Vashti and Brett Seacat were a couple who had known each other since high school and eventually got married. Vashti was employed at Cox Communications, while Brett was a law enforcement instructor and had previously worked as a County deputy. Together, they had two young children: Brendan, who was four years old at the time of Vashti's death, and Bronson, who was only two years old.
Tragically, a few weeks before her death, Vashti had filed for divorce from Brett. Later, Brett claimed that Vashti had committed suicide. However, this was eventually found to be untrue, and he was charged with murder. It was discovered that Brett had also set fire to their house, while their two little boys were still inside. See an account of the murder at Find A Grave memorial story about murder case.
Brett didn't respond well to his conviction, the former Deputy telling the judge: “You are going to hell for what you have done in this case”. See Ex-police instructor rants at judge before sentence in wife’s death for the full account of his sentence and his response.
Following Brett's conviction, a court case involving custody of the two boys surfaced between Vashti's sister and mother. See In wake of Kingman murder case, another court battle over young sons.
I'm a Founder of AncientFaces and support the community answering questions & helping members make connections to the past (thus my official title of Founder & Content and Community Support ). For me, it's been a labor of love for over 20 years. I truly believe with all of my heart that everyone should be remembered for generations to come.
I am 2nd generation San Jose and have seen a lot of changes in the area while growing up. We used to be known as the "Valley of Heart's Delight" (because the Valley was covered with orchards and there were many canneries to process the food grown here, which shipped all over the US) - now we have adopted the nickname "Capital of Silicon Valley" and Apple, Ebay, Adobe, Netflix, Facebook, and many more tech companies are within a few miles of my current home in San Jose (including AncientFaces). From a small town of 25,000, we have grown to 1 million plus. And when you add in all of the communities surrounding us (for instance, Saratoga, where I attended high school, living a block from our previous Mayor), we are truly one of the big cities in the US. I am so very proud of my hometown. For more information see Kathy - Founder & Content and Community Director My family began AncientFaces because we believe that unique photos and stories that show who people are/were should be shared with the world.