In the late afternoon of May 29, 2022, a domestic argument inside a small camper on Lake Long Drive in Bayou Blue, a community near Houma, Louisiana, took a fatal turn. Brandon Bradley, a 43-year-old male, was shot once in the chest. Despite the efforts of neighbors and volunteer firefighters who rushed to his aid and attempted life-saving measures, Bradley succumbed to his injuries at the scene and was pronounced dead by emergency medical technicians.
The investigation into the shooting
quickly focused on Crystal Ricker, 41, who was in a relationship with Bradley. Before he died, Bradley reportedly told people at the scene that Ricker had shot him. This statement, combined with other evidence gathered by detectives from the Lafourche Parish and Terrebonne Parish sheriff's offices, led to a warrant for her arrest. The weapon used in the shooting was recovered at the scene.
On June 29, 2022, Crystal Ricker was arrested and booked into the Lafourche Parish Correctional Complex. She was charged with second-degree murder, and her bail was set at $500,000. In May 2025, a Lafourche Parish jury found Ricker, then 44, guilty of the second-degree murder of her longtime partner. Following the conviction, she was sentenced to a mandatory life sentence in prison without the possibility of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence.
