Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer announced Sunday that the body of Breanna Bradford had been found. The 22 year old Fresno woman was reported missing Friday. Her family says she had left her apartment near Ashlan and Marks after arguing with her ex-boyfriend, 35 year old James Gay.
Bradford’s family says Gay, who has a history of violent criminal activity, was trying to convince Bradford to drive him to Sanger. It’s unclear whether she got in the car voluntarily. Her family called in a potential kidnapping the Friday afternoon after failing to find her.
Breanna had been scheduled to start her new job at IHOP at 7am that morning, but never arrived.
Not long after Bradford’s disappearance, Chief Dyer said suspicious activity had been detected on Bradford’s bank card.
Investigators received a call about a suspicious vehicle around 4am Sunday near Ventura & 9th Street. The report indicated that a foul odor was coming from car. Officers arrived and “did in fact locate a deceased female inside that vehicle. The female did have traumatic injuries,” Dyer said.
The victim was later identified as Breanna Bradford. “We are sifting through video to put together a timeline”, Dyer said. The Chief said he’s fairly certain she was killed on Friday but would not reveal the exact cause of death.
Dyer said James Gay “Has an extensive criminal history. He is the primary person of interest in this case.” Dyer confirmed that Gay is a Bulldog gang member from Sanger.
Gay had been arrested earlier Friday morning on charges of carjacking a mail truck. He was booked into Fresno County jail.
