Tara Mekino Brown
3/21/1991-9/8/2015
Tara Brown Foundation
Tara was a 24-year-old young mother who was savagely hunted down and murdered on September 8, 2015, by her ex-partner after leaving him just days after leaving the safety of a women's shelter. He chased her down as she was driving and forced her off the road, causing her to crash. With witnesses all around, no one expected the horrifying and shocking events that took place moments later. The murder was extremely graphic, so I'm going to go over the details once in this video and get into that a little bit later.
I couldn't find much about Tara's family life or childhood.
What I do know is she was born on March 21, 1991, at Waikato women's hospital in Hamilton, New Zealand. She came from a large extended family who loved her very much. She was outgoing and an accomplished touch football player. She never talked poorly of others, always smiled, and had a positive attitude. People say she was "a pleasure to be around." She had a brother and was excited to grow up and have a family of her own.
Their childhood was tough, though. Her Mom's partner at the time was abusive, and her Mom got a DVPO. At just 18, Tara was listed as a protected party for the first time.
On December 5, 2010, at 19 yo, she was hospitalized after being assaulted by her partner. They got into an argument after drinking, and he pushed her and hit her head on a parked car, causing a cut above her left eye.
Tara and her murderer, we'll call him her ex because he doesn't deserve to be named, had known each other since childhood. His aunt lived right around the corner from her childhood home. They attended the same school and graduated the same year, 2009, but they didn't know each other in school. They were more like distance acquaintances. They met again in 2011. They got along well. They both liked sports, she played touch football, and he played rugby.
He was not a great guy and had a lot of baggage. He started committing crimes like assault, stealing cars, and breaching dv orders as a juvenile and displayed patterns of coercive control and abusive behavior from a young age. He had a history of perpetrating significant domestic violence on at least one ex-partner. He punched her in the face, pushed her to the ground, kicked her in the head, was possessive, and verbally abused her. At one point in the relationship, he viciously attacked her, injuring a 13 yo girl in the process. A temporary DVPO was issued; a month later, a permanent one was put in order. He was convicted of assault, put on probation, and completed a men's DV program where he was considered a high-risk respondent.
(STAGE 1: HISTORY OF ABUSE OR STALKING)
The relationship developed quickly; within 3 months, she was pregnant, and within a year, they were living together. About 6 to 8 months into the relationship, her friends noticed his controlling behavior escalate. She once went to the beach with a girlfriend, a 10-minute drive away. And the friend would later recall that he called about 10x demanding to know what stop lights they were at and what stores they could see.
(STAGE 2: RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPS QUICKLY)
During a routine Domestic Family violence screening in March, she denied being assaulted or fearful of her ex.
During her pregnancy, he pushed her down the stairs and strangled her. (PREGNANCY VIOLENCE A RISK FACTOR)
One day he came home and told her he had joined a gang, I'm unclear exactly when this happened, but she panicked and begged him to get out. He refused and secured his position as sergeant of arms, the enforcer for the gang. She called her Mom, scared, saying she didn't know what to do.
He was nasty to her before this, but his behavior became brutal once he was in the gang. She went from his GF to his possession.
But the first significant and public attack on Tara happened on April 22, 2012, when she was nine months pregnant. I am a little confused about these events, so if some of this is off, please forgive me. It's my understanding that Tara went to the gas station to get a chocolate bar and did not get anything for her ex. This caused him to fly into a rage. He kicked her, pushed her, ripped her dress, and drove erratically. He called her names and swore at her. She threw a coin at him in response, and he "went, psycho ." He parked the car, threw trash cans at her, spat in her face, called her "a putrid dog ____ slut" and ripped her dress completely off. She found a sarong in her trunk and called her Mom hysterical.
When her Mom got there, Tara was a mess. Her car windshield had been smashed in, something he would do 3x during their 4-year relationship. The side mirrors were kicked off, and he had thrown the keys somewhere. Tara's Mom drove straight to the police station, but tara was too afraid to make a report. But she was able to tell them about her windshield and that he threatened to kill her and her family with a handgun.
It is likely that when she went to the police, this infuriated him on an even deeper level because of his gang affiliation. They do not like the police and often assault people who talk to them. Despite her not wanting them to, they had enough evidence to file a temporary order of protection for her and her family, which they did on April 23, 2012, but they would not serve it until June of that year.
