04/06

[Libloather]

Father kills 4 children, self after spousal dispute
Associated Press
Posted on Wed, Jul. 05, 2006

An undated photo provided by the Gustine Police Department shows twins Alyssa Branscum, 5, left, and Taylor Branscum. The twins and their two other siblings were found dead in their Gustine, Calif., home Tuesday, July 4, 2006, officials said. The children apparently died of gunshots to the head, and their father, Trevor Branscum, 38, died of a self-inflicted wound, Mayor Jim Bonta said. Police Sgt. Vince Inaudi said the children appeared to be sleeping when they were shot. The evidence was consistent with a murder-suicide, but the department planned to conduct a full homicide investigation, he said. (AP Photo/Gustine Police Department)

GUSTINE, Calif. – A man who was seen arguing with his wife Tuesday later killed his four young children with a hunting rifle before turning the gun on himself, officials said.

Authorities identified the dead siblings as Aubrie Branscum, 12; Jacob, 10; and twins Taylor and Alyssa, 5.

The children apparently died of gunshots to the head, according to Mayor Jim Bonta.

Their father, Trevor Branscum, 38, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Authorities told the mayor Branscum had to reload the rifle before each shot.

Bonta said that the family had lived in Gustine for several years and that police were unaware of any previous problems with the family.

“They were happy; they were doing fireworks together last night,” Bonta said.

The bloodshed came about an hour after a store owner called police to report that Branscum and his wife, Amanda, were having an argument. Police said that as the woman drove away in a van, her husband dove through the window.

Authorities said that after police were called to the Branscum home before 2 a.m., officers saw Amanda Branscum lying in the road uninjured; the father and children were found dead inside the house.

[starfish923]

GoLightly, thanks for sticking up for me and my daughter.
My daughter stayed in her marriage because she believed that marriage was FOREVER. She knew if she told us what he was doing to her we would have forced her to leave him. Her husband threateded suicide on a regular basis often with a gun right beside him. My daughter stayed because she said she would never be able to live with herself if he killed himself because of her. She finally got the courage to leave when she started to fear for the safety of her children.
Starfish, spousal abuse often happens slowly and gets progressively worse. The abuser browbeats the victim into believing they deserve the abuse. Also, financial reasons keep people together even if they desperately want out. There are not nearly enough shelters for abused women to use for escape. I don't care what you say or how brave you think you are. If you thought a crazy relative might come murder your daughter or your grandchildren, who lives with you, you would be afraid, too.
Talk is cheap. Walk a mile in my shoes or the shoes of an abused wife and you will see there are no simple answers.
Fine talk from a major-league enabler. You've made all the standard excuses for a woman staying with an abuser. Abusers are evil but so are the spouses who stay with them and allow the abusers to CONTINUE to destroy their lives and the lives of their most vulnerable and innocent children.
Those children LEARN how to deal with life and its problems from their dysfunction parents and grandparents, the abuser, the abused and the enabling extended family. The cycle will continue, thanks to thinking like yours.

I can very easily understand how your daughter stayed with that horrible, vile bastard. You helped keep her there with your own lack of courage.
I've heard ALL the standard excuses of weak people. I've also heard and seen the strength that people have to get out of these horrible, dangerous and CHILD-DESTROYING marriages. Help from family is crucial.
Your daughter made my point for me. She DID find the courage. She DID get the backbone. She DID the right thing because she stopped thinking of HER feelings and put HER CHILDREN first, as she should.

I hope she learned that NO "marriage is forever." NO faith expects people to stay where there is the kind of abuse that kills or irreparably damages.....NO faith. ANY clergy would have urged your daughter to end the dread, fear and abuse.

Starfish923, while you are doing all your praying maybe you should pray for a brain and a heart. You know absolutely nothing about what you are talking about.
1. Right. You OBVIOUSLY haven't read my posts because COURAGE to do the right thing was right on my list. If you HAD read it, you wouldn't have written such a foolish thing.

2. Right. So, it's a one-way street with you, all talk, scold, lecture and no reading from sources you don't like or don't feel like reading. Nothing IN, everything OUT.

