Published: Wednesday, 23rd April, 2008 12:00
Life sentence for the murderer of Sauchie woman
By News Desk
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Victim Lindsay Brown was described by friends as kind and fun-loving, with a wonderful personality.
THE murderer of a Sauchie woman in the USA has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Michael Everett (37) was found guilty last week of killing his ex-girlfriend Lindsay Brown by striking her on the head with a beer bottle at her Florida home.
The 39-year-old was found lying motionless in a pool of blood at her Flagler Beach apartment on 6 January last year.
Everett was arrested the next day and on Thursday a jury took under three hours to deliver their verdict.
Prosecutors chose not to seek the death penalty.
Lindsay, who was described by friends as a “little girl with a huge personality”, emigrated to America eight years ago.
There she worked for her cousin Laraine Thomson and husband Tommy, as vice-president and general manager of their firm House of Tile and Carpet near Bunnell.
Lindsay’s parents Ian and Betty Scotland, and younger brother Ian, who remain in Sauchie, flew out to the US for a special memorial service after her death.
They decided not to go back for the trial and declined to comment on the conviction.
Jurors heard that Lindsay had been involved in a brief relationship with her attacker Everett.
She had broken up with him because of his alcoholism but he failed to leave her alone when the relationship ended.
Witnesses said they spoke to Lindsay moments before her murder when she told them Everett had come to her apartment and threatened to kill her.
Autopsy reports revealed two wounds to her head and more around her neck. A medical examiner said the blow to her chest was so hard it caused bruising under the wall of her heart.
Brown glass was found in her hair and a broken beer bottle label and glass was found lying next to her body.
Everett denied murder and claimed Lindsay fell down a staircase after her dog ran through her legs.
He said he helped her back into the apartment and later they had an argument and he remembered grabbing her by the neck and striking her.
Everett claimed he then blacked out and fell on top of her and the next thing he recalled was getting up and leaving in a panic – Lindsay’s body was found the next day by her best friend.
He plans to appeal the conviction.
Last year friends and relatives paid tribute to the former Sauchie woman in the Advertiser.
Her cousin Laraine called her a “kind girl” with a “wonderful personality”.
“She was always full of life. Everybody liked her and everybody really took to her,” she said.
Good friend Jayne Ross, of Dollar, added, “Lindsay will be remembered by many as full of fun, always laughing, with a wicked sense of humour and the ability to bring a sparkle into people’s lives.
“She was also a very loving and caring person who could see beauty of some sort in everything and everyone.
“Though Lindsay never lived until her 40th birthday, I’m sure she packed as much love, fun and adventure into her 39 years – more than many others could if they lived to 100.”
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