Family Held At Gunpoint Saved By Selfless Act of Fellow Hostage
Dateline: Omaha, Nebraska, December 21, 2009
Trent James Stewart was having a bad month. After fifteen years paying on his mortgage, his home was scheduled for foreclosure. An attorney sent Stewart a thirty day warning that his home was being foreclosed upon by Citi Mortgage, a subsidiary of the big bank that was bailed out by the Bush Administration to the tune of $40 Billion dollars. He had no job and little chance of salvaging his mortgage. He had negotiated a bailout of his own, but it meant that he would lose most of the equity in his home. Depression set in and the man spent six full days in and out of bed until that Monday when he no longer could bare feeling sorry for himself. His written requests for assistance to the Omaha Police Division, US Department of Justice, and Nebraska Attorney General's Office to pursue a criminal investigation into the sexual assaults, heroin poisoning, and other crimes committed against himself and his family by the Omaha Police Division and a powerful Nebraska Republican had largely gone ignored. But on this day in history, Mr. Stewart's life was about to take a turn for the worst and nearly come to an end. BACKGROUND: Mr. Stewart's friend, Stephen Brundieck, whom he met twenty-five years earlier, had been arrested several yeas earlier for drug possession and shoplifting. Brundieck, who had served a prison sentence earlier in his life for drugs, was sent to the Nebraska State Penitentiary for a year on the shoplifting charge awaiting sentencing for the drug possession charge he was also arrested for during the same traffic stop. http://dcs-inmatesearch.ne.gov/Corre...et?DcsId=55569 http://dcs-inmatesearch.ne.gov/Corre...et?DcsId=65070 http://dcs-inmatesearch.ne.gov/Corre...et?DcsId=65771 Stewart had lost touch with Brundieck several months prior to his arrest. When Stewart discovered that Brundieck was in prison from a mutual friend, he began writing him in prison. After months of correspondence between the two men, Brundieck asked Stewart for help with some family problems Brundieck was unable to tend due to his incarceration. Brundieck's mother had been taken to a hospital for some sort of dimentia and was now committed to an retirement center. The home she kept was being occupied by Brundieck's sister, Sherry, and her boyfriend, Emanuel, but was not paid for and was scheduled to be sold. Brundieck asked Stewart if he would collect Brundieck's belongings for him and hold them until he was released from prison. Stewart agreed. Later that summer, a wind storm downed many trees in the Omaha area including many branches from a tree at Brundieck's mother's home and Stewart helped another sister, Mary, remove the downed branches. While in prison Stephen Brundieck entered prison drug rehab and graduated, leading to an even earlier release date for the convicted criminal. Stewart, who was once a heavy drinker himself with over a decade of sobriety by that time, was asked by Brundieck is he could move in with him when released from prison and serve his parole at his home. Stewart agreed. After being visited by a Parole Officer to verify the parole location and notify him of his responsibilities, Brundieck was released from prison and Stewart picked the exconvict up at the bus station in Omaha when he arrived. Brundieck examined his possessions and discovered 90% or better of his clothes were missing. His valuable baseball card collection had been looted as well. His Ford Taurus was gone and never was located. But Stewart helped Brundieck retrieve his Ford F-250 pickup truck which had sat for about two years. Stewart had already retrieved Brundieck's motorcycle and got it running for the man as well as putting a first rate paint job on the bike. Stewart also took Brundieck to several thrift stores so the man would have clothing after Brundieck managed to secure some money from his sister, Mary to survive on. Stewart had spent all summer without water and gas at his home due to his inability to pay the bills, and water had to be trucked in by bucket to the home for basic necessities. Brundieck didn't seem to mind, he was a free man with his own bedroom and privacy. For nearly a year Brundieck lived with Stewart and fulfilled his supervised release requirements. Brundieck apparently had begun to fail his drug/alcohol tests as part of his parole. At one point, his parole officer arrived for a surprise visit at the Stewart home. Stewart was advised prior to Brundieck's parole that law enforcement had the right to search his home without a warrant as a condition of allowing a parolee to stay there. The parole officer didn't say why he was there, but only searched Stewart's refrigerator, apparently believing it contained alcohol, which it did not as Stewart does not allow alcohol in his home nor does he drink. Shortly thereafter, Brundieck notified Stewart that the