3. Right. You insult me personally (ad hominem) because....because you have nothing left to argue so you go ONE STEP farther and insult. That shows YOUR character, upbringing and manners.

[starfish923]

Your head is soooo far up your butt I don't know where to start. When I married my ex he liked a drink now and then, by the end of our 16 year marriage he was a raging abusive alcoholic. One of his "buttons" I pushed was telling him the weather forcast before he left for work. Tell me how to avoid things like that. Many people still believe that marriage is forever and we don't end it unless our life is at risk. How do you know when someone is going to snap. It must be convienient being psychic. Most of us are not so blessed.

You really ought to get some therapy, couseling or have a LONG chat with Dr. Laura.

They will ALL tell you what you so obviously STILL don't know. There is nothing "psychic" about spotting a drunk or a psycho. There is nothing "psychic" about common sense.

Some GEMS from Dr. Laura (I listen to her on my way home from work.):
*Knowing someone at least a year and a half before marriage will tell you almost everything about a person.
*Family and friends will often see what the most blind lover won't see and listening to those who love you the most is crucial.
*Meeting someone through family, friends or church is often a good way to meet someone. Can you guess why or do you need a crsytal ball?

Are these revelations of the "psychic" to you? Are you so unblessed as to not possess any common sense? I hope not. If so, then you are doomed to repeat your mistakes.

You REALLY show YOUR character, upbringing and manners when you start off a post with an insult. Shame on you.

[starfish923]

Oh PS I have had the same best friend since I was sixteen. I am now forty eight. When anything bad or good happens I call her first. She's the person that knows me best and will tell me the truth instead of what I want to hear or what she feels she should say. I trust her most of all. Too bad you don't understand that kind of friendship.

You know, you sent this to YOURSELF. I just happened to see it. I actually DO read through the thread. Lol. Your emotions seem to have the upper hand in this.

You continue your insults by assuming that I don't understand "that kind of friendship."
I'm happy that you have such a good friend.
But your character, upbringing and manners are showing again. You have SUCH anger...especially at a total stranger, all for saying things with which you disagree. Perhaps it's time for you to talk to your girlfriend again.
Peace.

[starfish923]

Becky,
The article assiduously avoids mention of the word "stepmother." She could be.
She COULD also be their mother but using her maiden name.
The article DID say "his" children, but that could be the author's sloth, ignorance....or the truth by omission.

[starfish923]

Authorities said that after police were called to the Branscum home before 2 a.m., officers saw Amanda Branscum lying in the road uninjured; the father and children were found dead inside the house.

I wonder who made THIS call to the police to the Branscum jome before 2 A.M. The article doesn't say.
It SUGGESTS that someone in the neighborhood saw or heard something from the Branscum home that would warrent him/her calling the police at two in the morning.

Sounds like it might have been a repeat performance for the police visit.

Maybe Anita called them before she collapsed uninjured on the sidewalk.

Lots of holes to be filled in this article.

[BruceysMom]

The elders in my church assured me that I was marrying the right person, after knowing him for quite a while. Once again your "theory" falls short. I hope someday you find a best friend. My posts, if they have seemed angry are angry at your unwillingness to acknowledge your narrow view of what is right or wrong, what you can or cannot predict. It must be nice to always be right. Blaming the victim is wrong. period.

[Zavien Doombringer]

Hmmm, you sign up to only post to this thread, you rant that we do not know the situation and that you know about these people personally... We have had a few posters like you.

In fact... I was just thinking you may be the same poster....

[starfish923]

1. The elders in my church assured me that I was marrying the right person, after knowing him for quite a while.
2. Once again your "theory" falls short.
3. I hope someday you find a best friend.
4. My posts, if they have seemed angry are angry at your unwillingness to acknowledge your narrow view of what is right or wrong, what you can or cannot predict.
5. It must be nice to always be right.
6. Blaming the victim is wrong. period.

