Melville House Books

The ex-husband of romance writer Rebecca Brandewyne is on trial for “building a bomb, then placing it on his porch and calling police to report she left it there,” according to a report in the Wichita Eagle by Hurst Laviana. Police say Gary Brock called 911 and reported “a suspicious person had left a box on the front porch,” but that he’d caught a glimpse of the getaway vehicle. “He gave me a tag and a vehicle description,” policeman Jamie Crouch told the judge hearing the case. “Rebecca Brandewyne was what the name of the tag came back to.” Meanwhile, the Witchita bomb squad found “the suspicious FedEx box contained a cigar box with what appeared to be two pipe bombs inside,” but no ignition device. Another policeman testified that he went to Brandewyne’s house and found her car engine was cold. In response to questioning from Brock’s lawyer, Sgt. John Hoofer testified, “In my experience, it would take several hours to completely cool.” Brock’s lawyer countered, “Have you gone to any schools on this?” Hoofer replied, “Hard knocks.”

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.