Prosecutors said Alyssa Bradburn planned the shooting for weeks before ambushing her father as he returned to their Spokane home.
SPOKANE, Wash. — A Washington woman was sentenced to 340 months in prison after a jury found her guilty of first-degree murder in the 2024 shooting death of her father, a case prosecutors said involved weeks of planning before he walked through the front door of their home.
Alyssa Bradburn, 33, received the sentence April 2 in Spokane County Superior Court for killing her father, Timothy Bradburn. The punishment includes a firearm enhancement and followed a guilty verdict returned about a month earlier. The case drew added attention because prosecutors and local coverage described Bradburn as largely emotionless during the proceedings and at times smiling as testimony unfolded.
Authorities said the case began June 25, 2024, when Bradburn called 911 and reported that she had shot her father after he returned from a trip to Hawaii. Investigators said Timothy Bradburn was found in the entryway of the family’s Northwest Spokane home. According to trial testimony, he had just come in carrying his keys and suitcase when he was shot. Prosecutors told jurors the attack was not sudden or accidental but an ambush timed for the moment he stepped inside.
During the trial, Bradburn admitted responsibility in blunt terms. She said she killed her father and would accept the consequences. Prosecutors argued those statements matched the physical evidence and her earlier remarks to police. They said she told detectives she believed she fired three shots, though an autopsy later found that Timothy Bradburn had been shot four times. The prosecution used that detail to argue the killing was deliberate and sustained, not a panicked reaction during a struggle.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Emily Sullivan said the evidence showed an “extreme and elaborate degree of planning.” Prosecutors said Bradburn had begun preparing weeks before the shooting. They told the court she practiced with the gun inside the house, got help loading it at a gun range and wrote in a journal about the plan in the days leading up to the killing. They also said she took steps to control the scene before her father arrived home, waiting for the moment he entered the house.
Bradburn initially claimed she acted in self-defense and accused her father of abuse, but those claims were later withdrawn. That shift became an important part of the case. Her brother, Trace Bradburn, told the court the allegations had damaged their father’s memory and insisted Timothy Bradburn was a caring man who did not hurt people. In a victim impact statement, he said the loss had gutted him and changed his life. His remarks gave the sentencing hearing some of its most emotional moments.
The defense asked for a lower sentence, pointing to Bradburn’s lack of criminal history and to mental health issues raised during the case. Her attorney argued she sometimes struggled to separate fantasy from reality. The judge did not accept that as a reason to sharply reduce the punishment. Judge Julie McKay imposed what was described as a mid-range sentence: 280 months for the murder conviction, plus a 60-month firearm enhancement, for a total of 340 months.
McKay said the seriousness of the crime overshadowed the fact that Bradburn had no prior criminal record. In addition to prison time, Bradburn was ordered to serve 36 months of community custody after release, pay restitution tied to her father’s death and have no contact with her brother. The ruling closed one phase of a case that had already shocked Spokane because of both the family relationship and the prosecution’s description of careful preparation.
The sentence leaves Bradburn facing nearly three decades in prison for a killing that prosecutors said began long before the gun was fired. With the trial over and sentencing complete, the case now stands as a finished prosecution, marked by the court’s finding that the shooting was planned, personal and deadly.
Author note: Last updated April 9, 2026.