1. You got ASSURANCE from the elders that he was the right person? Wow. How would they know?
Again, you got it wrong.
ADVICE, not assurance. NO ONE knows to the point of ASSURANCE how people really are. You wanted ADVICE. How about asking your own family, HIS family and friends, his boss, co-workers? They might have had more insight than the Church elders in that they might have known him better. Perhaps your girlfriend ASSURED you or ADVISED you that he was the right man. If so, they were all dead wrong. Strange that ALL of them were TOTALLY fooled by this one person. In fact, I really don't know if I believe you or not.

2. I have no "theory," just common sense. So I am right again and you are wrong again.

3. More insults. Your character, manners and upbringing, or your lack of them, ALWAYS seems to come through. Perhaps some people simply can't change some things.

4. And here come the excuses for bad behavior and sour words. Excuses for your bad manners....that is also learned behavior.

5. I don't know; I'm often wrong. It's just that with your logic, ideas and thinking, it's SO EASY to be right all the time. All it takes is common sense and life experiences. I AM oldish. I've been a teacher since 1969, 15 years with kids and the rest with college-age adults.

6. I never blamed the victim. But I know that. You simply refuse to read the words as I wrote them. It DID start with "I wonder." Lol. That is WONDERING, not blaming.
But, if you could read with your brain and not your emotions, you might have been able to "get it."

You might consider talking to someone with more experience and wisdom than just your girlfriend. Perhaps to one of those Church elders.
Remember, it's ADVICE you would like, not ASSURANCES. There are few assurances in this world. That too is common sense.

Pax vobiscum.

[BruceysMom]

No I got ASSURANCE. I pity you. How awful to not be able to walk a mile in someone else's shoes. You are doomed to a life of self righteous selfishness. Now I'm done with you. There is none so blind as he who will not see. Respond or not. I don't care. Someone who would blame a spouse for their spouse killing their children is of no concern of mine.

[starfish923]

1. No I got ASSURANCE.
2. I pity you. How awful to not be able to walk a mile in someone else's shoes. You are doomed to a life of self righteous selfishness. Now I'm done with you. There is none so blind as he who will not see. Respond or not. I don't care.
3. Someone who would blame a spouse for their spouse killing their children is of no concern of mine.

1. I wonder at anyone ASSURING another human being about the furture actions of any person. I thought that only GOD would be able to ASSURE one about a person's future behavior. You seem to have imbued your elders with omnipotence. That is not straight, clear thinking, not at all.

2. Pity away. Coming from you that is merely inane, peurile, misplaced and, I THINK, rather pathetic. Mostly it's nonsequiter. I feel on the right side when it comes from you. I have agreed on NOTHING with you so I would be rather worried if you did agree with me. Lol.

3. Since I didn't blame the spouse for the death of the children, you are not talking to me.
Perhaps, since you seem OBSESSED about putting those words into my post and they WERE NOT there, then perhaps, in your own skewed logic, YOU blame her.
You DO keep driving the point, so I assume that you can't let go of the fact that I DIDN'T say that. Your own obsessions reveal things not good in your thinking and ideas. Tsk, tsk.
Obsession with falsehoods seems to be another sad, sad part of your character. So does denial. But, that's just a guess based on your puerile thinking, emotional responses and inaccurate reading.

Respond or not. I don't care either.

Still, I say to you: Pax vobiscum.

[jamaly]

Fine talk from a major-league enabler. You've made all the standard excuses for a woman staying with an abuser. Abusers are evil but so are the spouses who stay with them and allow the abusers to CONTINUE to destroy their lives and the lives of their most vulnerable and innocent children.

Those children LEARN how to deal with life and its problems from their dysfunction parents and grandparents, the abuser, the abused and the enabling extended family. The cycle will continue, thanks to thinking like yours.

I can very easily understand how your daughter stayed with that horrible, vile bastard. You helped keep her there with your own lack of courage.

I've heard ALL the standard excuses of weak people. I've also heard and seen the strength that people have to get out of these horrible, dangerous and CHILD-DESTROYING marriages. Help from family is crucial.

Your daughter made my point for me. She DID find the courage. She DID get the backbone. She DID the right thing because she stopped thinking of HER feelings and put HER CHILDREN first, as she should.

