January 10th, a dear friend of mine was murdered in a murder/suicide by her husband in which they were in the process of going through a divorce. I am posting this here so that I will have Jennifer’s letter on hand at all times. It was published in the Columbus Packet and she also sent the letter to the Daily Journal in Tupelo and to the Daily Corinthian in Corinth. I know for sure that the Daily Corinthian has failed to return phone calls and emails back to Jennifer about her letter as of January 29, 2010. I am not sure if it was ever printed in the Daily Journal.
Below you will find a note to the editor of the Columbus Packet (Roger Larson) and a note from him (in italics). All of this was posted on http://myweb.cableone.net/columbuspacket/letters.html
Editor’s note: Jennifer Smith, who wrote the following letter, included this note with it.
Roger,
Many people in Columbus and Starkville know the two people that the attached letter is about as they both lived here and in Starkville for years, which is why I found it hard to believe that Tupelo covered their deaths but not Columbus. Amanda was a graduate of MSU and her husband Brad was a graduate of MUW.
Thanks for your time,
Jennifer Smith
Ms. Smith’s e-mail was the first I had heard of the murder/suicide.
Editor:
I am writing in response to the January 10 murder/suicide of Amanda Millsaps and Brad Johnson in Corinth. Their deaths did not garner much attention here, but they had resided in the Golden Triangle area for the past two years, up until last June. While living here, Amanda worked at a Columbus bank and taught water aerobics at night at the W. Brad graduated from the W in May with a business degree. Amanda was my college roommate and best friend. The news of her death devastated me, but the resulting news coverage on WTVA angered me. It was insinuated that this came out of the blue, that no one could see this coming. That is, in fact, horribly wrong. Brad had been stalking, harassing and threatening Amanda since their separation in October. He even went so far as to follow her 120 miles from Corinth to Columbus, where he stalked her all night and then physically assaulted her when she was separated from her friends. I took her to the police station that night where she filed a report against him. I will forever feel guilty that I did not push her to press charges against him that night.
Amanda sought protection from Brad, but the system and everyone involved failed her. Amanda sought a restraining order in Alcorn County, but the judge would not listen to her—too busy on his cell phone to listen to a woman who feared for her safety. He would not grant her an emergency restraining order but instead told her to bring it to open court. This means that Brad would have to be served and then face her in open court to defend himself against the protective order. Please explain to me how it makes sense that a woman who fears for her safety would want the person doing this to her to know the exact date, time, and place (the courthouse) where he can find her? Brad’s counselor hung up on her when she called to report that Brad had threatened both Amanda’s life and his own. Her divorce attorney did not return her calls when she called for weeks seeking advice on what to do. The people in his camp (I will not name names as you know who you are and will have to live with that) told her she was a liar and that Brad would never do those horrible things when she sought for the people close to him to help her by encouraging him to seek help and move on.
I know rationally that Amanda’s death is no one’s fault but Brad Johnson’s, but I am so angry that no one with the power to help her even listened to her, much less actually tried to help. I hope in the future that judges take the time, and have the courtesy to hang up the cell phone, to listen when a woman comes to them fearing for her safety, especially as she already had a police report from Columbus where he had followed her across numerous counties and miles and physically hurt her. I hope in the future that counselors/ psychologists listen that a man has threatened his life and others. I hope in the future that attorneys take ten minutes out of their day to return a call. I hope in the future that friends and family of a man take seriously that the man is threatening harm against someone and actually get involved instead of sitting on the sidelines.
Evil presides when good people do nothing. But, most of all, I hope that women will take seriously any threats made on their life. Amanda feared that Brad would harm her, but she never believed that he would kill her. She was tragically wrong. Nothing will bring back this beautiful, warm, vivacious lady whom her family and friends loved and adored, but I hope that we all can learn something from her death. I believe that this case shows how and why we need tougher laws on domestic violence in Mississippi and more protection for the women in danger. Let us never allow this to happen again.
Jennifer Smith
Columbus
