Brandon Roberts.
Jurors found a man guilty of all charges for murdering a woman he briefly dated.
“I’m still alive,” Brandon Roberts, 29, yelled Tuesday as judicial marshals took him from that courtroom in Bridgeport, Connecticut, according to The Connecticut Post.
He shot therapist Emily Todd, 25, in the back of the head after luring her out to a boat ramp on Dec. 8, 2018, prosecutors said. Roberts stole her car, prosecutors added. Roberts was arrested six days later at his father’s home in Shaker Heights, Ohio.
Todd’s mother Jennifer Lawlor called Roberts “disgusting,” saying he was staring at her as well as smiling and attempting to mouth something, according to News 12 CT reporter Marissa Alter.
Regarding Roberts’ outburst after the hrg, “You all saw what he really is.” Todd’s mom says Roberts was staring at her, smiling & trying to mouth something. As marshals ushered him out, “he actually lost his control enough to scream out loud, ‘I’m still alive.’ He’s disgusting.”
— Marissa Alter (@MarissaAlter) April 26, 2022
“You all saw what he really is,” Lawlor said.
Roberts’ sentencing was scheduled to take place on June 24. He faces up to 90 years in prison.
Public Defender Joseph Bruckmann asked jurors to convict Roberts of only manslaughter, according to the Post. He maintained his client was living through an “emotional whirlwind.” Roberts’ mother died the year before the killing, he was homeless, and the three-week relationship with Todd was tumultuous, the lawyer reportedly said.
But prosecutors showed surveillance video of Roberts emptying Todd’s bank account at two ATMs after the shooting. State’s Attorney Joseph Corradino said the shooting was “deliberate, intentional, planned.” The 29-year-old killed for money, the prosecutor said.
“He always seems to bring it back to his need for money,” Corradino said in describing texts between the couple. “She wanted a relationship with him. He wasn’t into it.”
Roberts offered no explanation during testimony. He acknowledged believing that Todd might be pregnant with his child.
“I really didn’t know why, and I had no explanation,” he said of the shooting.
Roberts maintained that officers during an interview put words in his mouth about needing money, and that he nonetheless agreed.
“I knew that would give some type of justice so I went with that,” he said. “I honestly didn’t know. I had no explanation and no reason at all.”
Roberts acknowledged during cross-examination that he did not have to shoot Todd in the head.
In trying to highlight Roberts’ emotional turmoil, the defense brought up explicit texts in which Todd used the N-word. Roberts testified he felt “awkward and a little degraded.” Corradino called these sexts and pointed out that Roberts sent his share of messages to Todd.
Jurors ultimately convicted Roberts of murder, felony murder, first-degree robbery, and carrying a pistol without a permit.
EMILY TODD MURDER: The jury has resumed deliberations in the killing of 25-year-old Emily Todd, of Bethel, who was found with a single shot to the back of her head in Bridgeport in December 2018. @News12CT pic.twitter.com/qSyUV4B0dI
— Marissa Alter (@MarissaAlter) April 26, 2022
Todd’s family have taken to Bridgeport police to task, saying that the officers failed to properly follow up on her telling 911 about Roberts’ behavior on Nov. 30, 2018, just more than a week before the murder. She told the dispatcher that Roberts was threatening to hurt himself after she broke up with him. According to her mother, Emily told the dispatcher that Roberts was going to kill her for telling anyone this.
Cops reportedly found Roberts but a supervisor called off the chase because he was driving erratically. But Lawlor said officers failed to try to even find him even though they had his date of birth, license plate number, the description of his vehicle, the knowledge he had a gun, and a location where they could likely find him.
[Screenshot via WTIC-TV]
