Inset left: Richard Tanner Ozment (McLennan County Sheriff”s Office). Inset right: Michaela Brooker (Obituary). Background: The rural road near where Ozment killed Brooker in China Spring, Texas (Google Maps).
A Texas man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for killing a woman using a machete, fire and a concrete block.
On Wednesday, Richard Tanner Ozment, 37, was found guilty by a jury in McLennan County of one count of first-degree murder for the death of 38-year-old Michaela Brooker.
In quick fashion, the defendant was sentenced to life in prison by the jury later that same day, authorities said.
The underlying incident occurred in September 2024 at a residence on Old China Spring Road in China Spring, a sparsely populated census-designated place located roughly 12 miles west of Waco.
On the day of the murder, the killer’s mother found her son standing outside her home and described him as looking “very sweaty,” according to a criminal complaint obtained by Waco-based CBS and Telemundo affiliate KWTX and Temple-based NBC affiliate KCEN.
The woman told deputies she tried to walk around her son but he got in her way, so she had to push past him. That’s when she noticed “a human foot lying on the ground behind an RV” and made her way toward the vehicle to find Brooker, grievously wounded and dying.
“What have you done?” the killer’s mother asked.
To which her son replied: “She tried to stab me.”
Ozment’s mother ran back inside and barricaded herself while the killer’s father called 911 — as the defendant pleaded with his mother not to call the police. Firefighters arrived first to find a man fleeing the scene on foot and then tended to Brooker, who had “extensive injuries, mainly, to her head,” according to the charging document.
The victim was airlifted to Baylor Scott & White Center in Temple, where she eventually succumbed to her injuries.
McLennan County District Attorney Josh Tetens later told KCEN Ozment slashed Brooker multiple times with a machete, then set her on fire, before hitting her head with a concrete block.
The defendant led authorities on a 10-hour manhunt that ended when sheriff’s deputies on horseback and K-9 units discovered him hiding in an underwater stock tank 100 yards away from the crime scene.
“This is one of the most horrific, brutal and senseless attacks that we have seen in a long time,” McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara said at a press conference after Ozment was arrested. “It never should have happened.”
Authorities initially described the murder as “domestic” in nature, but prosecutors declined to speculate on motive after he was formally indicted, according to a trial preview by Court TV.
Meanwhile, the defense claimed the killing was self-defense.
That argument was rejected by Lone Star State jurors — and fast. Ozment was found guilty after just 20 minutes of deliberation, the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office said.
The victim was remembered fondly in her obituary.
“Michaela was known for her vibrant, free-spirited nature,” the eulogy reads. “Raised in Clifton, Texas, she had a passion for music and moments spent at the lake or camping. Her caring spirit was evident in taking care of others.”
