Woman plays dead after beating to save her life

Sarah Sell and Chris Zoladz, WZZM-TV, Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek, Mich. | USATODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Wife plays dead to avoid being killed by husband A Rockford, Mich., woman testifies in court Monday that she was beaten with a crowbar by her husband and left for dead.

Estranged husband had invited wife over to his house to talk about the divorce

They had dinner%2C even had sex

He revealed that they both would die that night as she started to leave

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A woman said her husband of 33 years beat her with a crowbar, leaving her for dead after inviting her to his home to talk about their coming divorce.

With the wounds still visible on her face and head from the attack Feb. 15, Pamela Brabo, 57, described the night she spent with her soon-to-be ex-husband in his Courtland Township, Mich., home.

On the stand Monday in 63rd District Court here, Pamela Brabo said she and her husband ate dinner and had sex.

"There was no anger. None whatsoever," she said.

Then the two laid in bed and talked.

Not until she got up to leave around 7:30 p.m. did his demeanor change, she said.

"I heard him say he talked to his divorce attorney. (He said,) 'I don't know how to tell you this, but we're both going to die tonight,' " Pamela Brabo said.

Marshall Brabo, 55, then retrieved a crowbar and a wrench and hit her several times over the next two to three hours.

"I was trying to say, 'Marshall, why are you hurting me?' " she said. "He said, 'You son of a bitch, you think I'm going to pay for a divorce?' " She had filed for divorce in November. They are the parents of two adult daughters.

At one point Pamela Brabo said she pretended to have a seizure, then held her breath and acted as if she were dead, a tactic that officials say may have saved her life.

"He wiped my face with a cloth. I could feel the bones moving in my face. It hurt so bad," she said.

Finally, Pamela Brabo said her husband took some pills and fell asleep. That's when she sneaked out of the house and drove herself to a nearby McDonald's drive-through window where she asked for help.

Marshall Brabo later was found passed out in his bed after taking dozens of sleeping pills in an apparent suicide attempt. He taken to an area hospital. Police also found a bloody crowbar and wrench in the home.

Pamela Brabo was hospitalized with skull fractures, two broken front teeth, a nose fracture, a right cheek fracture, cuts requiring 40 staples and bruised ribs.

Judge Steven Servaas ruled that enough evidence existed for a trial, binding Marshall Brabo over to 17th Circuit Court here. He will face a felony charge of assault with intent to murder.