Mother confirms missing teen’s death

This article was originally published in the Wise County Messenger on April 25, 2015. Photo submitted. A dead body discovered in Bridgeport Wednesday afternoon has not been officially identified by authorities, but Bridgeport resident Jennifer Fortune says it’s her son, 17-year-old Brant Boatman. “Based off of all the evidence – the cell phone, the gun, the clothing […]

Former city admin dies

This article was originally published in the Wise County Messenger on April 22, 2015. Former Bridgeport City Administrator Brandon Emmons, 44, died suddenly in Waco last weekend. Emmons, who served as the city administrator for Bridgeport from 2010 until his retirement in December of 2014, suffered a massive heart attack Sunday while on a boating trip […]

Christmas Eve robbery leads to 4 arrests

This article was originally published in the Wise County Messenger on Dec. 27, 2014. Photo submitted. Four men spent Christmas in the Wise County Jail after being arrested just blocks away from the Bridgeport convenience store that two of them robbed at gunpoint. Pedro Ibarra-McDonald, 18, and Julio Betancourt, 18, both of Bridgeport, are currently being […]

Driver error causes most fatalities

This article was originally published in the Wise County Messenger on Nov 26, 2014. If you need another reason to drive safely this holiday season, here’s some information for you. Data recently obtained by the Messenger from the Texas Department of Transportation reveals that since 2010, more than half of the traffic fatalities in Wise County have […]

Special report: Guilty until proven innocent

This article appeared in the May 15, 2014 edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. This article was my senior Capstone project at TCU. I did background research and online elements for it. The full story can be viewed here, and the other parts of the package can be viewed here, here, and here. Here is a Google map […]

Former student indicted for murder in the case of Ty Pickens’ death

A former TCU student has been indicted for murder in the case of Ty Pickens‘ death. Brennan Trainor Rodriguez had four counts brought against him by a Tarrant County grand jury on Friday, including one count of felony murder, a second count of manslaughter, a third count of tampering with physical evidence and a fourth count of delivering a controlled substance […]

TCU Police: Fraternity members played with bloody carcass, but didn’t kill opossum

This article was originally published at TCU 360 on Dec. 6, 2012. Photo by Taylor Prater. TCU Police Chief Steve McGee said Wednesday that members of a fraternity left a bloody opossum carcass outside the door of another fraternity house Friday night but that the animal had not been harmed by the fraternity members. Campus police […]

Audio recording shows no formal vote on SuperFrog statue, Folan says vote occurred

This article was originally published at TCU 360 on Oct. 30, 2012. Photo taken by me. Full audio from the April 9 SGA Cabinet meeting can be found here. During the April 9 meeting, in which Student Body President Brent Folan claimed Cabinet voted on the bronze SuperFrog, no officer called for a vote, no one […]