parole office was forcing him to move. Brundieck moved to a basement apartment of a home about a mile away and Stewart lost his only roommate. Not long after that, Brundieck's problems with the parole board continued and he moved into a halfway house to finish his parole. Stewart and Brundieck kept in touch with no hard feelings. Stewart looked forward to Brundieck's release from parole, but by then Brundieck had been keeping more and more to himself. In October of 2009, Brundieck completed his parole. Stewart lost touch with him altogether other than being contacted by Brundieck whenever the man chose and not knowing where his friend had moved. In November of 2009, Brundieck visited Stewart on several occasions. Brundieck was convinced he was being stalked by parties unknown but not law enforcement. Stewart himself had been victimized by stalkers years earlier and knew that just mentioning this to authorities or anyone else meant being accused of being mentally ill or on drugs. It's a tough spot to be in. But Brundieck's claims of being followed WERE bizarre. He would point out vehicles abandoned during a winter snow storm and say they were put there strategicaly to spy on himself and Stewart. Brundieck wouldn't listen to reason and grew angry when logic was applied to some of his claims. But these terrorists stalking the most vulnerable members of the Omaha, Nebraska, community are real. Stewart lived through it himself as did another man who was driven to a suicide attempt back in 1999. Stewart is an educated man and knew that being stalked regularly puts one in a position of suspecting everyone of being part of a conspiracy to do so. Stewart listened to what Brundieck had to say and it never got in the way of the two men's friendship. THE MONDAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS, 2009 On the day Stewart recovered from his bout with depression over his financial situation, there was a knock on the door of his home. Stephen Brundieck was at the front door and Stewart invited him inside. Once inside, Stewart didn't have time to scold Brundieck for having a bottle of Bacardi in his hand. Once inside and in Stewart's kitchen, Brundieck pulled a 9mm handgun from his pocket. With no anomosity between the two men to Stewart's knowledge, Stewart treated it like a drunken fool's idea of show and tell. But Stephen Brundieck wasn't there to show Stewart his new toy. The econvict intentionally walked to the Stewart home to prevent his vehicle from being seen near the home. Once he pulled the handgun out of his pocket, Brundieck worked himself up to a frenzy and pointed the handgun at Stewart's head from about five feet away. Stewart demanded Brundieck stop pointing a gun at him, having no idea Brundieck had come there to kill him or why. Brundieck began a combination of threats and rambling confessions. Apparently he believed he did something to warrant his possibly being sent back to prison and told Stewart he wasn't going alone. Stewart had nothing to fear from the law and tried to convince the apparently intoxicated Brundieck that he was not his enemy and tried to talk to the man. But to no avail. Brundieck was a man on a mission. Apparently Stephen Brundieck didn't believe Stewart took his threats to shoot the man seriously enough and fired a round into the man's television he kept in his kitchen. It was then that Stewart took Brundieck serious. He feared for his life, was powerless to defend himself against the gunman, and tried to flee his own home. But Brundieck would not allow him to leave and held him hostage, ordering him here and there to show the man who the boss was. After kicking Stewart's kitchen chair across the room, while never not putting the gun down, Brundieck told Stewart it was time for him to die. Brundieck took up a firing stance which looked like something out of a LA gangsta movie and put the gun to Stewart's head. Stewart begged Brundieck not to shoot him and prepared for a 9mm bullet to hit his hard head, hoping it would bounce off. Brundieck then changed his mind and demanded the keys to Stewart's pickup truck. Stewart refused to give him the keys and Brundieck then ordered him to drive him to another man's home. He decided to kill his fellow exconvict Randall Henggeler and Stewart at the same time, then take his own life to prevent himself from going back to prison. Brundieck was relentless in keeping Stewart under the gun and the man agreed to take Brundieck, hoping that sometime during the trip an opportunity to escape would present itself. RANDALL HENGGLER'S LATEST FLOP HOUSE Randall Henggeler was a man Stewart knew, but whom he no longer associated with. Henggeler was a transient, living here and there and Stewart had no idea where his latest flop house was located. In Stewart's pickup, Brundieck kept Stewart at gunpoint. When they passed a uniformed police officer on the way to Henggeler flop house on 39th and S