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FIRST ON FOX: A Florida woman threatened to cut up her ex-boyfriend “like she was gutting a deer” two days before police say she killed her new lover, the slain man’s boyfriend told Fox News Digital.
Brittany Holbrook, 33, allegedly shot 30-year-old Tyler Nulisch in the back early Saturday morning at their Key West home, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by Fox News Digital.
Two days earlier, Holbrook went for a drink with a woman who was dating one of Nulisch’s friends.
After a few drinks, she would have raised her ex-boyfriend, the woman told Nulisch’s friend Jessica Stiegel. “I’m going to kill him and stick a knife in his stomach and rip him to the throat,” Stiegel told her. “It was like she was describing gutting a deer.”
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Brittany Holbrook is accused of fatally shooting her boyfriend Tyler Nulisch in the back. She claims to have acted in self-defense. (Facebook)
The woman reportedly told Stiegel she was having a good time, but as Holbrook continued to drink, she became slovenly and began to rant violently.
Stiegel said that was the problem with Holbrook. She was affable until she drank.
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“They were in love. Everyone saw this. They seemed like the perfect couple,” added Stiegel. The pair bonded over a love of fishing, diving, and their Catahoula dogs, Chief and Mossie.
However, their promising future ended on the morning of June 17. Shortly before 3 a.m., the couple’s roommate, Jordan Kinn, awoke in their second-floor apartment to the sound of Holbrook screaming for help.
Tyler Nulisch with his beloved Catahoula dog named Chief. His good friend, Jessica Stiegel, right, said he went everywhere with Chief. (Facebook)
Nulisch lay on his back in a pool of blood. Kinn asked what happened as he frantically tried to stop the bleeding. “That son of a bitch shot me in the back,” Nulisch replied before losing consciousness and dying, according to the police report.
Holbrook initially told detectives there was a “hole in her memory”. The couple and their roommate had been drinking on the terrace before they all went to bed.
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However, her story changed in later interviews.
Out of the blue, in the middle of the night, she said, Nulisch started attacking her, pushing her against a wall and “strangling her.” She claimed he tried to kill her, but she denied firing a gun.
Investigators from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office concluded that her statements were inconsistent and noted no injuries around her neck. She was arrested on one count of first degree murder.
Florida woman Brittany Holbrook is charged with the June 17, 2023 murder of her boyfriend, Tyler Nulisch. (Monroe County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook)
Stiegel said his friends and family want to “clear Tyler’s name”.
Several friends had witnessed Holbrook attacking him. “She seemed so normal most of the time, but when she drank she became a monster and a switch flipped, and she started screaming and throwing things and hitting Tyler,” Stiegel said.
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Stiegel’s boyfriend is Nulisch’s best friend since childhood.
“He had the most loving, kind soul,” Stiegel said. “He would never hurt her, not even to defend himself.”
Stiegel, her boyfriend and Kinn cleaned up the crime scene.
Tyler Nulisch, a Florida man, was shot in the back on June 17 by his girlfriend Brittany Holbrook, police say. (Facebook)
The trio quickly realized how premeditated the shooting was, Stiegel said. Holbrook always kept her gun loaded in the bag of her open car. Sure enough, her purse was open and in the passenger seat, but her gun wasn’t there.
“She must have come down those stairs, gone back to the front door and shot him from the doorway while he had his back to her. That’s a lot of time to think,” Stiegel said.
“She loved him, it was so obvious. She shouldn’t have been drinking, and she had no business with that gun,” Stiegel added.
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A celebration of life for Nulisch will be held Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Keys Seafood Market on Stock Island.
Holbrook is being held on $750,000 bond in the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the records show.
Rebecca Rosenberg is an accomplished journalist and author of books with a focus on crime and criminal justice. Email tips to rebecca.rosenberg@fox.com and @ReRosenberg.
