Memo helped solve Troy Brake case

GRAND HAVEN, Mich. (WOOD) - The memo was a simple request.

"The suspect(s) used a .40 caliber Glock handgun" read the message to law enforcement. "The sheriff's office is asking anyone with information to contact... " followed by the names of Lt. Mark Bennett and another Ottawa County detective.

"We couldn't put that out to the general public at that time. But we wanted it out to the law enforcement community so that they could be on the lookout and that's exactly what happened," Bennett told 24 Hour News 8.

The message went out just days after the bodies of Sharmaine Zimmer, her sons Tyler and Jeremy and Jeremy's girlfriend Katherine Brown were found in the burned out Wright Township home.

Investigators had narrowed the owners of that particular gun down to a tall stack of names. They needed something that would pull a name out of that pile.

"The key to identifying the suspect at that time was this bulletin," Bennett said, "and then the wherewithal from the GRPD to make the call to us after they had made the arrest of Mr. Brake. I think that 's absolutely key in this case."

The night before, Grand Rapids police arrested Troy Brake for the beating of a Grand Rapids prostitute. They recovered a Glock 40 from his truck.

From there, another gun was found at Brake's Newaygo County home. A cartridge from the second gun matched the bullets used in the murders.

"Without the call from GRPD it may have been sometime, if ever, we'd been able to put together information," Bennett said.

None of this happened by luck.

Area departments have established a tradition of breaking down boundaries and trusting each other with vital information in cases.

"It still comes down to trusting in the system enough to put your case facts out there for other agencies to know and to work with," said Capt. Jeffrey Hertel, head of the Grand Rapids Police Detective Bureau.

Thursday, seven months after that memo went out, a jury sent Troy Brake to life in prison for the murders.

"Hopefully this provides some closures for the family," Bennett said. "Obviously, as everybody's said, it will never bring their loved ones back. But hopefully this helps some of the mending processes."

24 Hour News 8 reported earlier Grand Rapids police were investigating Brake's possible involvement in the killing of other women, some of them known prostitutes.

Hertel said Brake is still on their radar, but those investigations continue.