Streets in Omaha, Stewart feared as much that police might attack both men in his vehicle should they be aware of the hostage situation. Police apparently contacted Brundieck at a tavern earlier in the day to offer Brundieck depression counselling as if they had been involved in the constant surveillance of Brundieck which was driving the man insane. At the Henggeler residence, Brundieck forced Stewart inside and discovered Henggeler was being visited by his girl friend and four year old daughter. Brundieck kept the handgun in his pocket, and Stewart notified Henggeler that Brundieck had him there at gunpoint. Henggeler didn't take it too seriously and convinced Brundieck he and his family were leaving and all walked out the backdoor. Brundieck had kept the handgun in his pocket and still was swigging on the bottle of Bacardi in his hand. Once outside, Stewart found the opportunity he was looking for. Brundieck was preoccupied with Henggeler and his family and Stewart managed to escape through the snow to his pickup truck and take off without being shot or even noticed. But once free and clear, Stewart realized that he had changed places with a four year old child and her mother as well as Henggeler. So Stewart turned around and headed back into harm's way. He discovered Brundieck standing on the sidewalk, handgun now out of his pocket and pointed at Henggeler who was standing in the street next to his girl friend's idling vehicle. The mother and child were inside the vehicle waiting for Henggeler, but Henggeler was about to be executed before he could enter the vehicle. A witness in another pickup truck was laying off the scene at a safe distance watching the scene. Stewart was at the stop sign directly facing the scene about twenty yards ahead of him. Stewart chose to accelerate his vehicle and place it between Henggeler and the gunman, Brundieck. Stewart knew he was sacrificing himself for a guy who is selfish and stupid beyond belief, but also for a woman and her daughter who didn't need to see anyone shot to death in front of them, particularly the child's father. Henggeler seized the opportunity, dove into the waiting car, and they sped away. For a brief second, Stewart had the opportunity to try another getaway. He could have left his insane friend behind, drunk and holding a gun in a residential neighborhood, risking being shot at as he fled. Stewart chose to not to flee. Brundieck entered his vehicle and held Stewart at gunpoint once again. Stewart told him he would take him home believing the man to be experiencing some sort of drunken psychosis. Brundieck kept Stewart at gunpoint, but by now the insanity of Brundieck's own actions began setting in. There was a brief struggle for the handgun on the ride to Brundieck's home. Stewart needs two hands to drive his manual transmission pickup truck and all he could do was put a death grip on the 9mm handgun when Brundieck let his guard down. It was during that struggle as Brundieck tried to remove Stewart's death grip on the handgun that Stewart realized that Brundieck no longer had any intention of shooting him since the gun was pointed at Stewart's dash and legs in the struggle and Brundieck complained if Stewart did not let go the gun might go off on accident. Stewart dropped Brundieck off at his home and got away from the drunken fool as quickly as he could. Stewart spent that night in disbelief of what had happened earlier in the evening and hoping that someone witnessing Stewart's saving the life of the Henggeler family wouldn't be reported to police as Stewart being an accomplice to the crime. Stewart had no intention of notifying police and sending Brundieck back to prison. Henggeler was and still is a fugitive from justice with an extensive prison record and current warrants for child abuse and domestic assault. He knew the Henggeler family would not call police. Police never arrived or contacted anyone regarding the incident. AN ATTEMPT AT AN APPOLOGY On Christmas Day, Brundieck telephoned Stewart telling him he would replace the television set he shot a few days earlier. Stewart was angry and told Brundieck he didn't want a television set from him or anything else. Never offering an apology to Stewart, but apparently trying to work into one, Stewart told Brundieck there was nothing he could say or do to make up for what Brundieck did a few days earlier and Brundieck should never again have contact with him. Stewart is a man who values friendship, loyatly, and helping people. With no hard feelings between Brundieck and Stewart prior to Brundieck gaining access to Stewart's home and the mock execution and hostge incident, Stewart was angry at Brundieck. He knew he could never trust the guy again and without trust, there is nothing. But Stewart also feared that Brundieck might hurt himself or others and Stewart would be told HE was partially responsible by not reporting the crime to police. Never