Jurors convicted Richard Tanner Ozment after about 20 minutes of deliberation and sentenced him to life in prison.

WACO, Texas — A McLennan County jury convicted Richard Tanner Ozment of first-degree murder and sentenced him to life in prison after rejecting his claim that he killed 38-year-old Michaela Brooker in self-defense during a violent encounter near China Spring.

The verdict brought a rapid end to the central dispute at Ozment’s trial: whether he was legally justified in using deadly force against Brooker. Prosecutors said the evidence showed an intentional and escalating attack involving a machete, fire and a concrete block. The defense maintained that Brooker had tried to stab Ozment, an account he gave his mother immediately after she discovered Brooker gravely injured behind a recreational vehicle on the family’s rural property. Jurors deliberated for about 20 minutes before finding Ozment guilty, according to the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office. They imposed the life sentence later the same day.

The killing occurred Sept. 21, 2024, in the 15000 block of Old China Spring Road, about 12 miles northwest of Waco. Authorities said Ozment’s mother encountered him outside her home and thought he appeared unusually sweaty. When she tried to walk past him, he stepped into her path, according to an account in the criminal complaint. She pushed around him and saw what she described to investigators as a human foot behind an RV. Sheriff Parnell McNamara later clarified that Brooker’s foot had not been severed. The mother approached the RV and found Brooker on the ground with severe injuries.

Ozment’s mother asked him what he had done, according to the complaint. He answered that Brooker had tried to stab him. His mother retreated into the house and barricaded herself while Ozment’s father called 911. The complaint said Ozment urged his parents not to contact law enforcement. Firefighters arrived before sheriff’s deputies and saw a man running from the property. Emergency workers then found Brooker alive but critically injured. She had extensive wounds, primarily to her head, authorities said. A medical helicopter took her to Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Temple, where she later died.

District Attorney Josh Tetens said Ozment cut Brooker several times with a machete, set her on fire and struck her in the head with a concrete block. The descriptions released by authorities were disturbing, but the essential issue for jurors was whether the force was justified. A claim of self-defense did not require the jury to accept Ozment’s statement merely because it was made near the time of the killing. Jurors were able to weigh his account against the physical evidence, the sequence described by witnesses and the prosecution’s presentation of how Brooker suffered her fatal injuries.

Authorities did not publicly establish a motive after Ozment was indicted. Officials initially characterized the incident as domestic in nature and said Ozment and Brooker knew each other, but they did not fully explain their relationship or why Brooker was on the property that morning. Those unanswered questions did not prevent prosecutors from proceeding because motive is not always an element the state must prove in a murder case. The trial instead focused on what Ozment did, whether he acted intentionally and whether the defense had created reasonable doubt about his claim of lawful self-protection.

Ozment left the property as emergency crews arrived, setting off a search involving sheriff’s deputies, tracking dogs, a helicopter, a SWAT team and mounted personnel. The manhunt lasted roughly 10 hours. A deputy on horseback eventually spotted Ozment near a stock tank about 100 yards from the crime scene. Authorities said Ozment was partially submerged beneath a tree limb and tried to lower himself farther into the water after being noticed. The deputy ordered him to remain visible until additional officers surrounded the area and took him into custody.

Investigators recovered the machete they said was used in the attack. McNamara said Ozment’s parents cooperated with authorities, beginning with the father’s decision to call 911 despite his son’s objections. The parents’ actions gave first responders a chance to reach Brooker while she was still alive and helped officers identify the man they needed to find. Their account also supplied prosecutors with evidence about Ozment’s appearance, his effort to block his mother’s path, his statement that Brooker tried to stab him and his departure as help arrived.

The prosecution’s case converted those early observations into a broader account of the killing. Ozment’s statement to his mother placed him at the center of the confrontation, while the condition in which Brooker was found showed the severity of the violence. His flight prompted another question for jurors about his conduct after the attack. Leaving a scene does not by itself prove murder, but prosecutors may ask jurors to consider whether flight shows awareness of wrongdoing when it is combined with other evidence. The defense, meanwhile, had to explain why a person claiming self-defense fled and concealed himself rather than remaining to report the alleged threat.

Ozment had been paroled months before Brooker’s death after serving about 10 years of a 40-year sentence arising from burglary cases. Court records cited in earlier reporting showed that he pleaded guilty after being indicted on multiple burglary counts and was sentenced in 2015. McNamara criticized the earlier release after the 2024 killing, saying the attack should not have happened. Ozment’s previous conviction was separate from the evidence jurors considered in deciding whether he murdered Brooker, but his parole status affected his custody after the arrest and became part of the public debate surrounding the case.

Brooker’s family and friends remembered her as a mother, daughter and friend with a caring and free-spirited personality. Her obituary said she was raised in Clifton and enjoyed music, camping and spending time at the lake. A fundraising page created after her death described her as a cherished mother and sought help for her child. Those accounts offered a fuller picture of a woman whose public identity otherwise became tied to the manner of her death and the criminal case against the man accused of causing it.

The conviction changed Ozment’s legal status from an accused defendant to a person found guilty by a jury. His life sentence means he will remain in state custody, though any appellate filings would proceed through the Texas courts. Publicly available reports did not identify a scheduled appeal or describe any post-trial motion filed on his behalf. The jury’s decision left no doubt about its view of the defense presented at trial: Ozment’s claim that he acted to protect himself did not overcome the evidence that prosecutors said proved murder.

Author note: Last updated Aug. 3, 2026.