Chester County man convicted of first-degree murder in beating death of Annabel Rose Meenan

A 33-year-old Chester County man was convicted Friday evening of the first-degree murder of 21-year-old Annabel Rose Meenan, who was the victim of repeated domestic violence before her beating death in 2021, District Attorney Christopher L. de Barrena-Sarobe announced.

After a weeklong trial, Leroy Brahm III also was convicted by a Chester County jury of aggravated assault and related offenses, de Barrena-Sarobe said. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison.

“The defendant unfathomably, brutally, and systematically beat his girlfriend to death during the course of a night. The jury rightfully recognized that the defendant was guilty of all charges,” de Barrena-Sarobe said in a statement.

Meenan was found unresponsive on Dec. 4, 2021, at the East Vincent Township mobile home she shared with Brahm and later pronounced dead at Phoenixville Hospital.

On home security video from Dec. 4 obtained by investigators, Brahm was seen punching Meenan in the head and body at least 85 times and kicking and stomping her at least 80 times, authorities said.

Security video from prior weeks showed other instances of domestic violence against Meenan perpetrated by Brahm.

Investigators learned that Meenan, with Brahm’s encouragement, had a sexual relationship with another man. But Brahm later grew jealous and angry.

Brahm’s lawyer, Scott McIntosh, said that his client “saw red” and snapped in a moment of provocation, and that his actions that night were fueled by heavy drinking. McIntosh argued that Meenan’s death was not a premeditated killing.

The post-mortem investigation determined that Meenan died from cardiac arrest, with the beating by Brahm and cocaine she had consumed earlier that night as contributing factors.

McIntosh said that Brahm admitted guilt for beating Meenan and wanted to take responsibility, but that the prosecutors could not prove that the abuse, and not the cocaine, was the cause of her death.