WEST CHESTER — The jury in the case of an East Vincent man on trial in Common Pleas Court for the murder of his girlfriend watched a video on Tuesday of the home the couple shared in a mobile home park in that township.
Much of what Chester County Detective Gary Lynch, of the office’s crime scene forensics team, filmed as he walked through the trailer on Buttonwood Road could have come from anyone’s home. A “cat-tree” for climbing. Dishes in the sink. A calendar on the wall. A large screen television in the bedroom. Bookcases with knick-knacks and clocks.
But the overall setting in Leroy “Lee” Brahm III and Annabel Meenan’s house that Lynch encountered was far from normal.
“As soon as I walked into the living room, I immediately saw blood in front of the sofa,” Lynch told the jury under questioning from Deputy District Attorney Kate Wright, who is leading the prosecution. A small bedroom, “was in total disarray — furniture broken, furniture turned over. You could barely walk, there was so much stuff on the floor.”
As the video played for the jury and in dozens of photographs Lynch took at the scene showed, there were clothes scattered from one end of the trailer to the other. A coffee table had been flipped on its end, and the window of the oven had been broken. “The entire house was in disarray. There was blood in the living room. There was blood in the kitchen.”
There was also evidence of at least one Zmodo surveillance camera that Brahm had installed in the home to keep an eye on Meenan, Wright has alleged, and which captured what occurred in the trailer the days leading up to and of the day of her death.
The scene was the end of what had been a period of intense upheaval in the relationship between Brahm and Meenan that culminated in her death. According to the prosecution, Meenan died as a result of the brutal series of beatings that Brahm inflicted on her in a rage over her romance with another man, who he had brought into their lives as part of an open sexual lifestyle.
A native of Chester County, Meenan was the daughter of Brian Meenan and Jill Kristine Hunsberger. She graduated from Downingtown East High School in 2018 where she played flugelhorn in the marching band and was a cheerleader. She also loved drawing and painting, playing the bass guitar, and playing softball.
According to her obituary, Meenan was “hilarious, fun to be around, and always stood up for what she believed in. When Annabel was in the room, she always made sure everyone felt comfortable and had their voice heard. Her laugh was infectious and she was incredibly kind and loyal.”
According to Wright, Meenan began dating Brahm when she was still in high school when he was 10 years her senior. She moved in with him after she graduated from high school, and about a year before her death, they had been in an open sexual relationship.
“But he was always in control of what Annabel did,” Wright told the jurors in her opening. “He was checking up on her at all times.” When he found out that she was secretly seeing a Tredyffrin man, he became enraged, Wright said.
Brahm, 33, of East Vincent was arrested after police and first responders were called to his home in the early morning of Dec. 4, 2021. Police found Meenan “cold to the touch” when they arrived, with Brahm telling them that he had awoke to find her face down on the living room floor after a night of drinking.
He was first charged with assault, and then later with first-degree murder and third-degree murder after Chester County Detectives found the video system and watched the video of him beating her that day. He has been held in Chester County Prison since his arrest.
His attorneys have contended that while their client is certainly guilty of assault, Meenan’s death was not a result of his actions but because her use of alcohol and cocaine the night before she had resulted in cardiac arrest.
The videos of the assaults that the jury will see include the following that were described in the affidavit of probable cause filed by Detective Christine Blieler.
On Nov. 6, 2021, Brahm is seen punching a bedroom door and furniture while yelling at the victim. Later, Meenan walks down the hall and into the bedroom with no visible injuries or limps. Within an hour, Meenan is seen on the video limping, having difficulty walking, and rubbing her lower leg, which was discovered to have a fibular fracture when she sought medical help on Nov. 15. In surveillance videos after that date and leading up to her death, Meenan can be seen wearing a medical walking boot.
On Nov. 13, 2021, the video shows Brahm strangling Meenan to the point of unconsciousness and slapping her.
On Nov. 23, 2021, Brahm is shown on video punching Meenan 21 times in the head and body and strangling her.
On Dec. 4, 2021, video shows Brahm punching Meenan in the head and body at least 85 times and kicking and stomping her at least 80 times in a
series of assaults that culminated in her death.
The trial is expected to last through the week. If convicted of first-degree murder, Brahm faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.
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