Sunday School Mom on Death Row

Brenda Andrew was just 38 years old when she murdered her husband for $800,000 in insurance money. In partnership with her lover and fellow Church member, she lured her husband into her garage and the pair shot him twice. Brenda Andrew had previously failed to kill her husband when he noticed that his car’s brake line had been severed and reported to police that he believed he was being targeted in a murderous conspiracy.

After a brief stint on the run, mother-of-two, Brenda Andrew was convicted and sentenced to death.

She is now the only woman on Oklahoma’s death row.

---

Brenda Andrew married her childhood sweetheart, Rob Andrew, and together they had two children; Parker and Tricity.

Brenda was a homemaker and Rob worked as a well-paid executive. The couple were active Church members; Rob was a deacon and Brenda taught in Sunday School.

Things began to go wrong for the couple in the early 2000s as their relationship deteriorated. Rob moved out and Brenda began seeing other men. One of Brenda’s relationships was with James Pavatt who the couple knew from church.

Also a church deacon, Pavatt worked in insurance and he and Brenda grew in closeness, even taking the Andrew children on vacation to Mexico.

During their church life, Rob and James Pavatt had also been friendly. Rob had trusted his fellow deacon enough to purchase a life insurance policy from him. With encouragement, Rob had increased the value of his insurance package, which named Brenda as the beneficiary, to $800,000.

With Brenda, Rob and Pavatt all members of the same church, North Pointe Baptist is reported to have suggested to Pavatt and Brenda Andrew that they withdraw from church life as Rob and Brenda were still married.

At some point, Rob became suspicious of his wife and her new partner and he attempted to change the beneficiary on his life insurance. Pavatt lied to Rob and told him that he couldn’t alter his policy to name his brother as beneficiary instead of Brenda. At this point, events took a turn towards the sinister.

Rob discovered that the brake line on his Nissan had been severed. At the time he discovered this damage to his car, Rob also received a fake call telling him that he needed to rush to the hospital as Brenda had been injured. It later became obvious that Brenda and Pavatt had cut the brakes and then placed the call in the hope that Rob would hurry to the car and speed towards the hospital, dying in an accident on the way.

This was the first attempt made on Rob’s life.

Rob reported the incident to the police and told them that he feared there was a conspiracy against his life. No action was taken.

A while later, Rob went to Brenda’s home to collect his two children.

Brenda came out of the house and asked Rob to help her relight the pilot on the boiler. Together, they made their way into the garage and Rob began to work on the problem. As Rob lay on the garage floor, Pavatt emerged from hiding and shot him.

A second shot was delivered by Brenda who then shot herself (or possibly had Pavatt shoot her) in the arm.

Pavatt then went and hid in a neighbor’s house so that he would not be there when police arrived, nor would he be spotted in the area.

Brenda placed a call to 911 and claimed in a statement to officers that two masked men had shot her husband and her, then fled.

Investigators soon began disbelieving the account as nothing had been taken, and no one had seen two men leaving the area. Additionally, the insurance policy was discovered, as was Rob’s former statement about his car damage.

A forensic report failed to back up Brenda’s story and soon supported the police’s theory that Brenda herself was the killer.

Brenda’s neighbors returned home and reported that they believed someone had been staying in their home as things had moved around. A shell casing was later found in the home.

Police issued a warrant for both Pavatt and Brenda Andrew, but the couple took Parker and Tricity and fled to Mexico.

A few months later, the fugitives and the Andrew children reentered the USA and were apprehended.

Pavatt and Brenda Andrew were tried separately in 2004 and the defense for Pavatt argued that there was no physical evidence against him; which was true — police could not prove that he had been there when Rob Andrew died.

Brenda maintained her innocence throughout her trial; sticking to her story about the masked gunmen.

The juries, however, convicted both parties of the murder of Rob Andrew and sentenced them to death.

Brenda Andrew and James Pavatt remain on death row — no execution date has been set. Pavatt has exhausted his appeals and is eligible for death when the State resumes executions.

Both Pavatt and Brenda Andrew maintain their innocence to this day and have shown no remorse for their crime.

---

Sources

https://forensicfilesnow.com/index.php/tag/brenda-andrew/

https://murderpedia.org/female.A/a/andrew-brenda.htm

https://thecinemaholic.com/rob-andrew-murder-where-are-james-pavatt-and-brenda-andrew-now/

https://www.thoughtco.com/death-row-inmate-brenda-andrew-profile-973493