I hope she learned that NO "marriage is forever." NO faith expects people to stay where there is the kind of abuse that kills or irreparably damages.....NO faith. ANY clergy would have urged your daughter to end the dread, fear and abuse. .

I am not an enabler now nor have I ever been an enabler. The very minute that I heard my daughter was being abused I told her that she was moving in with us and we would help her through this whole nightmare. She was never alone with her husband after that. We had all of her things moved into our house or storage within 48 hours. I took her to a lawyer and also to a domestic abuse counselor at the DA's office. We filed for a restraining order against her husband received an emergency restraining order agaist him immediately. My husband and I have spent over $10,000 paying for the divorce and psychiatric evaluations on her monster husband. He is not allowed unsupervised visits with the children now and we hope he never will be. My daughter was so terrified of the monster that she was literally a "walking nervous breakdown" for months. We had known something was wrong; but, she wouldn't tell us she was too terrified.

For your information my husband and I never, not for one minute, showed our children abuse or alcoholism, cheating or any other disfunctional behavior. We aren't perfect; but, we have been happily married for over 37 years. We don't drink, smoke or cheat. If anything we have been a hard example to live up to.

You truly are a self-righteous jerk and I am thankful that I am not married to you or related to you in anyway. I pity people who have to deal with you on a daily basis.

[Anne of DC]

Oh Man!

If he wanted to commit suicide, he could've done just that.

Buy why take these innocent children with him?

[pollyannaish]

Actually, I do agree with you on many of your points.

I completely 100% agree with you that button pushers are bullies, and that girls are often exceptionally skilled at it. Completely agree with you that it takes two to create strife in a relationship. Provoking is a terrible thing.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that all of us are both button pushers and button possessors, although to greater and lesser degrees. When we argue and fight, we use this dynamic as a weapon. So ALL of us are responsible for both not pushing others buttons and defusing our own. And that is actually exactly the entire process of successful communication.

I think were we may disagree is to look at a situation like this were children are killed and put a heavy responsibility on the non-involved partner. In any marriage that is breaking up there is a great deal of turmoil. There is a lot of lashing out and button pushing.

However, going over the edge, killing the children and saying essentially the devil made me do it doesn't matter. In the end, we are completely responsible for our own actions no matter who pushed our buttons or bullied us or made us mad. In fact, we can not change other people, we can only change how we respond to it.

It's not that I deny that horrific button pushing happens because it does. And it's not that it isn't an explanation because it might be. What it is not is an excuse for poor (or worse, evil) behavior. My suspicion is that we agree with that and you are wanting to make sure that there is some empathy for those involved. You want us to understand that things like this don't happen in a vacuum. I do.

I would also disagree with you that I didn't learn this lesson in my teens. I think I connected with GoLightly's comment because I am not usually an intentional button pusher (Although I most certainly do it sometimes accidentally as this conversation will attest) but I do get my own buttons pushed far too easily and lash out as a result. What it was is a reminder for me to diffuse those buttons in myself and by doing so I can often do my part in diffusing the situation itself. That is why I connected with it. It was, in fact, simply an acknowledgment of my own weaknesses.

The bottom line is, as adults if we are aware of our own buttons we can better manage our lives in relationship to the button pushers because we too take responsibility for the situation. It is all too easy for those of us who don't push buttons to pass the blame to the bullies and claim victimhood, when we own part of the responsibility for the issue ourselves.

Finally Yes, I am LOVING this lesson too. I learn a great deal from thinking these things through, approaching them from different angles, see alternative perspectives.

You sound like a fine teacher. Thanks for your patience.

[r9etb]

SHE is lying outside on the sidewalk uninjured? Completely uninjured? I wonder where she was in defending her four babies, that's all. They had more than a mere "argument." And it didn't suddenly start in ONE day. Has she NO part in this? Is she completely blameless in all this? Four babies and one father/husband are dead.....and she isn't even injured.

I have no trouble believing that Trevor Branscum was a controlling, violent, psychotic POS who didn't need anybody's help in getting to the point of doing this.

The mother might well have been weak in mind and spirit, and scared of him. Her "fault" may lie in simply finding, for once, the backbone to stand up to him.

