Fraccers

It was early in the morning of January 22, 2003. Brittney Bergeron and her half-sister Kristyanna Cowan were at their home in the CasaBlanca RV park in Mesquite, Utah. Tamara Schmidt, the girls’ mother, had left them alone.

In an act of revenge (for being duped into purchasing ordinary table salt masquerading as methamphetamine) Beau Maestas and his sister, Monique, stabbed the two girls, killing three year old Kristyanna and leaving Brittney paralyzed from the waist down.

Though she denied any involvement in the drug deal (and some reports identify a boyfriend as the dealmaker), Maestas said in his confession, that the stabbings were the result of a drug deal gone bad with Schmidt. He claims to have confronted Schmidt (at the RV park) for selling him $125 in methamphetamine that turned out to be nothing but table salt.

Fast forward almost six years to January, 2009. Brittney Bergeron is again in the news, her story having been featured on the show 02/20. Brittney has accomplished more in her 16 years than some of us will in a lifetime. She’s an accomplished athlete, has been in track and field competitions in more than 15 states, and hopes to be in the Para-Olympics in London in 2012.

Brittney has what it takes to be a winner in life… at anything. In 2007, when asked about that day in 2003 and her mom, Brittney displayed wisdom usually unknown at her age.

“I have to say that I think it was better that it happened,” Brittney says. “I got a better life. If this hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t be doing anything. I would be sitting in a trailer taking care of my sister, doing nothing, just sitting around. I get to be a kid now. When I was at home, I never got that. I had to be a grown-up. I had to take care of my sister and be the grown-up.

“I can’t do everything, but I can do a lot of things. In a way, I’m glad it happened. It changed things for me. It’s better this way.”

She knows how that might sound to some people. She lost her little sister on that night. She fought her attackers and lives with the scars.

“I wish that it could have played out differently for my sister and that she could be here, too,” Brittney says. “It probably was kind of better that she passed on. She would have been … damaged, but then again I wish she was here. It’s hard.”

Brittney admits she doesn’t have much patience for her mother. The court has ordered them to speak over the phone, and the Himels have insisted that Brittney take the calls from the prison.

“But I don’t want to talk to her,” she says. “There’s really nothing to talk about. The only thing I want is to be adopted. I don’t have much to say to her. I love her, but I don’t have much to say to her.

“I love my mom. I’m not trying to hurt her and stuff. But she didn’t take care of me before, and there’s no way she can take care of me now that I need so much more. I love her and I will always love her, but I have a family now. And my new family loves me and can take care of me. She says that she loves me, and she says, ‘I’d do anything for you.’ But the only thing I really want is to be adopted. And that’s the only thing she won’t give me.”

Following the tragedy, Schmidt was sent to prison for child abandonment. Brittney was then taken in by foster parents Judy and Bill Himel and as of recently has now finally been adopted by them.

Fracas wishes them the very best.

Sources:

• http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Jun-04-Sat-2005/news/26664047.html
• http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/Feb-06-Thu-2003/news/20630756.html
• http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Oct-13-Fri-2006/news/10212062.html
• http://celebrity.rightpundits.com/?p=4887

Be sure to check out the sources for more details about the 2003 case, find out more about baby sister Kristyanna, and what happened to Schmidt.