A man who murdered his pregnant girlfriend from the Big Island was sentenced to life in prison. Richard Jacobson, 37, didn’t say a word during the hearing. An off-duty Kennewick officer found Brandy Ebanez in the Columbia River back in 2022. She was naked, badly beaten, and was wrapped in garbage bags with her feet tied with two landscaping bricks. The brutal killing sparked an investigation that stretched to Oregon, leading to Richard Jacobson’s arrest near Portland.
Richard Jacobson Gets Life Sentence For Murder
Jacobson was convicted of killing Ebanez, who was the mother of his two daughters and unborn son. Brandy’s sister, Breeann, is still grieving her loss. She said, “I cannot get my sister back, my family is never going to be the same, just a part of us that left us, and we cannot get it back. It was just a relief knowing that he can’t come out, knowing that he can never do this to anybody else.”
According to prosecutors, Richard Jacboson strangled Ebanez to death, stripped her naked, and wrapped her body. After wrapping Ebanez’s body, prosecutors said that Jacobson dumped her into the Columbia River. The brutal and killing came after years of constant abuse. Even after he was charged with murder in 2023, Jacobson still pleaded innocence.
He was in and out of jail for domestic violence, and despite her sister’s pleas for her to leave, Brandy stayed in the relationship. “Hold her down, lock her up, and just bad things,” Breeann recalled about the abuse. She added, “Nobody should go through that. That’s not love.”
“I think she just loved him and thought that their family could be together,” Breeann said. She also shared that Jacobson remained silent and didn’t utter a word during the hearing. “No apology, no remorse, he didn’t even shed a tear or anything, he didn’t care.” However, Breeann confronted Jacobson about the pain that he caused her and her family. She said, “I let him know that he was a monster and that he can no longer control my family anymore.”
Final Thoughts on Richard Jacobson’s Sentencing
A Benton County jury found Richard Jacobson guilty of first-degree murder, not too long after 45 minutes of deliberation. The jury had listened to 28 witnesses in over six days, and the decision came after the final arguments by Deputy Prosecutor Josh Lilly and Jacobson’s Defense Attorney, Michael Vander Sys.
Lilly detailed and painted a picture of a brutal murder and a plan to dispose of Brandy’s body to hide his crime, while Vander Sys argued for jurors not to fall prey to believing Jacobson was guilty and using evidence to make that assumption. In other news, R. Kelly overdosed in jail and was taken to the hospital, and there were the Lizzie Borden murders back in 1892.
Don't stop here
Every Score. Every Story. One Home.
Breaking sports, entertainment and news from across the Total Apex network, updated all day.
Get the Full Story →
