Brian M. Cooper is serving two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for the 2012 strangulation of Alisha Bromfield and her unborn daughter at a Door County, Wisconsin resort. The Brian Cooper murder case produced two criminal trials, a failed appeal, and a landmark Seventh Circuit ruling that revived a wrongful death lawsuit against Home Depot, where Cooper had been Bromfield’s supervisor.
What Happened at Sand Bay Beach Resort
On August 19, 2012, Alisha Bromfield, a 21-year-old Home Depot employee from Plainfield, Illinois, was found dead at the Sand Bay Beach Resort in Nasewaupee, Wisconsin. She was roughly six and a half months pregnant with a daughter she planned to name Ava Lucille. Bromfield had traveled to Door County with Cooper, then 35, to attend the wedding of his sister.1Door County Pulse. Door County Sheriff’s Department Investigates Double Homicide
After a night of heavy drinking, Cooper strangled her. He also sexually assaulted her body after her death. He did not flee. He drove to a gas station in Sister Bay, called 911, and turned himself in. Authorities described suicide attempts in Ellison Bay before he was taken into custody.2FOX 6 Milwaukee. $1 Million Bond for Man Accused in Weekend Door County Resort Murder
Cooper Was Bromfield’s Supervisor
Cooper supervised Bromfield at a Home Depot store in northern Illinois, where both worked through a garden services vendor. Court filings later described a documented pattern of aggressive behavior: public outbursts, slamming items around the store, and calling Bromfield and other women “slut,” “whore,” and “bitch” within earshot of customers. A manager ordered him to attend anger management classes, but no one followed up to confirm he completed them.3GovInfo. Anicich v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc.
Cooper had also made sexual references to other female employees and rubbed himself against a coworker at another store. At least one young worker quit because of his harassment.4Courthouse News Service. Seventh Circuit Slams Home Depot Employee Murder Case Bromfield repeatedly complained to management about Cooper and specifically asked not to be left alone with him.3GovInfo. Anicich v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc.
According to the civil complaint, Cooper used his authority as her supervisor to compel Bromfield to make the trip to Wisconsin, threatening to cut her hours or fire her if she refused. No physical violence by Cooper against Bromfield or anyone else had been alleged before the murder itself.
The Charges
Door County District Attorney Ray Pelrine charged Cooper with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide — one for Bromfield and one for her unborn child — plus one count of third-degree sexual assault. The second homicide count was possible under Wisconsin Statute § 940.01(1)(b), which makes it a Class A felony to cause the death of an unborn child with intent to kill that child, the pregnant woman, or another person.5FindLaw. Wisconsin Statutes § 940.01 – First-Degree Intentional Homicide
Two Trials
Cooper’s first trial took place in June 2013. The jury convicted him of the sexual assault charge but deadlocked on the two homicide counts, producing a mistrial on those.6WDOR. Retrial Date for Cooper Murder Trial
At the May 2014 retrial, a Dodge County jury brought in for the case deliberated about two and a half hours before finding him guilty on both homicide counts.7Door County Pulse. Cooper Guilty in Double Homicide Forensic pathology testimony described broken bones, contusions, and hematomas on Bromfield’s body. Prosecutors also showed that Cooper had hidden a spy camera in the garbage can of the hotel bathroom he shared with Bromfield at the resort, and had used similar cameras to record her at his home in Plainfield. After arriving in Door County, he changed his phone password to Bromfield’s birthday.8Green Bay Press-Gazette. Brian M. Cooper Sentenced to Two Consecutive Life Terms
The Sentence
On July 24, 2014, Door County Circuit Court Judge D. Todd Ehlers sentenced Cooper to two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole. He added a concurrent term of two years of initial confinement and two years of extended supervision on the sexual assault count, and ordered more than $8,000 in restitution toward funeral costs.8Green Bay Press-Gazette. Brian M. Cooper Sentenced to Two Consecutive Life Terms
Cooper read a prepared statement and two poems he had written. He told the court, “There was never even for a second any intention or plan of this.” Judge Ehlers noted that Cooper never directly apologized to Bromfield’s family, calling that omission “troubling.” Reflecting on the hidden camera, Ehlers said that as Cooper strangled Bromfield, she would have been looking up into his eyes the same way she would have looked into the garbage can where the camera sat. “That just sends chills to me to the point that that is the last thing she saw,” the judge said.8Green Bay Press-Gazette. Brian M. Cooper Sentenced to Two Consecutive Life Terms
Bromfield’s mother, Sherry Anicich, addressed the court about the loss. “The emotional pain is difficult to describe,” she said, “unless you’ve lost a child.”
The Appeal Failed
Cooper first sought a new trial in October 2015, arguing his defense attorney should have pushed for a lesser reckless homicide charge. Judge Ehlers denied the motion.9Wisconsin Radio Network. Convicted Killer Brian Cooper Denied New Trial
He then took three arguments to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals: that the trial court wrongly refused to let him swap counsel and delay the retrial; that the judge wrongly excluded a defense expert, Dr. Richard Tovar, who would have testified Cooper was too intoxicated to form intent; and that excluding Tovar violated his right to present a defense. On August 1, 2017, District III of the Court of Appeals rejected all three. It found the counsel request dilatory, called Tovar’s “temporary disinhibition” theory legally insufficient under Wisconsin’s voluntary intoxication defense, and held that the constitutional claim had been forfeited below.10Wisconsin Court System. State v. Brian M. Cooper, Appeal No. 2015AP2261-CR11FOX 11 Online. Appeal Denied in Door Co. Murder Case
The Home Depot Civil Case
Sherry Anicich also filed a wrongful death suit against Home Depot and the garden services vendors that employed both her daughter and Cooper — Grand Service LLC and Grand Flower Growers Inc. The complaint alleged the companies knew about Cooper’s escalating harassment of female employees and failed to protect Bromfield.
A federal district court in Illinois dismissed the case, reasoning that the murder happened outside the workplace and was not reasonably foreseeable. In March 2017, a Seventh Circuit panel reversed. Judge David Hamilton, writing for the court, found that Cooper had used his supervisory authority to coerce Bromfield into the trip by threatening her job, which the court treated as a “tangible employment action.” A reasonable jury, the court wrote, could find that the employers “could and should have foreseen that Cooper would take the small further step to violence” given his documented escalation from inappropriate comments and touching to retaliation, harassment, and public intimidation.4Courthouse News Service. Seventh Circuit Slams Home Depot Employee Murder Case
The ruling opened the door to employer liability when a supervisor uses employer-granted power to facilitate harm, even when the harm itself occurs off the clock. How the civil case was ultimately resolved is not reflected in the available record.
The Purple Project
Sherry Anicich and her husband Joe later founded The Purple Project, named for Bromfield’s favorite color. The organization provides financial and emotional support to single young mothers and offers grief counseling and retreats for parents who have lost children.12NPR Illinois. Illinois Woman Finds Peace Through Forgiveness After Daughter’s Murder Anicich has described the family’s approach as choosing “love, not hate.”13Kindness Gala. Purple Project Cooper remains incarcerated in the Wisconsin prison system.