Racheyl was described as a “tom boy.” She loved anything that could be done outside. She played on the girl’s softball and basketball teams. She loved playing football with her cousins and neighborhood kids. She was a natural at tennis, horseback riding, and water skiing. She enjoyed fishing and hunting. She took classes in Typing and Home Economics, but preferred Construction and Horticulture. She was a good student and made good grades. Steve Brinson was the first boy she ever dated. Prior to meeting him, she had never had alcohol.

According to witnesses, Steve and Racheyl did not plan on having children right away. They built a nice home for themselves. They spent their time outdoors: skiing, fishing, crabbing, shrimping, hunting, and camping. After a period of time, Racheyl reported to family and close friends that Steve stopped helping around the house. He wouldn’t do the yard work. He wouldn’t work on the cars without Racheyl pushing him to do it. She was a good mechanic, so she maintained her own car.

After about five years of marriage, Racheyl reported to family and close friends that Steve had been cheating on Racheyl with one of her close friends. She decided to work through it. In time, the pain of his betrayal eased and they made plans for their future together. Witnesses say Racheyl couldn’t fully trust Steve after the affair.

Shortly after the birth of her baby, Racheyl found a spot on her upper right arm. It turned out to be melanoma. Witnesses have stated that Steve did not seem concerned about Racheyl’s diagnosis.

According to a witness, after the confrontation with the husband of the woman with whom he’d been having an ongoing affair, Steve’s drinking worsened, along with his verbal abuse. He began shoving Racheyl. Witnesses noticed a change in her demeanor. She began to suffer from low self-esteem. The added stress made her see a doctor, who prescribed Zoloft. The arguing with her husband persisted; Racheyl reports that Steve was hitting her, but would black out and wouldn’t remember. In one instance, she shoved her so hard into a chair, her entire side was left bruised. He then poured bear over her head and ripped the phones out of the walls so she couldn’t call 911. Steve would leave for days at a time, but always came back. Racheyl reported to several close friends and family that she was going to get a divorce.

Witnesses say that family members and even friends at the hunting club begin to advise Racheyl to divorce Steve. She confided in several family members and a close family friend that she’s going to do it soon.

Mary Ann Kicklighter, a close family friend, reported to GBI Special Agent Shaw that Racheyl had told her, “Steve hasn’t been home in three days.” She said that Racheyl stated that “she needed to go see Steve and end this.” Racheyl dropped off her child to her mom in the company of Ms. Kicklighter so the child could go to church services with them. Racheyl’s mom asked her not to go because she had a bad feeling.

A witness at the hunting club said he saw Steve and Racheyl together at 2:30PM. It was still early, so they decided to go and sight in their guns before they went to their stands. He recalled that both Steve and Racheyl were drinking beer while they were shooting, but neither appeared to be intoxicated.

According to Steve’s written report, at about 5:30PM, he heard a dear “blow at” him. A few minutes later, he heard a dog come in and jump the deer. At about 5:45PM, he said he went to his truck to “see about the dog.” At 5:50PM, he said he called out for Racheyl. He got no response. So, we walked into the woods calling out her name. When he got close to her stand, he shone his light up the tree and couldn’t see her there. He then found her lying on the ground at the base of the tree where the stand was mounted. Again, this is according to his written report. He described her as laying face down on top of her rifle. He said he eased her over and found no signs of life. Note that the tree stand that he called “her stand” in his written report was not actually her stand at all. It was an old, broken, and never-used tree stand. Nobody who knew Racheyl believed she would go up into that stand.

According to the 911 center’s call logs, Steve Brinson’s call to 911 occurred at 6:04PM. According to his statement, that would be 14 minutes after he found his wife laying face down with no signs of life (he said she didn’t have a pulse, she wasn’t breathing, and her eyes didn’t respond to light). The 911 operator told Brinson to begin CPR, which he said he did.

According to interviews with EMT Ricky Beckham, first responders arrived at the hunting club at 6:23PM, but it took them until 6:28PM to get to Racheyl. Racheyl was laying on her back when they arrived. They took over CPR from Steve Brinson. They had to intubate her because there was fluid in her lungs. They continued CPR until 6:49PM, when the EMS crew called Dr. Martinez, who instructed them to terminate resuscitation efforts. Lt. Beckham reported that there was the smell of alcohol on Racheyl’s body, but there weren’t any cans or bottle in the area. At that point, they called off the life flight helicopter that had been en route. Lt. Beckham recalled that Steve Brinson asked him, “Is she going to be OK?” In another interview, Lt. Beckham told investigators that he Steve Brinson was “taking it better” than he thought he should. Terry Holmes also told investigators a similar story. He said that Brinson’s demeanor was odd; that he just stood or sat off to the side and calmly smoked a cigarette. He thought Brinson should have been more frantic and attentive. He never saw Steve Brinson cry over Racheyl’s death. Not in that moment. Not ever.

As Mr. Proctor and Steve Brinson were making their way over to Pat Smith’s home, others were as well. News of Racheyl’s death had spread. One witness told investigators that he was sitting on the tailgate of a truck outside Pat Smith’s home with Steve Brinson and his father when he witnessed Steve Brinson tell his father, “I really f***ed up!” The witness sated that there was dead silence after that. He characterized Brinson’s statement as an admission of guilt.

The morning after Racheyl’s death, Steve Brinson called Racheyl’s workplace to inquire about the status of her life insurance policy. One witness stated to investigators that Racheyl had discussed changing her life insurance beneficiary to her mother several weeks prior to her death. That change never occurred. Steve and Cole were still listed as her beneficiaries. She had a total of three life insurance policies with a total value that was over $300,000.

Racheyl’s body was transported to Atlanta to undergo a complete autopsy. The examination was performed by Lora Darrisaw, MD under the supervision of Kris L. Sperry, MD. In an interview later, Dr. Darrisaw said she had been informed that this was an accidental death due to a fall from a tree stand. She was not informed of the domestic abuse prior to releasing the body to the funeral home. Had she been told that, she said, she would have pursued a more thorough autopsy. Besides this, there is evidence that Dr. Darrisaw didn’t perform a thorough autopsy. She noted under “Identifying Marks and Scars” that none were readily apparent. However, Racheyl had undergone a surgery for melanoma which had left a scar more than six inches long on her right arm. In addition to this, there were no photos taken of the autopsy. Dr. Darrisaw stated that this was standard operating procedure.

The Division of Forensic Sciences of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation tested multiple samples of Racheyl’s bodily fluids. They found that Racheyl’s body was negative for amphetamines, barbituates, cannabinoids, benzodiazepines, cocaine, and opiods.

Steve is arrested at 11:14 PM for driving under the influence of alcohol in his black 1991 Toyota pickup truck. He is already a felon, having been convicted of DUI/Serious Injury by Vehicle. His charge is reduced to a lesser charge of PUI (pedestrian under the influence), he is found guilty and is ordered to pay a $130 fine.

Curiously, after L.W. Bruce read Dr. Darrisaw’s report and found that the manner of death was “Accident” and that the cause of death was “Blunt Force Head Trauma,” he amended his report to say that the cause of death was “Blunt force trauma due to a fall from a tree stand, complicated by a high blood alcohol content.”