How Is This Possible?
 

This is truly terrible. Execution style murder. The thread is not about that or the senselessness of it. But this story raises lots of questions for me.

This 33 year-old single mother of 3 was a third year law student. I am finding it nealy impossible to reconcile in my mind how anyone could do all this, let alone afford it all. Something is really troubling and curious about this whole thing to me:

"Brown had a master’s degree in biomedical engineering, a master’s in business administration and a bachelor’s degree in biology. She clerked at a law firm and once worked as a biomechanical engineer for a defense contractor and as an emergency technician at a local hospital. Outside work, she was on the advisory board for the nonprofit group DevelopingKIDS...

According to court documents in Wayne and Oakland counties, Brown, who was raising three daughters, is divorced and sought a personal protection order against an ex-husband in 2007, claiming he was dangerous. An Oakland County judge denied the order.

She was involved in a custody dispute over the last year with the father of her youngest child. That father, records show, sought joint custody, but an Oakland County judge denied his request in February. She also filed a civil suit in 2011 in Wayne County against a man who had possession of her car and would not return it. The outcome of that case is not known.

New details emerge in WSU student's killing | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

From your post it sounds like she liked school and stayed a student so she would not have to start paying student loans. She must be fairly smart to have an MBA. Bio-med masters & biology masters. She just made VERY poor choices in men and friends.

Very sad.

Terrible.

Agree with Glen. She sounds like she was book smart, but not street smart.

Hmmmmmm... That is an assumption. We don't know that. It kind of sounds like her sister owns her own day spa. Ambitious family. We don't know if the her parents are well off. We can just as easily assume she had a scholarship for her bachelors, got her masters through a loan or perhaps partially her own savings, and the MBA and law school? I know many programs where you can get your MBA and go straight into getting your JD. My MBA program offered that. And she worked for General Dynamics, pretty large company. They may have offered a program where they pay for school for an obligation time period after. My friend (who has his MBA and a PharmD) is currently going to law school under a similar plan and has no school loans.

Nevertheless, sad story. Feel for the three children that are left. Sounds like they have a definite path to follow in their mom's footsteps since the university is offering free tuition to the children. Good move on the school.

Damn, I was thinking the same as you guys but it take a pretty girl to slap us silly to straighten us out.

The one thing for sure is she was terrible at picking men.

Like anything else in the media I am sure there is much much more to the story. It does seem confusing but then again most crimes of passion can be...

:) Just saying that it is easy to assume when you get the bare minimum in details. And why do we always assume the worst in somebody? That is always curious to me. I am sure (and I know for a fact) people assume A LOT of things about me because of things I do or have done. Sometimes I have to giggle when people try to wag their finger at me and say this of that of me. Oh, if only they knew the truth. Makes me smile now thinking about it. While I find it amusing people jump at conclusions and don't let it bother me, a lot of people aren't as easy going and it affects them. All I know is I would want somebody to give me the benefit of the doubt or at least investigate a little more before they make assumptions about me.

And he's right. The media only knows some of the story. We only know some of the story.

Scholarships, grants, etc. do not give you more than 24 hours in a day, though. 3 Kids, custody issues, personal protection orders, multiple fathers, volunteering, clerking for a law office, work-and school?

I don't see it. There is no way I could do all this and be good at any of them. This woman must be a real-life super-woman.

I'm gonna follow this story.

You are absolutely right, Tweez. I just automatically assume the worst in her and wondered how can she do all this with little money and time?

How Is This Possible?
 

Maybe I understand her because I was this woman to a certain extent. At one point in my life, I was in the middle of a divorce (with my alcoholic ex), taking care of two boys (3 and 5 at the time), trying to get a corporate job after working part time in nursing (a corporate job using my MBA was the only way I knew I could pay for me and my boys without requiring help from my ex), running a full marathon for the first time in my life (running was the only thing that kept me sane), becoming legally blind in my right eye, and finally, having to give a disposition regarding a legal suit against the hospital I used to work for (we ended up winning but extremely stressful and was drawn out over two years. Rare a hospital fights back but in this case, the plaintiff was absolutely wrong). Yes, all at the same time. My therapist used to tell me that she didn't know how I hadn't cracked yet. You just do it. I used to joke with my therapist, I SHOULD be the one that picked up drinking. Did I invite all those things in my life? Perhaps my ex but really, the rest is just crap. Life.

I guess that is why I feel for this woman. Perhaps she did make mistakes in her past regarding men, but why not give her credit for obviously trying to improve the situation as opposed to repeating it? She was on her way. Raising her kids on her own. Getting her law degree. Trying to get full custody. Perhaps she didn't have the best of judgement in men but I commend her for trying to change her destiny. RIP.

Apparently, her destiny was a shot in the head, Tweez. There is very much a difference between you and she. You have demonstrated to many (here at least) that you are a legitimate superwoman in real life.

This super woman is dead in real life.

It's been shown that women are better multitaskers. My wife works in a law firm and their newest is a young woman who graduated with a double major/double minor. She went through Law school and passed her BAR on her first attempt. She's constantly on the go and is thinking of taking more classes. She's a damn force of nature.

