A Wyoming woman told her sister a month before her murder she believed her ex-boyfriend was capable of killing her.
The grieving family of 20-year-old Macey Dawn Bradshaw have opened up about her tragic death as part of a December 16 murder-suicide in the town of Lyman, hoping it will help other families avoid the heartache they’ve experienced.
In a superbly written feature by Cowboy State Daily, Macey’s father, Justin Bradshaw, described getting a call from her on his way to work, learning from her that her ex was outside her apartment, and then racing to her home in a vain attempt to prevent what she predicted.
Justin recalled hearing a pair of gunshots as he reached for the door handle to enter Macey’s apartment.
“I actually heard his body fall to the floor,” said Justin, adding he opened the door to find Macey and her ex-boyfriend, James Hunter, motionless on different sides of the room. They were both alive, with bullet wounds to the head; Macey was in her bed, and Justin rushed to her.
“She was still alert, still awake, and she asked me to help her,” Justin said. “She said, ‘Dad, I’m gonna be sick. I’m gonna throw up. I need to get on the floor.’”
Justin called 911, but neither Macey nor Hunter could be saved.
“About a month ago, Macey said to me, ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if James killed me, and then killed himself,’” said Macey’s closest sister, Taylor Bradshaw. “I never thought it would actually happen.”
The article recounts how teenage love morphed into toxic codependency, as Macey, in her junior year, moved into Hunter’s parent’s home the year after he graduated high school. The two spent every moment together and started distancing themselves from friends.
“That’s when it started going downhill,” Taylor said. “They spent all their time at home together. He wasn’t going out with his friends anymore. Both of their mental health got really bad. They turned towards drinking. I think that was her out, and it was something they did a lot together.”
Macey told her sister the relationship was wearing thin, and that when she tried discussing a split, he would threaten to harm himself.
“She knew she needed to leave him for a long time, but she kept telling me, ‘I care for him so much and I don’t want him to do anything to himself,’” Taylor said.
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Days after Macey’s 18th birthday, Hunter told Macey he threatened to harm himself to keep her in the relationship, and with help from her parents, she moved to Utah. But after two years away, Macey returned to Lyman, found a waitressing job and moved into her own apartment.
“Macey was so proud to have her own place,” Bradshaw explained. “She decorated it all cute. She had a job, she had a car. She felt like she finally gained independence in her world.”
In time, the high school sweethearts started seeing each other again, which was troubling for her family, given Hunter seemed withdrawn and reclusive. Physically, he lost an unhealthy amount of weight, the father said, and stopped taking care of his appearance.
Justin said James forced his daughter to sign a “soul contract” with him, after which he “gave her a blood painting. It was this demonic drawing, and he cut himself and used his blood to finish it,” friend Chaynee Martin said, adding Macey perceived these drawings to be symbolic threats.
Then, in September, the two met for a date. Hunter decided to bring a gun.
“She sent me a message that said, ‘He has a gun. This isn’t normal. I don’t feel safe. I just have to tell somebody. I’m deleting this message,’” said Martin, who then called police even though “she told me not to tell a single person about it.”
A month later, when it seemed Macey was moving on with another man, Hunter started cruising the new man’s neighborhood in his car. Macey also discovered her ex was stalking her, Justin said. Then, Martin said, Hunter “laid hands on her,” and she decided that was final straw. She broke things off, but James wasn’t going to go quietly.
Martin said he showed up outside her home, looking for Macey, who was inside. “He banged on the door. Macey was hiding in the corner, and we had Taylor on FaceTime. He banged on the door again, and I told him, ‘Macey said she’s done. You have to respect that.’”
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Added Martin: “We were terrified. I was so afraid of a gun on the other side of that door.”
On the morning of December 17, Hunter parked around the corner from Macey’s apartment and approached her building on foot.
Her sister believes he entered Macey’s apartment by popping out a window frame in the front door and reaching through to unbolt the lock from the inside. After the murder-suicide, first responders found James had duct tape and zip ties in his pockets.
“I think James had malicious intent beyond just taking her life,” Justin said. “But the timing was so quick — I was there within minutes of when he broke into her house — he didn’t have time to do anything else. At times that kid was happy and had a good heart and had nothing but genuine love and intent for Macey. But that was not the person I saw that day. The evilness of the world … got him.”
Justin said he is glad he could be there for Macey’s last moments, so she felt safe. “She had a visible look of pain and agony on her face, but she was still there with me, and she talked to me,” he recounted. “I think she found a little bit of peace knowing that I was there to help her.”
Hunter and Macey later died at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City. A brief police investigation determined Hunter killed Macey before dying by suicide.
Macey’s loved ones have established a nonprofit organization called A New Dawn, which aims to provide mental health resources for young women and others.
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
