When Aleisha Brown was 8 years old, her mother Shawntae packed up Aleisha, her 7-year-old brother, and their newborn sister for a trip from Oklahoma City to Texas to watch their father, Joshua, graduate from basic training.
The visit was already exciting, but it became unforgettable when Aleisha’s parents surprised everyone by announcing they were getting married.
“He was in his military uniform, and I just remember her being so happy,” Aleisha recalls.
Before the ceremony, Shawntae pulled her daughter aside for a private conversation. “It was so strange because she told me this by myself,” Aleisha remembers. “She said, ‘Even if, for whatever reason, even though me and your dad love each other very much, if we don’t stay married or something happens, I will always love you guys and always choose you first.’”
Seven years later, in 2020, those words would return in the most heartbreaking way — as Shawntae’s final words to her eldest daughter.
“She told me she loved me,” Aleisha says softly.
By then, Shawntae had endured 24 hours of relentless physical abuse from her husband. Aleisha and her siblings — then 15, 14, and 7 — were trapped inside the home, doing everything they could to shield their youngest sister from the horror unfolding nearby.
Aleisha remembers that life wasn’t always like this. Her childhood had been peaceful until Joshua returned from his deployment in Afghanistan in 2016. “He was definitely more aggressive, more irritable, angry,” she says. “And after that is when the abuse started getting bad. It had never been like that before.”
Although Joshua never physically harmed the children, his presence filled the home with fear. “It was like walking on eggshells,” Aleisha explains. “A constant hostile environment.” Over time, he isolated the family from their relatives and friends.
When Joshua was caught cheating, things grew worse. “He started getting more paranoid,” Aleisha says. He installed security cameras throughout the house, monitoring every movement and conversation. “He was listening to our conversations, watching us do everything,” she recalls. “If he thought something was suspicious, there’d be hours of questioning — and much worse for Mom.”
Despite the constant abuse, Shawntae never told her children what she was suffering. Aleisha believes that was her way of protecting them. Still, Aleisha admits she has mixed feelings about her father. “Part of me still thinks he was a good dad,” she says. “But then I wonder how much of that was real and how much was Mom trying to protect us.”
On September 30, 2020, the violence reached its peak. Joshua fatally beat Shawntae during one of his outbursts. She was 34 years old.
“He would have these episodes,” Aleisha says. “And this was one of them.”
The argument began over something small — a curtain in her brother’s room and Joshua’s paranoid suspicion that Shawntae was being unfaithful. “That’s when it clicked — it was no longer my dad,” Aleisha says.
For 24 hours, Aleisha listened as her mother begged and tried to calm him down. “It was definitely the worst one we’d ever been through,” she recalls.
When the attack finally ended, Joshua ordered Aleisha to clean her mother’s body. “I was in the bathtub cleaning her off, and she was going in and out,” she remembers. As her mother slipped in and out of consciousness, Joshua’s anger turned to panic when he realized what he had done.
“His switch flipped,” Aleisha says. “As soon as he realized she wasn’t okay, he panicked.”
He told Aleisha to call 911, but also instructed her to lie. “He told me to say she overdosed,” she explains. Paramedics arrived quickly, but Shawntae was pronounced dead at the scene — in her daughter’s arms.
“I feel selfish for saying it,” Aleisha admits, “but I’m glad she died in my arms. It’s comforting in a way.”
Joshua was arrested soon after. “The last thing he said to me before they took him away was to take care of my siblings,” Aleisha recalls.
After nearly five years of waiting, Joshua reached a plea agreement last week. He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and three counts of child abuse, avoiding the death penalty in exchange for four life sentences without parole.
Aleisha believes the sentence reflects her mother’s kindness. “I think this is what my mom would have wanted,” she says. “I know she would still love him and give him another chance at life.”
Her mother’s selflessness continues to guide her. Shawntae once dreamed of becoming a doctor but gave up that dream when she became pregnant at 18. “She never once made us feel like she regretted it,” Aleisha says. “She told us she made that decision for our family and would do it a hundred times over.”
Today, Aleisha is honoring her mother’s memory by pursuing her own education. Now in her second year at Rose State College in Arkansas, she’s majoring in media and communications. “Going to college is something my mom always wanted for me,” she says.
Even five years later, Aleisha draws strength from her mother’s legacy. “I hope to show her selflessness, her love, and her passion,” she says. “She was the best mom. When I smile, I try to imitate her smile.”
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