Yes! I had a good friend of mine that told me something I would never forget. He told me men only concentrate on one thing at a time. (Of course, they can do more than one thing at a time but most of the time, their MO). He said women make grocery lists. Men brush their teeth and run out of toothpaste. They go to the store and get some. He told me that's why women fail miserably when trying to ask their husbands to do something while they are in the middle of something else. Won't compute and will forget by the time he is done. Ask when he is doing nothing or in between something and 99.9% of the time, he will complete the task. Helped me understand your species a lot. ;)

Woah!

Tweez, you keep talkin' that way about us I'll be fored to respond as soon as the football game is over.

Can you repeat that? I was thinking of the next set of tires for my Mini.;)

I thought a Restrain Order would NEVER be denied for that very purpose.. Are they now somewhat responsible ?

such a tough deal, on one hand you have the cops reports, on the other hand you have the media response and on the last hand you have the truth...oh wait! I don't have 3 hands. Scratch out the truth. Go with the police reports and the media - thats reality....Oh God Save Us!!!

One demerit to Lubey!

Inadvertant PARFing.

:( dang that stuf gets in your blood and it don't get out...changes genetics...

This isn't always the case...

I got my wife to start utilizing grocery lists (granted, I got the process from my mom, but still...) because she would routinely NOt get what we needed, and buy crap we didn't. I plan ahead--when we're running low on something, I put it on her list, or go buy it myself if it's "guy stuff" because I know she won't have a clue what I'm talking about, even if I put the name of the product, and what the packaging looks like on her list. And I multi-task like a mo fo. I find it hard to do only one thing at a time; usually, at work I'm running multiple projects, at home I work on at least 2-3 things at a time (while dinner's prepping, I clean up something, or do some laundry, etc, and before you give me crap for doing "woman work," I was a single dad for a while, and prefer doing most things myself because I know I'll do them right). My wife, on the other hand, can NOT multi-task. Whatever she's doing needs her absolute, undivided attention, or she'll forget it. And she's forgetful as all hell. I've been bugging her for 6 months to go get the part number for the seatbelt in her son's Honda (can't find the right one online for some reason). He starts driving with a permit next week--we NEED that seat belt to be functional, so I finally told her outright yesterday, "GO DO IT." And instead of getting the part number for the part where the buckle snaps in, she had them order the entire seat belt assembly...$300 opposed to what would have likely been $35-40.

Damn, that kinda turned into a hell of a rant...soryy. Just hate when women stereotype us men. Those of my generation are not like guys of yesteryear--most of us are pretty damn self-sufficient. And I've noticed more and more women who...aren't.

I read the article... I guess you need to watch the video to get all this extra info you guys are quoting?

You whine like a girl. Do you fight like a chick too? Sorry man, I couldn't help myself:)

Totally agree with you!!! I said it helped me understand men. The ones that are like that. And totally agree with you. Men are starting to change, just as women are. And I am laughing at your statement, "when women stereotype men". If I kept a running log of "stereotypical" statements about women in this forum, I bet I would have pages and pages. It's all good. As with everything, I take it with a grain of salt. There are always exceptions to the rules and I feel like if you are open it and look for the good instead of bad, you will find it. I can honestly say that I have several friends where the husband stays at home with the kids and the wives are the ones bringing home the bacon and the men are AWESOME at it. Personally, I say maximize the strengths of both. If he is better managing the home, so be it. If she is gonna make more money? So be it.

And yes, I agree. I see more younger men being more open to the role reversal. In some cases good, in some cases bad. (ie: they become the male version of gold digger)

But just wanted to publicly state, you are correct. Not all men are unable to multitask. :)

As soon as this hockey game is over I writing a heck of a rebuttal to that!

Or,

UPDATE:

Apparently, the woman had her first child as a single mother, is status post one divorce involving a second child, had a third child with her married boyfriend along with a history of custody issues with him and recently became involved with a third suitor.

"According to court records, police and interviews with those who knew her, Brown was involved in an on-again-off-again relationship for years with a married man, who on Friday declined to comment to the Free Press. The two had a child, and a subsequent custody battle. Her marriage to another man ended in divorce. Another suitor recently pursued her, angering the married boyfriend."

Murdered law student had academic success, but 'complicated personal life' | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

As I said before, smart lady with very VERY bad choices in men. I have know a few women like that. One chick I worked with admitted she like "bad boys" and kept picking the worst men. She was dating a convicted FELON and was actually engaged to him when he went to prison for murder. And she was a nice lady. Just nucking futz for bad boys.

I'm thinking this lady had way more problems than 'bad boy' syndrome. Walking on the wild side is one thing. Total irresponsibility in very serious matters involving other people is quite another.

We'll see if there's more to this.

(Note to others: I am not making excuses for anyone and especially not blaming the woman for what happened-so don't waste your time flaming me. This is about my admittedly morbid curiosity about this circumstance and that is all it is. Thank you.)

Yea, no matter her bad choice in men she sure did not deserve to be murdered.