Tara moved back in with her Mom.
When Tara's water broke, she made arrangements for her ex to bring her to the hospital, and they went in on May 20. she went to the hospital. When her Mom arrived, she walked into the room excitedly and focused on Tara. She started asking about the morning's events and getting caught up. At one point, Tara's ex got up and left the room.
About an hour later, he called Tara, screaming so loudly that her mother and the midwife in the room could hear him yelling. He was saying that her Mom was a rude b-word and that he was going to come back and off her. Tara started bawling, and the hospital asked her if she wanted security to get involved. She declined, saying she wanted him to be there for the birth of their child.
The hospital was aware of the DVPO, and on May 24, they finally reported the order breach to the police. However, since the police still needed to serve him with the order, they couldn't charge him for breaching it.
Tara was a wonderful mother, and when she left the hospital, she went home to her 3 bedroom duplex. It appears he went with her.
After the baby was born, one of the counselors told Tara that if she continued to express concerns regarding her safety to the police, they would contact the dept of child services, which would remove the baby. This conversation most likely deterred her from making further reports of domestic violence.
In June, she asked the PD to revoke the order stating that she and her ex had made up and wanted him to be in his daughter's life. A court hearing was scheduled, and on June 18, the judge denied her application to revoke the order and issued a permanent one on that date.
She moved back in with her mother on June 25, 2012.
He continued to call, harass and threaten her. Tara and her Mom went to the PD station and made another report, and he was arrested again. When he was released, he called tara, telling her he wanted to see their daughter. And the cycle of abuse continued.
Tara went to court and started the proceedings through family law court to get visitation rights for her ex. She said he had not been violent since July and didn't want further services.
The PD passively monitored the two before closing the case on February 8, 2013. The subsequent reports she would make to the police would come 2 years later though I doubt the abuse ever stopped.
In June 2013, she got a job as a personal assistant at a law firm. She was reluctant to discuss her relationship, but it didn't take long before his abusive behavior extended to her workplace. He would call her cell nonstop, and if she turned it off, he would call the office. And she wasn't the only person who answered that phone. And at employee events, he would go with her but refuse to go inside, so he'd wait outside in the car for hours like a creep.
I don't quite understand their money situation, which is precisely what an abuser wants. They make things so confusing it's hard to keep up.
Anyways, She worked all the time, and I read they kept their money separated. However, he did have access to and controlled her finances. He did this by requiring her to pay for all her and their daughter's living expenses, including food.
He also expected her to pay rent on a house they were living in that he had purchased.
He always knew how much she had and would drain her accounts if he got angry, leaving her and her daughter with little money for food. Meanwhile, he always had money, spent a lot on himself, and bought things like jet skis.
Their relationship was toxic. When they argued, he would threaten to off himself, slit their dog's throats, beat up Tara's brother, destroy their house and take everything. Several times he threatened to take their daughter away from Tara, and he did just that on many occasions.
He punched her in the head while she was holding the baby and would often push and shove her. At one point, he locked her in the house and told her she couldn't leave because he was her property and he owned her.
As the relationship progressed, her family said she became a shell of herself whose bright light slowly dimmed.
(STAGE 3: COERCIVE CONTROL RULING THE RELATIONSHIP)
He would call her friends up to 30x a day, demanding to know everything they knew about Tara. Some of them got scared and cut contact with her until she left him because they were so frightened for their safety. One friend, in particular, had a gut feeling something terrible would happen.
Sometime in 2014, he bought Tara a car, and she was so excited. But shortly after, he got mad at her about something; she didn't know what and gave it to his Mom. Talk about a horrifically manipulative person.
As the abuse escalated and Tara became fearful for her life. She was scared he would turn up at her work and hurt her. She told her boss what was happening, and he was incredibly supportive. By November 2014, her workplace had implemented a locked door policy. The door was to stay closed at all times, and any time someone needed to enter, they had to call the office to be let in. She was still unable to get out of the relationship.
In August 2015, Tara's grandfather passed away. She bought tickets for her and her daughter to see her family in New Zealand and spread his ashes. Tara wanted to be with her family, and when her ex wanted to go, she asked if it was okay that he stay back.
