Where is Brenna Douglas now? Russel Douglas' wife became prime suspect in husband's cold-blooded murder
The murder of Russel Douglas is one of those bizarre cases that captivated the nation’s mind for years. Douglas drove out to meet Peggy Sue Thomas for collecting a Christmas gift. However, Peggy’s boyfriend, Jim Huden, was waiting for him at a secluded place and shot him right between the eyes as soon as he reached there.
Peggy and Jim were charged in the case and sentenced to prison. Jim is still in prison while Peggy was released in 2016. Apart from the main conspirators, there’s a third name that always comes up when people talk about the case: Brenna Douglas, widow of Russel Douglas. There have been numerous times when Brenna has come out and said she has nothing to do with the murder and she is sad that her husband passed away at such a young age. However, Brenna has been a suspect in the case for more than six years.
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Let’s take a look back at the history of Brenna’s relationship with Russel and how she became one of the suspects in the case.
Did Russel 'abuse' Brenna in their marriage?
Jim Huden, who shot Russel between the eyes, confessed to his wife Jean that he and Peggy plotted to kill Russel and were successful in doing so. He also said that Russel regularly physically abused Brenna and their children. The allegation turned out to be true as court records showed that she sought a “protection order”. In a three-page handwritten statement, Brenna Douglas said her husband had threatened her, called her names, yelled at their two young children, and often neglected them. She was 32 and filed for the order in May 2003.
In her statement, Douglas revealed that her husband always threatened to punch her in the face. She also wrote that Russel did not take care of his children, saying that he will take the children away from her and move to Alaska.
“He says he’ll just take them away and I’ll never see them again,” she wrote. The allegations became even worse when she wrote in the papers that he would constantly threaten her to hold her under the H2O hot tub till she stops moving. In the court filing, Brenna also said that she would sleep with a knife under her pillow for months and accused him of having an affair.
Why did she change her statement in 2007?
After hearing her comments in 2003, anyone would think that nothing was right in their marriage and Brenna is actually living a sad life with Russel. However, things took a U-turn in 2007 when she changed her statement after she had filed a lawsuit against Farmers New World Life Insurance Co. to collect the proceeds on one of her late husband’s life insurance policies.
At the time, Brenna went on to praise her husband and used a lot of glowing terms for him. She said that her husband was the actual driving force behind her salon and he did everything to take the business to a whole new level.
Brenna’s connection with the killers
Brenna had a lot of people working in her salon and one of them was Peggy Sue Thomas, the prime suspect in the killing of Russel Douglas. They both had a good relationship with each other and always discussed things.
According to the court documents, her connection to Thomas was one of the major reasons to label her as a suspect. On the other hand, documents also reveal that Douglas was not as emotional that a wife would be after knowing that her husband has been murdered. In court records, Douglas has denied any involvement in her husband's death.
Police name Brenna as a 'suspect' in the initial reports
The first homicide report that came out almost a year after the murder said that there were three prime suspects in the case: Jim Huden, Peggy Sue Thomas, and Brenna Douglas. However, they said that Brenna was not the focus for them. Jessie Valentine, the attorney for Brenna Douglas in the lawsuit, noted that her client was not the suspect.
But all their hopes were dashed when Detective Greg Banks said that Brenna remains a suspect but there is “no sufficient admissible evidence at this time to prosecute either Brenna Douglas” for the murder of her husband.
Brenna failed to claim the insurance proceeds
Brenna filed a lawsuit against two insurance companies and said that the proceeds are rightfully hers because she has no involvement in her husband’s death. But Judge McPherson did not want the proceeds to go to Brenna because she was still a suspect. But Banks could not provide enough evidence to show that Brenna indeed had some kind of involvement in the killing of her husband.
Due to insufficient evidence, the judge ordered the insurance proceeds released to her, plus $1,200 in interest, in December 2005. Brenna also collected $200,000 in insurance proceeds from other policies.
Where is Brenna Douglas now?
Brenna now uses her maiden name of Haslam. In 2012, there was no evidence of Briana’s involvement in the murder, but one of the prosecutors told the press that Brenna was “still on the radar.” She still works as a hairstylist and lives in Washington.
The chilling murder case is the source material for Lifetime's movie 'Circle of Deception'. The movie is based on Ann Rule's true-crime novel titled 'Practice To Deceive'.