Slain Pregnant Woman: Mother's Home Depot Lawsuit Can Proceed

PLAINFIELD, IL -- A Plainfield woman can move forward with a lawsuit alleging that Home Depot failed to take action despite repeated complaints against the man who murdered her daughter.

Last week, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court's decision to dismiss Sherry Anicich's suit against Home Depot and Grand Flower Growers, Inc., which managed garden centers at Home Depot.

Alisha Bromfield was 21 and expecting a child when she was strangled by Brian Cooper, who was her supervisor and a regional manager for the company. Bromfield died in August 2012 after she traveled to Door County, Wisconsin, with Cooper for his sister's wedding. In 2014, Cooper, also of Plainfield, was found guilty of two counts of intentional homicide in the death of Bromfield and her unborn daughter, Ava Lucille.

A Home Depot spokesman told the Chicago Tribune that Cooper was not a contract employee of the chain but was treated as an employee for practical purposes, adding, "First and foremost, our sympathy is with (Bromfield's) family."

Anicich's suit alleges that Cooper was known to be “emotionally unstable and violent," and that the companies should have known that he had a “pattern of misconduct and violent tendencies.” It further alleges that Bromfield repeatedly complained to management about Cooper’s behavior — but that no action was taken by the company. Cooper also did not complete anger management counseling that was mandated by his employer after he swore at Alisha in front of customers, according to the suit.

The suit claims that Cooper had a "known history of sexually harassing, verbally abusing, and physically intimidating his female subordinates" and that he threw things at Bromfield, swore at her, and monitored her both during and outside of work hours. Alisha's managers told her they were aware of Cooper's behavior, yet he remained her supervisor, according to the filing.

"After five years of that treatment, he used his authority to require Alisha to come on a personal trip with him— to an out of state family wedding — by threatening to fire her or cut her hours if she refused," the suit alleges. "She went. After the wedding, he killed and raped her."

More Patch coverage:

• Plainfield Man on Door County Murder: 'There's No Good Reason'
• Gas Station Owner: Cooper Was Calm, Polite While Reporting Murder
• Murder Charges Filed in Door County Slaying of Pregnant Woman

Cooper, then 36, strangled Bromfield in a hotel room at a Door County resort. In a 911 call made from a nearby gas station the morning after the murder, he told a dispatcher, "There's no good reason," calling the crime "stupid" and saying he didn't know why he did it.

Prosecutors said Cooper flew into a rage and strangled Bromfield while she slept after she refused to be in a romantic relationship with him. Cooper was not the father of Bromfield's unborn daughter, and they were not a couple at the time of the murder, police said at the time.

Cooper was also convicted of sexually assaulting Bromfield's body after he killed her. He received two life sentences, plus two years for the third-degree sexual assault conviction.

Cooper attempted to use a Wisconsin "voluntary intoxication" statute as a defense in the case, saying he drank a lot of alcohol at the wedding and continued drinking in the hotel room he shared with Bromfield. In a recorded interview with police, he said he thought about killing her and "snapped" when she refused to watch the TV show"24" with him.

Bromfield's family, with the support of Cooper's sister, successfully worked to strike down Wisconsin's so-called "drunk defense" law.

Bromfield was a graduate of Joliet Catholic Academy and attended Western Illinois University. She was nearly seven months pregnant with her daughter when the two were slain.

The appeals court ruling cites Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing that at least 60 people per year have been murdered by coworkers in recent years.

"Every life lost to brutality is unique, each family’s hell a private one," a trio of judges said in the 22-page ruling. "We do not diminish that truth when we repeat that Alisha’s story is an old story that has been told too many times. Its ending is both shocking and predictable. Alisha’s family is entitled to try to prove its truth.

Photo: Alisha Bromfield, 21, was killed in 2012./Patch file photo