He refused and bought a ticket. On August 30, they returned to Australia. At the airport, he saw tara texting someone and flew into a rage. He accused her of cheating, snatched her phone, spat in her face, and chased her through the airport until security intervened.
She decided to leave him for good. This was her chance, the two were on separate flights, and she would arrive a few hours before him. She planned to go straight home, pack some things and flee with her daughter.
(STAGE 4: TRIGGER)
She finished packing and ran out the door to her car just as he pulled up. He stopped her in the driveway, dragged her inside, strangled her, held scissors to her throat, called her names, and threatened to stab her and cut her ear off. The attack only stopped when his aunt arrived and intervened.
But as soon as she left, he locked Tara and their daughter in a room. He then emptied her bank accounts, took her phone, and messaged her colleagues and friends, pretending to be her, saying she was having an affair.
He posted intimate pictures of her on social media. And at some point, he kicked her out of the house. She told her work about the situation. She had some clothes in her trunk and was able to make it to work on August 31.
The following 2 days, her boss noticed that she was receiving a lot of texts and calls, so he pulled her into his office. She told him the situation was escalating, and she was sleeping in her car. He told her he could be her legal representative and help her create a safety plan to get out of the relationship.
Tara's ex had to go out of town for work sometimes, and that time came. He left his daughter in the care of his aunt and let Tara return to the house. While away, he repeatedly called his aunt demanding photo and video proof that his daughter was with her and tara wasn't. His aunt invited tara over anyways.
On September 3, 2015, with him still away, she and her boss created a safety plan to help her escape. Her Mom picked her daughter up from daycare and brought her to Tara's work. They got her a new phone and arranged to get them a hotel for the evening and to a refuge shelter the following day. She was so frightened that she wasn't talking or acting like herself. Her Mom said she was like a completely different person. Tara's ex called and texted Tara 270 times within a 10-hour period that day.
(STAGE 4: TRIGGER LOSS OF CONTROL)
They also went to the PD station to let them know what was going on, and Tara expressed her fear of his reaction when she found out he had left. She showed them the messages, but they failed her that day and told her that since she had responded to the texts, they couldn't help her. She also said to them that he could easily access a firearm. A temp DVPO was granted for tara and 8 of her family members, but there is no record that the police attempted to serve the order. In the end, she left and tried to get a private DVPO.
Everyone expected he would be angry and come looking for Tara, which is precisely what he did. He went to her Mom's, brother's, friend's, and grandparent's houses, frantically looking for her. When he couldn't find her, he targeted her Mom and her boss, causing them to relocate for their safety temporarily.
(STAGE 5: ESCALATION IN FREQUENCY OR INTENSITY OF TACTICS)
Somehow the two were able to make arrangements for Tara's daughter to see her dad that fathers day, and on September 5, she returned to the gold coast and facilitated the drop-off.
It went well; there was a 30 min window from drop off to pick up to ensure that tara and her ex didn't see each other.
The visit was a success, and Tara was hopeful that things would blow over. On September 7, she left the shelter ahead of her scheduled plan and went to her aunt's house to start returning to her life and work. She had a lot to do and decided to put her daughter in her daycare for the day.
(STAGE 6: CHANGE OF THINKING)
What she didn't know what that her ex was furious, despite the successful visit on Father's day. He hadn't stopped looking for her and wanted to get back at her. He called the daycare to confirm his daughter would be coming in on September 8. They said she was scheduled to attend that day.
(STAGE 7: PLANNING)
(Calley's law would have been helpful in this case)
She dropped off their daughter, and he confronted her as she walked through the parking lot. She ran to her car, jumped in, and sped away. It was 8:25 am.
Im going to show the recreation of the following events found in the documentary about Tara. I'll link it below.
(STAGE 8: THE HOMICIDE)
He jumped in his jeep and followed close behind. At first, she didn't see him, but as he caught up, she told him and tried to lose him.
She hit a stop light, and he pulled his car in front of hers. He got out, brandished a knife, and started punching her vehicle. She was able to speed away, but he caught up with her again.
She dialed 000 or 911 in the US. She was forced to stop a second time, and he cut her off again, jumped out of his car, and punched and kicked her car. She drove away, but he followed.
At times she was driving up to 100 km/hr or 62 mph through neighborhood streets, trying to get away from him. She was screaming for help. He rammed his car into hers over and over again. The front passenger side of his jeep hit the driver's side door of her car, causing it to swerve and run off the road.
