Woman sentenced for running over, killing ex during custody dispute
A Salem woman who killed her ex-partner by running him over in the parking lot at Woodmansee Park was sentenced to six years in prison Thursday after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
Branda Myshelle Myers, 31, met 38-year-old Vince Fouts at the south Salem park the morning of Aug. 20, 2022.
Court records show the two were in the midst of a custody dispute over their three children, ages 9, 11, and 14. Myers was the adoptive mother of the two oldest children, and the youngest was her biological child with Fouts.
Police at the time said the two were “attempting to resolve matters that morning at the park” when conflict escalated. Myers ran over Fouts several times with her vehicle, police said. He died at the scene.
Myers was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.
Myers had petitioned the court for full custody of all three children in June 2022, saying Fouts had “sick fantasies” and was “mentally unstable.”
A judge denied her request for full custody Aug. 19, 2022, finding the children were not in immediate danger. She ran over Fouts in the park the following morning.
On Aug. 9, she pleaded guilty in Marion County Circuit Court to a reduced charge of second-degree manslaughter, a class B felony.
Judge Jennifer Gardiner sentenced her Thursday to 75 months in prison and three years of post-prison supervision. The judge ordered her to pay $15,911 to the state’s crime victims compensation program and revoked her driver’s license for life.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers education, economic development and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for over a decade and is a past president of Oregon's Society of Professional Journalists chapter. Outside of work, you can often find her gardening or with her nose buried in a book.
