Fresno man on trial for murder admitted he killed girlfriend, says victim’s sister
Testimony continued Thursday in the trial of a Fresno man accused of murder in the Sept. 2017 killing of his 22-year-old girlfriend.
Much of Thursday’s discussion in James Gonzales-Gay trial focused on a three-page letter the defendant allegedly wrote to the family of Breanna Bradford, 22.
According to testimony, Gonzalez-Gay, 39, not only apologized for Bradford’s death — but explained why he did it.
The letter is significant because during opening statements this week, Gonzalez-Gay’s attorney Mark Siegel told jurors that prior to the killing, his client thought he was drugged and sexually assaulted by an unidentified person while at the victim’s apartment. Siegel alluded the alleged sexual assault — and Bradford’s knowledge of it — played a role in her killing.
But prosecutor Elana Smith, however, has said Bradford’s killing was preceded by abuse and violence committed by Gonzalez-Gay.
As he sat in a Fresno County courtroom Thursday, Gonzales-Gay appeared stone-faced, often looking down at the top of the table where he and his lawyer Siegel were seated.
Police found Bradford’s body on Sept. 17, 2017 near Ventura Avenue and Ninth Street. She was seated in the passenger seat of her silver Volkswagen GTI. Detectives determined she had been shot.
Her body was wrapped in a white table cloth taken from Gonzales-Gay’s mother’s house in Sanger. A cardboard box was placed over her head so as to hide the body from anyone passing by.
What the letter said
Detective Miguel Alvarez testified that when he first interviewed the defendant he was very emotional about his girlfriend’s death. Alvarez asked him if he wanted to write a letter to Bradford’s family and he agreed.
Using paper and a pen supplied by police, Gonzales-Gay wrote down his thoughts, folded the letter and told Alvarez not to read it.
Bradford’s oldest sister, Tameka Lewis, of Hanford, was asked to come down to the police station the day detectives were questioning Gonzales-Gay.
Lewis and her family members were shaken by Bradford’s disappearance. Bradford was supposed to start a new job as a server at IHOP on Sept. 16, but she never showed up.
When Lewis arrived at the police station, she didn’t know she was going to be meeting Gonzales-Gay face to face.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” she testified. “He was talking, but I just listened. All I could think about was that I was sitting in front of the person who killed my sister.”
He then handed her the letter he wrote.
Lewis, fighting through tears, read the letter in court. In it, Gonzales-Gay mentions meeting Bradford for the first time in 2016 while she was a server at Denny’s. She gave him her phone number and the two communicated often.
“She was one of the most caring individuals I ever met,” Lewis read from the letter. “She would get so excited about her day, she would speak faster than I could listen. I love Breanna. It may be difficult to see that now, but I love Breanna,” the letter stated.
But according to the letter, the relationship soured after he accused Bradford of helping a mutual female friend to sexually assault him. He alleges in the letter that they slipped something in his drink to make him pass out.
He said he did not know who to talk to about what happened.
“I did not know how to go about telling anyone that the woman I thought loved me had a part in raping me,” the letter stated.
Lewis had to pause to compose herself and then she continued reading the letter.
“What I just told you is no reason to take someone’s life, but with all the people it took to find out the truth I would not have been able to walk around my family and friends,” she read. “I am deeply sorry. I cared for Breanna too.”
Prosecutor Smith asked Lewis if she remembers reading that letter at the police station. She said yes. She also recalled asking Gonzales-Gay if “he murdered my sister.”
“He nodded his head,” Lewis said, as she began to cry.” I asked him again and he told me, yes.”
Gonzales-Gay’s trial continues Monday in Dept. 61.
This story was originally published May 14, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
