Inset: Lisa Bradford (Dulles Area Association of Realtors). Background: Police tape can be seen on the outside of the property where the victim was found dead (WRC/YouTube).
A woman was killed by her husband in Virginia after he said the looming end of their marriage was "too much to bear," according to authorities.
Roger Bradford, 60, has been charged with first-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony in the death of 54-year-old Lisa Bradford, the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office (LCSO) announced this week.
On Tuesday, the married couple was at their home on the 24000 block of Quimby Oaks Place in Aldie, Virginia, an unincorporated community some 40 miles west of Washington, D.C.
By that afternoon, Lisa Bradford was dead.
Roger Bradford allegedly shot his wife and then called a relative and apologized, according to court records obtained by Washington, D.C., NBC affiliate WRC. Not only did the defendant apparently say sorry for his action, but he said "he was going to kill himself" and asked the relative if they could "pick up his juvenile daughter so that she would not" come home to find her mother dead.
The relative called police, and LCSO deputies reported arriving at the home at about 12:10 p.m. to find Lisa Bradford dead. The suspect was not there.
Roger Bradford had reportedly used a rental car to drive about 2 1/2 hours north to Pennsylvania. At approximately 3:15 p.m., Pennsylvania State Police arrested him.
Court records reviewed by Law&Crime shed more light on the couple's recent past.
Roger Bradford pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud related to a kickback scheme in Iowa stretching back to 2019. He was sentenced to serve time in prison, and in an attempt to appeal in January, he shared that his "pre-existing mental health conditions worsened" while he was in custody.
"I was suicidal many nights," he continued, adding, "I have had my professional reputation and relationships destroyed as a result of my felony conviction."
Perhaps the most pertinent admission pointed to his spouse.
"My marriage with my wife Lisa is now headed to divorce as the pressures and injustice of this nightmare took its toll on our marriage and our life together," he wrote in a January filing. "The fact that my X-year marriage to this incredible woman is likely coming to an end is too much to bear."
Lisa Bradford was a member of the Dulles Area Association of Realtors, which remembered her as "a valued member of our community" whose "presence and kindness will be deeply missed."
"On behalf of our entire association and the real estate community, we extend our heartfelt condolences to her family, friends, and all who knew her," the group added. "May she rest in peace, and may her memory continue to live on in the hearts of those who knew and loved her."