Son pleads guilty to murder of parents at On the Beat in the Bluegrass

Skip to content

Son pleads guilty to murder of parents

Published

by

H-L Justice Team

on September 10, 2008

. Tags: basement, Jim Crawford, murder, parents, Russell Bramlage, son, Terry and Lynda Bramlage, Williamstown home.

By Jillian Ogawa
jogawa@herald-leader.com

WILLIAMSTOWN — A Grant County man pleaded guilty Wednesday morning to the murder of his parents last November.

Russell G. Bramlage, 23, was indicted last April on several charges, including two counts of murder in the deaths of Terry and Lynda Bramlage, both 53. Police found their bodies in the basement of their Williamstown home Nov. 13, 2007. Both had been shot twice with a shotgun.

Russell Bramlage

Russell Bramlage

On Wednesday, the prosecution recommended that Russell Bramlage serve a life sentence for each murder count. Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Crawford said the family did not want the death penalty because “he was still a brother, he’s still a nephew.”

“It’s still hard for them to believe,” Crawford said.

Prosecutors also recommended 20 years for a first-degree robbery charge, and five years each for tampering with physical evidence and criminal possession of a forged instrument.

Bramlage’s family was in the courtroom Wednesday but quickly left the courthouse. Bramlage’s sister and two brothers signed the plea agreement.

2 Responses to “Son pleads guilty to murder of parents”

Feed for this Entry Trackback Address

1 anonymous
October 30, 2008 at 3:05 am

Talking about ripping a family apart, what was the motive? It would be really interesting to know more of this story. I can’t see why dude would have just done this and then admitted to it? This might be an instance of temporary insanity if there ever was such a thing? I don’t know. I would like to know more about this story.
2 anonymous
October 30, 2008 at 3:06 am

It doesn’t say if drugs were involved that could also be another explanation or money?

Leave a Reply

COMMENT POLICY

Although we do not have any obligation to monitor comments on this blog, we reserve the right at all times to check this blog and to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us in our sole discretion and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We also reserve the right to permanently block any user who violates these terms and conditions. All threats to systems or site infrastructure shall be assumed genuine in nature and will be reported to the appropriate law enforcement authorities.

CONTRIBUTORS

Ashlee Clark is the Richmond bureau reporter for the Herald-Leader. She has covered general assignments in Madison, Clark, Estill, Powell and Montgomery counties since she joined the newspaper in September 2007. Ashlee, a Louisville native, is a graduate of Western Kentucky University, where she received degrees in journalism and sociology.

Shawntaye Hopkins is the Herald-Leader’s police reporter, covering local law enforcement, fire and EMS and breaking news. She joined the staff in September 2006 as the newspaper’s night police reporter. Shawntaye, a Louisville native, graduated from Western Kentucky University where she studied journalism and criminology. Shawntaye resides in Lexington.

Delano Massey is the Herald-Leader’s Regional Editor. He works closely with the paper’s bureau reporters and police and courts reporters to plan coverage, pursue breaking news and seek out enterprise stories. A Northeast Ohio native, Delano started his journalism career as a night cops reporter at the Belleville News-Democrat. In 2003, he made the trek to Lexington to take the reins as the newspaper’s daytime cops reporter. Delano, a graduate of the University of Akron, has won numerous awards for breaking news, spot news and investigative journalism.

Brandon Ortiz has covered courts, criminal justice and judicial politics for the Herald-Leader since April 2005. Ortiz was a leading contributor to the paper’s coverage of the investigation of the Comair Flight 5191 crash. A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Ortiz has a journalism degree from Texas Christian University. He started at the Herald-Leader in September 2004.