• Andrew Wegley – Mar 29, 2023 – Lincoln Journal Star

A memorial of flowers is set up on a table outside the clubhouse building for 45-year-old Ronald Gonzalez-Rivas and 42-year-old Christopher Karmazin at The Lodge Apartment complex in Lincoln.KENNETH FERRIERA, Journal Star

The 27-year-old Lincoln woman accused of purposefully running over and killing two maintenance workers at her south Lincoln apartment complex allegedly tried to kill a third man, according to new court filings.

Taylor Bradley drove her Subaru sedan off the roadway and into a grassy area near the clubhouse at The Lodge apartments, where she ran over the two men 20 to 30 yards from the street, Lincoln Police Investigator Matthew Franken alleged in court records filed Wednesday afternoon.

The Killer

Prosecutors charged Bradley with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 45-year-old Ronald E. Gonzalez-Rivas and 42-year-old Christopher J. Karmazin, who were both longtime employees of the company managing The Lodge, which sits just south of Nebraska Parkway between 40th and 48th streets.

Bradley was also charged with three counts of use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony and one count of attempt of a Class 1 felony for “attempt(ing) to kill Robert Sargent purposely and with deliberate and premeditated malice,” prosecutors said in the six-count complaint, also filed Wednesday.

At her initial court hearing Wednesday afternoon, which Bradley attended via Zoom from a Lancaster County jail cell, the 27-year-old screamed as Judge Laurie Yardley read the charges against her aloud.

“This is a six-count complaint. It alleges (in) count one that on or about March 27, 2023, you did kill Ronald Gonzalez-Rivas —,” the judge said, before her voice was drowned out by Bradley’s.

“No,” Bradley said. “No. No. No. No. No. No.”

“I had a shoplifting charge. That’s all I’ve ever had,” she said, her objections growing louder as Yardley kept reading from the complaint.

“They think I’m on so many drugs,” Bradley said. “Because they stocked me full of all my mom’s drugs.”

“Theft. Theft!” she screamed, apparently referring to a prior shoplifting charge. “That’s all I have!”

When Yardley finished reading the complaint — outlining the life-in-prison sentences Bradley could face if she’s convicted — the 27-year-old demanded the judge read the first three counts again.

“Read them again for me,” she said. “One, two and three. I don’t give an absolute f—. One, two or three. One, two and three. I am on drugs!”

A corrections officer at the jail then muted Bradley’s microphone and began to walk away from her jail cell with the computer being used for the Zoom hearing before Yardley had even set her bond.

At the request of Chief Deputy County Attorney Chris Turner, Yardley set Bradley’s percentage bond at $2 million. She must pay $200,000 to be released.

A day later, her public defender filed a motion seeking a competence evaluation of Bradley. A hearing on the motion hasn’t yet been set.  

The court records filed Wednesday provide few details about what is alleged to have happened at The Lodge in the moments before 1:20 p.m. Monday, when authorities were called to the complex on a report of a car-pedestrian crash.

Lincoln Police Chief Teresa Ewins has described the attack as “purposeful” and said it was carried out with “intent,” but she declined to describe what led police to that conclusion and provided no details about what is thought to have led up the incident.

One of the two Victims – Christopher Karmazin Courtesy photo

In two news conferences about the incident, Ewins did not mention Sargent, the third victim identified by prosecutors.

Medical personnel pronounced Gonzalez-Rivas and Karmazin dead at the scene.

Sargent, a 48-year-old Lincoln man, had been working alongside Gonzalez-Rivas and Karmazin when the incident unfolded Monday but was able to escape the path of Bradley’s vehicle, said Tom Huston, who serves as general counsel for Perry Reid Properties, which has managed The Lodge for nearly a decade.

Sargent has been an employee of the company for just over a month, Huston said, and is perhaps the only person who witnessed the ordeal from start-to-finish. He declined to comment Wednesday afternoon.

In the affidavit for Bradley’s arrest, Franken said officers responding to the crash encountered Bradley traveling toward them in her damaged sedan on Briarpark Drive and took her into custody.

Franken noted the location of the victims — at least 20 yards from “any surface designed for driving” — also suggested that Bradley’s alleged actions were intentional.

Franken said there was video of the incident that “reportedly exhibits intent.”

At a news conference Tuesday, Ewins said video evidence indicated “there definitely was … intent” in the collision that killed the men, but she declined to describe what the video showed.

The police chief also said investigators spoke with a “substantial” number of witnesses, but no interviews with witnesses are cited in the affidavit for Bradley’s arrest.

Bradley’s alleged motive remains unclear — even to police, who did not field questions on the alleged murders at Wednesday’s media briefing.

“I would love to be able to answer that question, you know, ‘What led up to somebody intentionally running others over?’” Ewins said Tuesday. “It is — it’s part of the investigation and we’re really looking into what happened.

“Unfortunately, there’s witnesses that saw parts of it, but not the entire interaction.”

The lack of publicized details surrounding the case has also left the company that employed all three victims baffled by Monday’s attack.

“We’re mystified why this occurred,” said Huston, who noted that Bradley was in the first year of her lease at the complex and the property manager “had no prior negative contact with her” before Monday.

“There wasn’t a service call — I know there were some rumors that she was undergoing an eviction. That is not true.”

He said the incident had been traumatic for the company’s employees, particularly the maintenance group, which he described as “tight-knit.” The company called in grief counselors for its employees Tuesday, he said.

In a GoFundMe campaign raising money for Karmazin’s memorial expenses, family said the Lincoln man left behind three children and a loving wife.

“Chris loved spending time with his friends playing board games and was an avid animal lover,” a relative, Garrett Karmazin, said in a post pinned to the fundraiser.

“He enjoyed spending time outdoors and working with his hands. His greatest joy was being a father.”

The family of Gonzalez-Rivas has also set up a GoFundMe campaign for memorial expenses.