A Central Florida man killed his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend, just as he threatened to do.
Nathaniel S. Bratcher did not exactly hide what he did, which helped Seminole County prosecutors convict him of murder and send him to prison for life.
The night of September 18, 2024, Bratcher called his ex-girlfriend at a bar to tell her he was going to her Lake Mary area apartment to kill any man he found there. Moments later, when the woman called him back, 28-year-old Nathaniel Bracher, said he had just shot and killed her new boyfriend, 32-year-old Larreon Cosby.
Within an hour after that, police stopped Bratcher in traffic and spotted blood on his pants and his shoes, from an uncommon brand whose soles later matched bloody footprints at the scene.
Lake Mary Police and Seminole County Sheriff’s deputies found Cosby lying on the apartment’s back porch, dead from a single gunshot wound to the head.
A Seminole County jury convicted Bratcher of second-degree murder and battery based on evidence and testimony presented by Assistant State Attorneys Stewart Stone and Anne Wedge-McMillen. Circuit Judge Jessica Recksiedler sentenced Bratcher to life in state prison after hearing a victim impact statement read by Cosby’s mother, Latoshia Mckinnon.
“Mr. Bratcher not only took my son, he took a father, a grandchild, a brother, an uncle, and a friend from us,” McKinnon said. “For this past year, my life has been nothing but pain. Hearing his sentence will never bring my son back.”
Wedge-McMillen thanked the Major Crimes and Digital Forensic Units of the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office for efforts that helped secure a conviction.
“Their decisive actions and detailed work allowed for the quick arrest and swift protection of the community from further danger,” she said.
