MUM’S ANGUISH ‘WE TRIED TO SAVE HER’
LESLIE’S DAUGHTER ALICIA WAS ABUSED AND MURDERED BY THE MAN SHE LOVED
When Leslie Browning’s daughter Alicia started dating Daniel Scott, the mum had a bad feeling about the teenage romance.
Call it mother’s intuition, but as it turned out, Leslie was right.
“Daniel gave me bad vibes from the start,” recalls Leslie, 53, from Murphy, Texas.
“Alicia was 16, he was her first boyfriend and she changed. She started to lie to me about everything
– from where she was to her school work. We argued all the time.”
Furious with Leslie, Alicia went to live with her father, Doug. He worked long hours, which gave Alicia the freedom to meet Scott whenever she liked. Then came a phone call.
“Alicia asked me to go to the court to sign a document saying that she could marry Daniel,” says Leslie. “I told her she was crazy and no way would I give her my blessing.
“She got Doug’s blessing instead and they were married in October 2004. I was hurt and worried but I couldn’t stop it.”
After the wedding, Alicia and Leslie made up and the couple moved into an apartment close to Leslie, her husband Darin and Alicia’s sisters, Lauren and Courtney.
Alicia’s baby, Dylan, was born in March 2006 and things seemed good, until November that year when Scott smacked Alicia across the head.
“She had a big bruise on her forehead,” recalls Leslie.
“I told her that she could come back home anytime with the baby and about a month later, she did.
“I was thrilled she was away from him. She told me he kept her cellphone and barred her from contacting family and friends. It was all about control.”
But Scott was relentless. He bombarded Alicia with gifts, messages and calls.
Leslie had set Alicia up in her own apartment but he found her and in June 2007, they disappeared.
It wasn’t until several weeks later that Alicia called Leslie and told her that they were moving to Alaska for a new start.
“I was gutted, but I grew close to Alicia again,” says Leslie. “He allowed her to speak to me on video chats. She had a daughter, Emily, and I sent gifts all the time.
“She was isolated – he didn’t let her make new friends and I knew she was unhappy, so I was thankful he let me in.”
The family moved back to Texas in 2010 and Alicia was pregnant with her third child, a girl she named Alyssa.
“This was a special time,” says Leslie. “We gave her a beautiful baby shower and I was present at the birth in August. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
“But even then he had this
control over her. He wouldn’t let her hold the baby, so I took [Alyssa] off him and placed her in [Alicia’s] arms. I was furious but determined he wouldn’t spoil that moment.”
After Alyssa was born, the family was evicted from their home and again Scott kept Alicia away from her loving family. Leslie kept quiet, knowing that if she kicked up a fuss, Alicia would be the one who paid for it.
Gradually, he allowed her to see her family again. In fact, 2016 was one of the happiest years for Leslie and Alicia.
“I saw so much of Alicia and her kids – we made many memories,” recalls Leslie. “I still felt that something was wrong but Alicia defended Daniel all the time.”
“THE PAIN WAS SO DEEP I THOUGHT I MIGHT DIE TOO. WE CLUNG TOGETHER FOR HER CHILDREN”
On December 27, 2016, there was a phone call – Alicia had been shot through her forehead by Scott. She was dead at just 29 years old.
Scott told the police it was an accident and when they came to the house, he was holding a piece of her brain, saying that it was all he had left of his wife.
It was shocking and horrifying. Even in death, Scott had to have a piece of his wife.
“I still don’t know how we lived through losing her,” says Leslie. “The pain was so deep I thought I might die too. We clung together as a family, for her children, who she loved so much.”
Thankfully, the police saw through Scott’s lies and in March 2018, he was found guilty of Alicia’s murder and sentenced to 70 years in jail.
At the trial, the family heard that within hours of her death, he had been trawling the internet looking for women.
It was a bittersweet day to see justice served. Leslie petitioned for custody of her grandchildren but they went to their paternal grandparents because they had lived with them before.
“This was a massive blow to me,” says Leslie. “So to cope with my grief, I set up a foundation in Alicia’s name to help other women who suffer from domestic violence.
“Our lives have been shattered forever. There is so much that we’ve lost, so many memories never made. I will never stop telling her story – if I can save just one person it’s worth it.”