being able to trust the police, and knowing they would put the three time loser, Brundieck, back in prison for life if his crimes were reported, Stewart instead sent a letter to Brundieck's sister, Mary, describing what occurred that horrible day before Christmas. Thus the Brundieck family would have knowledge of the increased status as a criminal of their family member and could get help for him and/or protect themselves from him. Stewart also still feared he may have committed a crime in not reporting the crimes committed by Brundieck. He sent a questioin into a Q & A website online operated by attorneys in the United States asking them if he had any liability in not reporting the crimes of Brundieck committed that Monday night before Christmas. THE DEATH OF STEPHEN BRUNDIECK In January of 2010, as Stewart tried to put Stephen Brundieck behind him, worrying only that he may accept an apology some time down the road from Brundieck and put himself in harm's way again, a news story ran on Omaha television. A shooting at an Omaha tavern had occurred the night before. The bouncer apparently had been shot be a patron upset at being forced out of the tavern for breaking the no smoking ban. The gunman was found dead in the parking lot shortly afterward. According to news accounts, Stephen Brundieck had begun living at a motel next to the Shark Club in Omaha, Nebraska. It was Brundieck who was found dead and shot the bar's bouncer in the head after being forced to quit smoking in the bar. A day later, Mary Krause, Stephen Brundieck's sister who received the letter from Stewart a couple weeks earlier but never responded, telephone Stewart to notify him her brother was dead and responsible for shooting another man in the face. Omaha Police detectives paid a visit to Stewart shortly afterward to discuss the contents of the letter Stewart sent Mary Krause. Stewart told police he was proud of the way he handled his being taken hostage. While other people would have cried victim and telephone police in hatred, Stewart did not. He also was proud that he did not leave Brundieck standing in the street with his handgun and bottle of Bacardi after saving the life of the Henggeler family. He told the detectives he knew police arriving on the scene if called would shoot Brundieck dead for holding the handgun and that was what Brundieck wanted while under the influence of alcohol. Both detectives agree that Brundieck dying that night from a police bullet was a very real possibly from the scene described to them by Stewart. Stewart then offered the police the opportunity to view the television Brundieck shot if they had doubts about Stewart's story. They declined but did accept the shell casing Stewart saved ejected from the 9mm semi auto handgun Brundieck used in Stewart's kitchen. Police seemed more than satisfied with Stewart's explanation of the events in the letter given to them by Mary Krause. Stewart also told them they wouldn't be hearing from Henggeler. They were extremely interested in why that was when it was mentioned and Stewart simply told them he's served prison time in both federal and state prison and currently had arrest warrants issued for him. That's not the type of man who contacts police. http://www.omahasheriff.org/services...ls?wid=1870197 http://www.omahasheriff.org/services...ls?wid=1923254 Police never did mention details in the letter regarding the accusatioins of rape against former Bush Administration flunky and Omaha resident Hal Daub or their officers. The subject was never mentioned by police or Stewart in the interview. THE REASON YOU DON'T ASSOCIATE WITH FORTY-EIGHT YEAR OLD JUVENILE DELINQUENTS Not long after saving the life of forty-eight year old Randall Henggeler, who was once a friend of Stewart's for a short time, Stewart received a text message from Heggeler thanking Stewart for what he did for him and his family. Stewart does not associate with Henggeler for one simple reason. Henggeler enjoys sending incriminating text messages and making incriminating telephone calls on his cell phone. Henggeler could care less what anyone thinks about him. His criminal record includes three prison sentences for drugs in Nebraska and a federal prison stay. http://dcs-inmatesearch.ne.gov/Corre...et?DcsId=55602 http://dcs-inmatesearch.ne.gov/Corre...et?DcsId=53093 http://dcs-inmatesearch.ne.gov/Corre...et?DcsId=37431 http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinde...Age=&x=76&y=11 Stephen Brundieck had introduced Stewart to Henggeler a few years ago. While Brundieck stayed with Stewart as his roommate, Henggeler was living like a transient. He had been sleeping in a storage garage he rented only blocks from Stewart's home. When winter arrived last year, temperatures dropped to ten below zero.in Omaha. The storage garage where Henggeler slept had not electricity and thus no heat. While it was bitterly cold, and while only a few blocks