This week on Investigation Discovery, the third episode of Dead Reckoning looks at the case of Tom Bragg from Thomastown, Georgia, who was brutally murdered in his own home on September 9, 2002.
Authorities now believe that Tom, a self-employed carpenter and a member of New Life Pentecostal Holiness Church, was beaten to death with a blunt object sometime between 4 am, and 6 am.
A neighbor discovered Tom’s body in the bedroom with a trail of blood leading from the front door to the driveway. There were no signs of forced entry.
Tom’s wife, Mary Ann Bragg, was questioned by officers on the day of the murder and again the next day. During both interviews, Mary Ann expressed concern for her finances and asked the officers when she’d be able to claim a life insurance policy on her dead husband.
Police discovered that Mary Ann had three months earlier, taken out a $25,000 life insurance policy on Tom without his knowledge. She claimed she hadn’t informed her husband of the policy because he disapproved of life insurance life.
Mary Ann Bragg admitted to cheating on her husband
Investigators then also discovered evidence of a marriage that was in trouble. After seizing Mary Ann’s computer, she admitted to having extra-marital affairs with men she had met on the internet.
At this stage, the police still didn’t have enough evidence to convict Mary Ann of the murder, and the case grew cold after a couple of years.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelSome unusual methods were used to try to find extra clues to get the case moving again, including bringing in a psychic from New York.
However, it was the discovery that not only had Mary Ann been threatening Tom in the company of friends, but she even admitted to two pals that she killed him after explaining to them that she had to get something off her chest.
In 2006 Mary Ann Bragg was found guilty of malice murder, felony murder, and aggravated assault. She was given a life sentence plus 20-years.
The medical examiner has questioned whether Mary Ann was physically capable of causing those particular injuries to Tom, which has led to speculation that she did not act alone. A neighbor allegedly saw an individual light a cigarette on the Bragg’s screened porch.
More from Investigation Discovery
Follow the links to read about more grisly crimes profiled on ID.
Previously on Dead Reckoning, Cheyenne Clough from Buffalo, MN., was shot four times by her so-called friends, who were drugged up on meth. Shawn Tyler Benson, Edward Victor Zelko, and Justin Michael Jensen decided to kill Clough because they feared she was going to “snitch” on them to the police.
Also on ID, Kyron Horman vanished from his elementary school in Portland, Oregon, in June 2010; the 7-year-old has not been seen since. The child’s stepmother Terri Moulton Horman who dropped him at his school has remained a subject of suspicion for many years; however, she denies any wrongdoing.
Dead Reckoning airs Thursdays at 9/8c on Investigation Discovery.