Document: Lebanon murder suspect threatened ex-girlfriend, any man she was dating

A former Lebanon police officer and double-murder suspect allegedly acted in revenge to shoot his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend on Thursday, and had threatened her and any man she was dating just two weeks prior, according to court paperwork.

Brenton Wade Richmond, 48, is set to be charged with two counts of aggravated murder, according to Oregon’s online court database.

Linn County Sheriff Jim Yon said Monday that Richmond remains in custody in San Diego. No arraignment hearing has been scheduled in the Linn County Courthouse.

The murders allegedly occurred on Thursday, according to a court document filed by prosecutors.

The deaths weren’t reported until 10:55 a.m. Saturday, when the bodies of Tammy Lee Hopper, 42, of Lebanon, and Erik Cody Jacobs, 48, of Independence, were discovered by family members at her residence in the 200 block of Shannon Place.

The two were found naked in a bedroom of the house. Hopper had been shot three times, including once in the head, while Jacobs had been shot four times, including twice in the head, according to an affidavit for an arrest warrant in the case, filed by Linn County prosecutor Ani Yardumian.

Hopper and Jacobs began dating about two months ago, shortly after Hopper broke up with Richmond, the affidavit indicates.

The affidavit states that Hopper’s daughter told investigators that “Brenton Richmond had made statements that if he found out Tammy Hopper started dating another man that he would kill them both.”

Hopper and Richmond had dated on and off for about nine years, the daughter said. 

The daughter told authorities that she spoke with Hopper daily and last talked with her on the phone on Thursday morning. On Friday morning, she phoned her mother, but the call wasn’t picked up. The next day, she sent texts to Hopper stating that if she didn’t receive a phone call, she would call the police, the affidavit states.

Instead, the daughter, her fiancé and another family member drove to the house and went inside. The fiancé found the bodies.

Authorities also learned that Richmond had gotten a passport for a planned and then-canceled trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico with Tammy Hopper.

The Eugene Police Department notified local police on Saturday afternoon that Richmond’s blue GMC Canyon pickup had been located at the Eugene International Airport, and that Richmond had flown to San Francisco. He had purchased the ticket the same day. Richmond’s driver’s license and another piece of identification also had been found in a trash can near the airport bathrooms, according to the arrest affidavit.

On Sunday, Richmond was detained when he presented his passport to a customs officer as he was entering Mexico on foot.

Richmond had been issued a concealed handgun license by the Linn County Sheriff’s Office in January, the affidavit states.

Richmond’s son told authorities that his father had been quiet, distant and not his normal self in the last month. 

According to Oregon’s online court database, Richmond has no criminal history. However, he has had previous run-ins with law enforcement.

In 2002, while still a Lebanon Police Department officer, Richmond was involved in a SWAT team standoff in Lebanon after he reportedly threatened to commit suicide.

He was ultimately not charged in the incident, the Albany Democrat-Herald reported at the time, because prosecutors determined he had only presented a threat to himself.

Richmond, who had been a Lebanon Police Department  officer for about eight years, and is the son of former LPD chief Walt Richmond, resigned from the agency later that year.

In 2003, Richmond was arrested by Lebanon police after reportedly firing a handgun in his house. The incident allegedly began when his ex-wife went to his home to pick up their children after a visitation.

According to an Lebanon Police Department supervisor at the time, Richmond did not want the children to leave and took the youngest into his house. After officers made several contacts with Richmond, he let the child leave. The gunshot occurred as officers were getting ready to leave the house, the supervisor told the Democrat-Herald.