On a summer evening in Belfair, Washington, the life of Joseph Gene Sedlacek, a 52-year-old Caucasian male, was brought to a tragic end. On July 20, 2015, deputies from the Mason County Sheriff's Office responded to a 911 call around 8 p.m. reporting a shooting at a home in the Belfair View Estates. Inside the residence on Northeast Bear Ridge, they discovered Sedlacek, dead from an apparent gunshot wound.
The initial report to authorities came from Bridget Ann Graham, Sedlacek's
54-year-old girlfriend of 22 years, who claimed his death was a suicide. However, the investigation soon turned towards her. After the shooting, Graham had taken her 9 ½-month-old grandson and left the residence in a vehicle, but she was soon stopped and apprehended by a deputy on Northshore Road.
During questioning, Graham's initial story began to change. She admitted to a detective that she had become angry with Sedlacek after he threatened to call Child Protective Services concerning her grandson. While she stated that she could not recall the precise details of the event, she surmised that she must have taken the handgun from Sedlacek and shot him.
Following her confession, Bridget Ann Graham was arrested and taken to the Mason County Jail, where she was booked for investigation of murder with a firearm. She was subsequently charged with second-degree murder, and her bail was set at $150,000. The case was then scheduled to proceed in Mason County Superior Court.
