Rebecca Bryan trial: Wife laughed after allegedly shooting fire chief husband

May 2024 ยท 4 minute read

Wife 'laughed at police after shooting dead her fire chief husband... hours after having sex with another man'

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The wife of a respected Oklahoma fire chief laughed at police as they collected gunpowder residue after she allegedly shot her husband in the back of the head in September. 

At Rebecca Bryan's murder trial Wednesday, her best friend testified that on the way to the hospital to see her dying husband, the 52-year-old mother of two showed off a picture of another man's penis and said she had sex with him earlier in the day.

Bryan claims a hooded man with a vendetta against her husband Keith, the chief of the Nichols Hill Fire Department, walked into the living room of their Mustang, Oklahoma, home and shot him as he watched television September 20.

Rebecca Bryan

Cold-blooded: Prosecutors say Rebecca Bryan shot her husband in the back of the head at point-blank range as he sat watching television

However, prosecutors say Bryan is a cold-blooded killer who cheated on her spouse with at least two other men and seemed to show little remorse after putting a bullet in the back of his head at nearly point-blank range. 

On the car ride to the hospital, Bryan's friend Debbie Proctor said, Bryan also revealed a text message to her former lover that talked about her inheriting a large amount of money and moving to another part of the state.

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The lover, Mark Holbrook, said she called him three hours before the shooting -- the first time they had talked in seven months. However, he said he hung up the phone when he realized who was on the line.

Mr Holbrook was one of Bryan's real estate clients, whom she met at a conference in the summer of 2009.

Rebecca and Keith Bryan

Happier times: Rebecca Bryan pins a medal on Keith, her husband of 33 years, who was a respected fire chief in Oklahoma

Keith Bryan

Vendetta: Rebecca Bryan said a hooded man with a grudge against Keith stormed into their house and shot him

They began sleeping together in December 2009, but Mr Holbrook said he broke it off with her about a month later after she became manipulative.

'I began to realize she wasn't the person I thought she was,' he said, according to the Oklahoman.

That's when he came forward and confessed to Keith Bryan that he had been sleeping with his wife.

For a man who had just been cheated on, Mr Holbrook said, Keith took it remarkably well. He was understanding and never got angry.

Rebecca, on the other hand, was angry. She called Mr Holbrook's wife, his parents and his son, he testified.

A month after the affair ended, Mr Holbrook said Bryan called him and claimed she was pregnant. He never returned the call.

Police officers testified that Bryan took off her shirt and show them her breasts when they told her they needed to take her clothes for evidence.

Despite Bryan's story of an intruder, police discovered the murder weapon, a small Ruger LCP pistol, in the dryer at the couple's home. They also found ammunition for the gun under Bryan's side of the bed and a spent round from the gun in the living room where Keith Bryan was shot.

A local police officer told the court he arrived at the house after Rebecca Bryan called 911 and found her in the garage. Rather than directing her to her husband inside the house, she instead began talking to him about a previous burglary case.

When the officer told Rebecca to tell him about the shooting, she led him into the living room, where he found Kieth Bryan still breathing and barely alive. 

Even though Keith Bryan was taken to the hospital, his wife began calling people and telling them he was dead, the officer said.

Later, as crime scene investigators were collecting gunpowder residue from the crime scene, she laughed at them and said she thought what they were doing was funny, according to testimony.

'Bryan said she watches (the TV show) CSI and knows all about this stuff,' Mustang police detective Camie McNeil said, according to the Oklahoman.

Mustang, Oklahoma

Crime scene: The shooting happened at in the living room of the couple's longtime house in Mustang, Oklahoma

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