The question over whether Brittany McMahon had a rope around her neck continues to spark a fierce debate between the McMahons and the Bandera County Sheriff’s Office.
Judge Mike Towers said he spoke with parents Susan and Randy McMahon and stated that he too, along with Investigator Jerry Johnson, saw a rope around Brittany’s neck at the time they went to investigate Brittany’s remains.
The McMahons maintained that Johnson was the only official to state there was rope around Brittany’s neck.
In case files provided to the Bulletin following a request to the Bandera County Public Information office, references to the rope around the neck were only made by Johnson and referenced by Sgt. Danny Sanchez as a note from Johnson. It appeared unclear whether Sanchez himself had seen the rope around Brittany’s neck. Towers told the McMahons that he saw a rope around Brittany’s neck, too.
“I don’t think they will ever be able to accept that Brittany took her own life,” Towers said. “I can only imagine as a parent how difficult that is.”
SEE MCMAHON CASE, PAGE 7 In addition to Towers’ eyewitness account, Chief Deputy Adam Marsh informed the McMahons they were missing a photo that showed a rope not around Brittany’s neck but directly underneath it.
When Marsh produced the photo, the McMahons stated that they had that photo and that there was no rope visible around the neck.
“If the rope was underneath her, why wouldn’t they take a photo of it after they moved her body?” Susan McMahon said. “That’s part of evidence collecting, isn’t it?”
Sheriff Josh Tietge weighed in to address the ongoing debate.
“Yes, there was a rope discovered around her neck,” Tietge said. “I do not know the exact composition of the rope, but it was a factory manufacture typed rope.”
Regardless, the Mc-Mahons say there is too much evidence that is contrary to suicide.
“Even if there was a rope around her neck, she could have been drugged and this could have been staged,” Susan McMahon said. “Remember, she had a hurt wrist. She couldn’t have climbed a tree.”
In addition, Brittany had been in a domestic dispute with her boyfriend at the time just two days before she went officially missing. Brittany had been looking to file a restraining order because of the domestic abuse that occurred during the relationship, according to Deputy John Broderick’s body camera. Randy also added at the recent vigil for Brittany that her body had been discovered less than a mile from her boyfriend’s home.
“We hope someone will confess something they knew or saw,” Randy said. “Someone close to her boyfriend. Just come forward.”
DNA evidence that Marsh turned in is still underway, and the Mc-Mahons hope that they get an answer that will crack open the case.