from where Henggeler was sleeping, Stewart offered Henggeler the opportunity to sleep on his couch until the weather warmed up. Henggeler accepted and it was then Stewart and Henggeler became friends briefly. But Henggeler's reckless use of his cellular telephone, sending drug related text messages and conversations related to crime and drugs was too much for Stewart who does not have a drug history and doesn't want one. Five minutes after sending Stewart a tex message thanking him for saving his life, Henggeler sent Stewart a second stating Brundieck must have some pretty good dope. Stewart was so enraged he told the know nothing know it all Henggeler he would be lucky if he and his loud mouthed girl friend didn't end up under indictment as a side effect of the Stephen Brundieck story. Too stupid to figure that out, and too arrogant to ever let anyone tell him he is wrong, Henggeler began brainwashing his girlfriend that Stewart and Brundieck were probably in on Brundieck's crimes together. Stewart was friends with Henggeler's girlfriend, who is the victim of the crimes Henggeler is wanted for, and she never did contact Stewart to thank him for saving her and her daughter's life. That's why you don't befriend forty-eight year old juvenile delinquents. IT AIN'T OVER, YET Following the police interview of Stewart as part of the investigation into the shooting at the Shark Club in Omaha, Nebraska, and the death of Stephen Brundieck, local Omaha news media obtained a copy of the police report submitted by detectives and details of the letter sent Mary Krause by Trent Stewart. Press began trying to contact Stewart and finally managed to over the phone. Stewart had contacted Doug Krause, Mary's sister and asked how they wanted to handle the press. Stephen Brundieck had not yet been buried and the family was still grieving. At the request of the Brundieck family, Stewart declined to be interviewed. He didn't want to be interviewed, anyway, and didn't watch the news story allegedly showing his mug shot and giving details of the letter. Stewart asked the story not be aired, but understood it was going to be aired. He then asked if he could add only that the incident at the Shark Club illustrated the dangers of alcohol use. Several days after the story allegedly aired, Stewart received a knock on his door. At the door were two men he knew. One was Gary Jacobsen, Stephen Brundieck's former employer as the owner of Movers Not Shakers moving company in Omaha and an employee of his whom Stewart met through Brundieck. The two men asked if they could speak to Stewart about Brundieck. Stewart had retired for the night early and just awoke when the men visited. Stewart knew Jacobsen much earlier from working with him briefly twenty years earlier at a grocery store and also from his being the brother of Marie LoSole who restaurant LoSoleMio in Omaha is in Stewart's old neighborhood. The building the restaurant is located in was owned by Stewart's father and sold to the LoSole Family. Stewart figured the two men were showing respect to Brundieck and trying to get closure. Stewart was wrong. Once the two men were inside the Stewart home, sitting at the same table where Stewart had been held and mock executed by Brundieck less than a month before, their mood changed. These two men, as did Stephen Brundieck, move pianos and gun safes for a living. The employee I know only as Greg, began to lay a guilt trip on Stewart like he had done something wrong. Stewart couldn't believe it. This POS began to state that he knew Stewart and Brundieck had done drugs in his home. He began to threaten Stewart with arrest for giving Brundieck drugs. He ranted and raved like he had authority of the law behind him. The threats from this guy's mouth never ended, period. Jacobsen sat quietly through his employee's threats and interrogation, never taking his hands out of his pockets. Stewart was so surprised with the accusations being made against him, he stopped them at one point to ask if either of these two men were aware of what transpired at the Stewart home when Stephen Brundieck took him hostage. He explained in detail the events and then demanded how the Hell these two men could come into Stewart's home and start accusing him of crime and being insensitive to the family of Stephen Brundieck. Stewart asked the men if it was the news story aired on WOWT just a couple of day earlier that brought them there because Stewart chose not to view the story and did not know what was said. As for the allegations of drug use, Stewart asked his accuser what the Hell he was referring to. The man stated he had a note he had been saving for about two months, left by Stewart on the windshield of Stephen Brundiecks's pickup truck stating that Stewart had located some pain medication Brundieck was seeking earlier for injuring his back while working for Jacobsen moving furniture. This Greg admitted by his actions