Francis Brennick, accompanied by his attorney, Kiran Mikhaiel, steps to the podium for his sentence hearing.
Francis P. Brennick’s distrust of police was the very thing that got him in trouble with the police.
Defense attorney Kiran Mikhaiel called him a loner who hasn’t gotten close to anyone except for Bodil Aarsheim. After Brennick found Aarsheim dead in the camper they shared in Brookfield, his anxiety and paranoia led him to believe that he would be blamed for her death, Mikhaiel said.
So, Brennick decided to use his phone to take photographs of his friend’s body, some that showed her in “a state of nudity,” said Assistant Trumbull County Prosecutor Gabriel Wildman.
The photos were not taken with “predatory intent,” Mikhaiel said, but to prove that she was not a victim of foul play. It was a “terrible decision,” Mikhaiel said.
Brennick, 57, currently of Columbiana County, pleaded guilty Feb. 4 to a charge of abuse of a corpse. Judge Cynthia Westcott sentenced him May 13 to 3 years of probation. The judge said Brennick was remorseful, had taken responsibility for his actions and was a low risk to reoffend, even though he had been convicted of a sexual offense with a child less than 14 years old 36 years ago in Massachusetts.
Brennick discovered the 71-year-old Aarsheim dead on Dec. 7, 2024. They were living at a campground in Brookfield at the time.
Brennick called police to report the death. As they investigated, police found Brennick’s lack of emotion odd considering he had known Aarsheim for many years. Police said they also were concerned that Brennick had taken about 2 ½ hours before notifying authorities. Then, they found the photos on his phone and discovered that they had been taken just before Brennick called police.
At his sentence hearing, when given the opportunity to speak for himself, Brennick talked about Aarsheim. He had once described her as a “common law friend” and said they had been together for more than 20 years. He is a truck driver and she would accompany him on cross-country trips, Mikhaiel said.
“She was my support and I was her support, too,” Brennick said.
Aarsheim helped Brennick manage his money and got him out of debt, he said. When she got sick, he took a leave of absence from work to care for her.
“I miss her,” he said.
Brennick told police he did not have a sexual relationship with Aarsheim, but a DNA test showed that he had “inserted some part of his body” into her corpse, Wildman said.
Mikhaiel asked that Brennick he sentenced to probation so he could go back to work. He has not worked in 18 months, she said. Seeking and maintaining employment is part of the condition to his probation.
