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my name is tanya, i work in the network operations center for comcast. we are working to make things simple, easy and awesome. death never takes a holiday. as a nurse, gail o neal knows that better than most. still, she was unprepared when she arrived home from a shift on november 24, 2003. when i opened the door, i saw my husband on the phone, and it was like something that hit me in the pit of my stomach just by his face. then he said, russell is gone. gone? gone where? as far as had he knew, her son s
i m cutting off everything. but then just after thanksgiving, all that seemed to change. russell had recently changed jobs and was close to completing an online master s degree program. as christmas approached, russell reached out to family members and told his brother matt that he wanted to reconcile with his wife. he said, you know, i think i need to start doing the right things. brenna wants me back, i want her back, i want to be involved in the kids life. then for reasons they could not fathom, their son, their big brother, was dead. and the family became defensive when detectives suggested that russell s wife brenna may have had something to do with his murder. you don t want to believe that anybody that you ve known for that long or is the mother of your grandkids would ever be a suspect. so gail offered to help her daughter-in-law hire a lawyer. one of the detectives seemed a little strong-armed, and i
brenna may have had something to do with his murder. you don t want to believe that anybody that you ve known for that long or is the mother of your grandkids would ever be a suspect. so gail offered to help her daughter-in-law hire a lawyer. one of the detectives seemed a little strong armed and i said, you know, you also need to get an attorney for all of your business affairs so let me see if i can find somebody for you. the financial picture for brenna and the children was murky. russel and brenna had filed for bankruptcy a few years earlier and though brenna owned her own hair salon in this upscale shopping center. russel had handled the business end of things. if there was a bright spot during those days it was that russel douglas did have some life insurance. i think when it comes down to it, he had a total of three life insurance policies, each one a couple hundred thousand dollars, i want to say.