Novemeber 5, 2007 wood tv

Nov 5, 2007 08:10 PM CST
http://www.woodtv.com/global/story.asp?s=7311294&ClientType=Printable

By JOE LaFURGEYOTSEGO -- Jennifer Drake remembers the last calls from and to the home on Brookeside Drive in Otsego Sunday Night.

One, a voice mail message from her brother-in-law, Kevin Brainard, followed by a call she made."I told her, I said, 'Pam, you've got to get out of the house. He's calling, leaving us messages. He doesn't sound good,'" Drake told 24 Hour News 8. "'Get out of the house!'

"Within that same hour, Pam Brainard, a nurse and mother of two, was dead. Police believe Kevin Brainard, a Plainwell police officer and firefighter, shot his wife and then turned the gun on himself.

The couple's 2-year-old daughter was in the home, but not injured."I knew how bad things are getting for her, but I really thought she was going to get out of there," Drake said.

Drake said her sister had just told Brainard she was filing for divorce. The two had been married about a year. But it was a tough year for Pam, according to her sister."He played mind games with her," Drake said. "I mean, her phone would be filled with 100 calls a day by him. Her receipts were checked. I mean, every little thing of hers was under a microscope with him."

But Pam Brainard never contacted police. Her sister said she knew it could ruin his career, and she wasn't convinced she'd get anywhere with a complaint.

Drake said, "She didn't feel comfortable because of him being a police officer in that town."But Otsego's police chief said police officers are held to higher standards.

"I think there's a lot of pain now. There's a lot of pain. She's upset," said Chief Gordon Konkle.

"Hopefully she doesn't really believe that."Kevin Brainard's boss, Plainwell Director of Public Safety Bill Bomar, said Brainard was a good officer who received commendations for traffic enforcement including drunk driving.

Brainard, like other officers in the department, went through a psychiatric evaluation before being hired.