that he had been stalking Brundieck for reasons which were never mentioned. Brundieck had asked Stewart about two months before his death if he had any pain pills because Brundieck hurt his back or knee or both while at work. Stewart had no meds but told Brundieck he would see if he could locate some for him. Being a recovering meth addict, Brundieck is not allowed pain medicine prescribed by doctors other than crap that is non narcotic and does not work. Stewart had the same problem obtaiing Xanax from a doctor after being sober for five years and understood Brundieck's problem perfectly. Stewart managed to locate an anti inflamatory pain medication called Indomethacin and offered Brundieck the medicatoin in the note which Brundieck never received because his stalker, Greg, had stolen it. Stewart explained this to the man accusing him of providing drugs to Brundieck fearing he was being accused of being a drug dealer by two Sicilian thugs. In a rage, and tired of being cross examined in his own kitchen by men who were not police and one of whom was a known gun toter and never removed his hands from his pockets during the entire interrogation, Stewart asked both men to leave. Both men refused to leave Stewart's home. He asked both men to leave once again. Once again both men just sat there like they had permission to be there. They were asked a third time to leave and Stewart began pushing the one making all the accustions toward his front door. Gary Jackobsen then harped in that the two detectives in Stewart's home were arson investigators and asked if the shell casing was a 9mm, angling that it was his gun Brundieck had when he took Stewart hostage. Stewart had to physically force the obnoxious employee of Jacobsen to his front door and the man began to resist being forced to leave. He tore Stewart's shirt off his body completely as he flailed with his fists at Stewart who was pushing him to the door of his home. Gary Jacobsen just pretended not be a part of any of it as Stewart kept one eye on his back on Jacobsen. The two men arrived together and the two men left together, with Stewart finally getting the man assaulting him outside his home and telling him to never step foot on his property or let him see him again. Jacobsen then tried a "good cop" routine asking Stewart if he could continue talking to him. Stewart told him some other time, amazed that Jacobsen had come to his home with hostile intentions as if he were a cop and Stewart was a suspect then changed his demeanor when his partner assaulted Stewart as Stewart forced him out of his home. Mr. Stewart was a hero in saving the life Randall Henggeler, his girlfriend Kelly Vondra, and their daughter Allison Vondra. He was the victim of a horrible, terrirying, traumatic crime that same night by the same gunman and despite that, he saved the life of the gunman himself who was involved in another violent gun crime three weeks later ending in one man being shot and the gunman taking his own life rather than accepting responsibility for his actions. Stewart was never Stephen Brundieck's drug dealer, drug partner, or other. He was Stephen Brundieck's friend and biggest supporter on his road to recovering from chemical addiction. Stewart telephoned his father minutes after being accosted in his home by Gary Jacobsen and his employee and threatened with arrest and accused of being a drug dealer. He told his father what happened and how difficult it is to believe the insensitivity and arrogance of people like the Jacobsen Gang. He also stated that despite his being assaulted again in his own home, he refused to report the assault to police and be like the very thugs he just was visited by. Stewart told his father that if he were a vindictive man, like so many others in his world, he had the right to telephone police and tell them how two of the Brundieck Gang had just assaulted him in his own home following his police interview broadcast on the news. But that isn't how Omaha, Nebraska's finest son, Mr. Trent James Stewart operates. Read more about Trent James Stewart on USENET @ nebr.gov, creighton.dental, alt.law.enforcement, talk.rape, alt.politics.usa.republican, nebr.edu, comp.society.women, and a thousand others. Look for posts entitled: Daubergate Rape: Jean Gruidel Daubergate Rape: Jenny May Daubergate Rape: Marlene Stewart Omaha Police Rape Teenager, Attempt To Rape And Kill Five Year Old, Poison Twelve Year Old Officer's Son Virginia Declares War On America, BLOOD & BLOOD PLASMA NEEDED NATIONWIDE Child Held At Gunpoint SAVED By Trent Stewart of Omaha, NE ANOTHER Omaha Police Rape/Assault/Attempted Murder Cover Up Where Trent Stewart Was A HERO Home Invasion Failed, So Transient Calls Omaha Police Angel of Nebraska Chalks Up Another Life Saved-CHILD'S RAPE PREVENTED Immigration Reform For Illegals? Where can we find the "legal" immigrants? ? |
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