4. Bradish charged in daughter’s death

Twenty-two years after authorities identified the body of his teen daughter who was raped and killed, her father pleaded guilty to the murder.
Jerry Joe Bradish, 60, formerly of Riverton, signed a plea agreement dated Thursday, Feb. 21, that called for him to admit to premeditated first-degree murder and second-degree sexual assault. He pleaded guilty about a week later.
Authorities in January arrested Bradish, of New Fairview, Texas, after DNA testing of seminal evidence collected from 13-year-old Teresa Bradish’s body allegedly indicated a link to her father, according to charging documents. The teen disappeared from the Fremont County Group Home near Lander the evening of Sept. 28, 1985. Police found her nude body the following morning about two miles north of Hudson along Highway 789. Authorities learned Jerry Bradish had collected a $10,000 life insurance policy he had purchased on his daughter.
Bradish on Feb. 27 pleaded guilty to killing his daughter on Sept. 28, 1985, after picking her up from the Fremont County Group Home in Lander.
Authorities through DNA testing had gathered enough evidence to arrest him 22 years later on Jan. 8 of this year near his home in New Fairview, Texas. His guilty plea and sentencing arrived less than two months after the arrest.
Under terms of a plea agreement, 60-year-old Bradish will spend the rest of his life in prison.
During the 45-minute arraignment and sentencing, Judge Norman E. Young condemned Bradish for his actions.
“I have seen all sorts of people” while serving as a Fremont County prosecutor and a judge, Young told him. “Occasionally I have encountered a handful of people who are evil.”
Young called Bradish evil “of biblical proportions. I think you topped the list for me,” the judge said.