I can definitely see her being completely undone by the murders of her children, and in a state of utter collapse, which would explain why she was lying there "uninjured."

[pollyannaish]

One more thing. I reread the entire thread from start to finish.

I actually don't see a huge difference in positions between many posters on this thread. Mostly miscommunication resulting from tone and shades of meaning.

But there sure is a whole lotta button pushin' going on 'round here!

LOL.

[r9etb]

Trevor Branscum recently lost a construction job and had to take another at $5 less per hour in Modesto. That caused Trimble to seek a job, something Branscum never wanted, she said.

There's a big red flag. Given what came later, I'd say that Branscumbag was a tyrant who lost all control once his wife showed signs of independence.

[starfish923]

I am not an enabler now nor have I ever been an enabler. The very minute that I heard my daughter was being abused I told her that she was moving in with us and we would help her through this whole nightmare. She was never alone with her husband after that. We had all of her things moved into our house or storage within 48 hours. I took her to a lawyer and also to a domestic abuse counselor at the DA's office. We filed for a restraining order against her husband received an emergency restraining order agaist him immediately. My husband and I have spent over $10,000 paying for the divorce and psychiatric evaluations on her monster husband. He is not allowed unsupervised visits with the children now and we hope he never will be. My daughter was so terrified of the monster that she was literally a "walking nervous breakdown" for months. We had known something was wrong; but, she wouldn't tell us she was too terrified.
NOW you mention those "details." NOW you tell the story.
Dr. Laura always scolds those callers who tell ONLY part of their story, leaving out basic information.....just like you did. She gets SO annoyed when callers ask questions and want advice, for example, and LEAVE OUT, quite deliberately, she adds, EXTREMELY IMPORTANT FACTS....why, just like you did.
It is so unfair to try to respond when only PART of a story is revealed. She has harsher words but, then, she isn't one to mince words.
By the way, you ought to listen to her. She has 22 million listeners every day.
IMHO, you are not only an enabler, but you are manipulative. It's so .... well, never mind, you get my point.

For your information my husband and I never, not for one minute, showed our children abuse or alcoholism, cheating or any other disfunctional behavior. We aren't perfect; but, we have been happily married for over 37 years. We don't drink, smoke or cheat. If anything we have been a hard example to live up to.
I didn't say that you showed them by your own behavior, but you showed them by allowing your daughter to live with that monster. At least, that was the story you said BEFORE. Now, however, you have changed your story by revealing more and more and more.....untold facts.
Typical of manipulators to withhold information.

By the way, good for you in doing what you did. Too bad you never bothered to put that in your original story. Too bad the truth finally comes out MUCH later.

Also, good for you and your long, happy marriage. Too bad for your daughter's horrible marriage and that she had to learn the hard way. But, at least she learned.

You truly are a self-righteous jerk and I am thankful that I am not married to you or related to you in anyway. I pity people who have to deal with you on a daily basis.
You show your character, manners and upbringing, or lack of them, by your insults. THAT is behavior that one hopes you didn't pass on to your daughter. Shame on you.
I haven't called you names, but then, name-calling, or ad hominem, personal attacks, are forbidden on this site.
I knew that. Perhaps, since you SEEM to be reading-deficient, you didn't know that. You do now.

I wonder why you assume that I am a male...more unclear, skewed thinking on your part with assumptions. I am a woman, an older one.

I would be chagrined if I had the misfortune to be related to you, ashamed of your manners, character and upbringing and embarrassed by your emotionalism, PUERILE thinking and TOTAL LACK of clear, straight thinking.

[CheneyChick]

MEOW!!!

[r9etb]

I wonder why you assume that I am a male...

Probably because the rude, arrogant blowhards one normally finds at FR tend to be men.

[starfish923]

I wonder why you assume that I am a male...
Probably because the rude, arrogant blowhards one normally finds at FR tend to be men.

Thus speaks another troll-thinking man-hater, crawling out from under a rock. Are you a member of N.O.W.? Are you one of "them," by any chance?

You've spoken volumes for yourself with that sexist, male-phobic remark.

Thanks for illuminating your own character, upbringing and manners so clearly and finally.