An Iowa man was sentenced to 50 years in prison on Monday after pleading guilty to murdering a woman whose skull was found mounted on a stick in a local park.
Authorities later used dental records to determine that the skull belonged to 29-year-old Angela Bradbury, who was last seen on April 6, 2021, and reported missing by her family in February 2022.
Nathan James Gilmore, 24, was originally charged with first-degree murder in Bradbury’s death but pleaded guilty in August to second-degree murder to avoid a mandatory life sentence.
A drawing of a blood-spattered “satanic goat’s head in the shape of a pentagram” was affixed to the wall of Gilmore’s living room when investigators served a warrant there, according to an arrest complaint obtained by HuffPost. Different numbers written on the drawing included the date Bradbury was last seen and the GPS coordinates of the park where her skull and other remains were found, authorities said.
Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s Office
A teenage girl spotted the skull at the Cedar River Greenbelt Trail park on July 12, 2021, three months after Bradbury disappeared, according to the complaint. Additional remains identified as Bradbury’s were found in the park on April 5, 2022. The park is located between Gilmore’s and Bradbury’s homes, according to ABC 6.
“I will forever live with the fact that your face is the last face she saw,” Bradbury’s father, Tim Bradbury, said to Gilmore in a victim impact statement in court on Monday. “That terror was the last emotion she felt. You killed my child and then went home like nothing happened.”
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“You returned later to the site where you killed her and buried her and proceeded to remove her head,” Bradbury said, according to Radio Iowa. “The head that I kissed goodnight hundreds of times, the head that her mom placed her hand on to feel for a fever. The head of which the most perfect, mischievous smile would creep. The head her beloved dog Batman licked with enthusiasm. You took it and placed it on a spike in an attempt to appease the devil inside of you. How could anyone do that? How could any decent person sleep with that on their conscience?”
Bradbury was last seen leaving a friend’s house with a man matching Gilmore’s description, authorities said. When officers questioned Gilmore after his Facebook GPS records placed him in the area where Bradbury’s remains were found, he allegedly told police that the two were strangers.
According to the arrest complaint, Bradbury and Gilmore met at the Cerro Gordo County Jail, where Gilmore had a court hearing and Bradbury was being released after an arrest the previous day on suspicion of trespassing at a car dealership.
Gilmore showed no motive or remorse for killing Bradbury, the judge said on Monday before issuing his sentence, Radio Iowa reported.
“I met someone, I stabbed her in the neck, and went back to work,” District Judge Gregg Rosenbladt said in court, quoting what Gilmore told him in a previous hearing. “I never even knew her name until she was reported missing. I don’t really feel anything about it. It was easy and not the worst thing I’ve ever done.”
“You are the darkest soul I’ve ever encountered,” Bradbury’s father told Gilmore, “and I will forever be aggrieved that you and Angela ever crossed paths.”
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