There's footage of her car hitting a 3-meter or 9 ft tall embankment and plowing into the yard of a house. Her vehicle came to a rest on its side, driver-side down. She was alive, trapped, hanging upside down, and screaming for help.
Neighbors and passersby rushed to help her and started calling emergency services.
Her ex drove up the road a bit and stopped. He parked his car 70 meters, or .04 miles away. We can see footage of him running back to the scene of Tara's crash.
As he's running, he stops and grabs a hydrant cover. It was solid steel and weighed 7.8 kilograms or 17.2 lbs.
When he approached the car, witnesses thought he was a random person trying to help, so when he told them to help him smash out the window, they did. He climbed into the car, knelt on Tara's chest, and hit her hard and violently with the hydrant 16 times in the head. The witnesses tried to fight him off, but they couldn't. They could hear her screaming, begging him to stop and help her. The attack was heard on the 000 or 911 call.
A witness asked what he was doing, and he screamed that she had his kid, and he hit Tara 13 more times, making it 29 in total, before leaving the hydrant cover on her face and fleeing the scene. It's so eery how calmly he walks away. He stole a car and left. He cut himself on the neck and leg superficially, then went to the police station and surrendered,
Tara was unconscious and in critical condition but alive. She was transported to Gold Coast Hospital in Queensland, Australia in intensive care and put on life support.
Tara had severe head injuries, multiple bruises, lacerations on her head and scalp, severe facial and skull fractures, and a depression in the skull so deep it caused damage to the brain. Tara had necrosis or death of brain cells due to severe brain swelling. She was unrecognizable, and the doctors said her injuries were unsurvivable. She was taken off life support and died on September 9, 2015, at 9:03 pm. Her cause of death was head injuries.
While at the hospital, Tara and her ex were treated in adjacent bays. He was conscious and had minor, superficial wounds, meaning he could have continued the attack on her.
On February 27, 2017, he was sentenced to life in prison for her murder. It later came to light that Tara's ex had killed a man by beating him to death with a 15.7-inch wrench for the gang as he had an outstanding drug debt. The murder occurred on July 6, 2015, just two months before her death.
Upon examination, it is clear that Tara experienced significant coercive control and physical, verbal, emotional, financial, and sexual abuse. She only stayed with him because he threatened to kill her, her Mom, her brother, her grandparents, and himself. He broke the DVPO order 3x before murdering her, and she fully believed he was capable of carrying out his threats. After investigating the case, it was concluded that the officers who responded to her case, especially the ones she encountered on September 3, failed to respond appropriately and subsequently failed her.
Today, her grandmother and her partner care for Tara's daughter. They say she is happy and thriving. Her family went on to create the Tara Brown Foundation to raise funds for domestic violence shelters and charities worldwide in hopes of preventing similar tragedies. The foundation also works on raising awareness.
Tara is remembered as a kind, beautiful, soft-spirited woman, a radiant go-getter, a young mother, and an exceptional mother with an aspiring outlook and doting on her daughter. She was a talented athlete and an excellent employee. I'm sure her death leaves gaping holes in the lives of her loved ones.
My deepest condolences go out to the friends and family of Tara Brown. She seemed like such a genuinely wonderful person.
While researching this case, I learned there is a way to assess the severity and level of dangerousness in intimate partner relationships. The Ontario DV death review committee created a list of 40 risk factors that indicate the potential for (lethality). They studied cases, and in 80%, at least 7 of the risk factors were present. It is widely agreed that the presence of one or more risk factors should evoke an immediate response to the situation.
The information gathered from the study basically concludes that DV homicides are somewhat predictable and share a similar pattern of events. Just as Dr. Jane Monkton Smith points out in her 8 stages of a DV homicide, I have thrown up on the screen as they appeared in Tara's case.
I hope these videos can raise awareness and help educate people on the signs of DV and escalating violence.
If you find it in your heart, please light a candle for Tara or anyone who has lost their life to domestic violence. And if you or anyone you know is experiencing DV, please reach out to your support network or resources available, and check out the safety plans on this page. You are not alone, and there are a lot of people out there that want to help you.
Tara Brown Foundation
Government Inquest https://www.courts.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/664057/nif-brown-t-20210127.pdf
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