A vivacious, intelligent woman who is missed dearly every day.
February 9, 1955 – April 4, 2008
Susan Elaine Brubaker Bredeson Newby was practically born riding a horse, according to her sister Marjory Sente. To believe her sister had died because she was bucked off her horse and over a cliff was unfathomable. The exact circumstances of her 2008 death will remain forever a mystery since the only person with her on that tragic trail ride, her husband Mark, is also dead. He took his own life as police arrived to search the Newby home in connection with their investigation into Sue’s death. Despite their loss, SueB’s family and friends are celebrating her life and using the circumstances of her death to call attention to the issue of domestic violence.
The SueB Memorial 5K Walk/Run is held annually in Julia Davis Park to benefit the SueB Endowment Fund and provide a long-term investment in the WCA. In its fifteenth year, the event kicks off Domestic Violence Awareness Month. “I’m so happy that the WCA has taken the reins and embraced this event as a signature event for Domestic Violence Awareness Month,” Marjory said. “I really do believe that Sue would have appreciated that we’re going to take a really horrible situation and make it a teachable moment.”
SueB – the nickname her soccer teammates gave her – moved to Boise in 1983 and was working at Hewlett-Packard at the time of her death. She played recreational soccer, which is where she met her friend Leslie Hampe. Leslie remembers her friend as someone who loved life and was very disciplined and goal-driven. They also shared a love of horses and went horseback riding together a few times. She quickly learned what Marjory already knew: SueB had a lifelong love of horses and riding.
The love of horses remained throughout SueB’s life. But in the years preceding her death, Marjory and her husband Frank saw something else, too. They suspected SueB’s relationship with her husband Mark was deteriorating. Several times SueB traveled to their home in Arizona without Mark who said he was required to work. He frequently called SueB to complain about her absence, saying his work schedule had changed or that he didn’t end up having to work at all and made her feel guilty for not spending the time with him, Marjory said. “Sue wasn’t physically abused,” Marjory said, “but he had a way playing mind games with her. He was really good at it.” Leslie also felt the distance growing between them near the end of SueB’s life. Despite talking about catching up and sharing some wine, SueB declined her friend’s many invitations, citing Mark’s work schedule as the reason. Isolating a partner from family and friends is a common tactic used by abusers to exert power and control over their lives.
SueB also began to suspect that her husband was involved with another woman and had collected evidence from their home computer that supported her suspicions, Marjory said. But only after the fatal trail ride did all the pieces began to fall into place. SueB’s friends who shared her love of horses were skeptical about the scenario Mark Newby described that led to her death and they shared their suspicions with Marjory. “Her horse Tio was a runner,” Marjory said. “When he was scared or spooked, he flat out ran and all Sue had to do was hang on. He did that to her just about a year before her death. He didn’t have the temperament to buck off his rider.”
SueB’s friends also came forward with other stories, more troubling details about Mark Newby. He had actually been married three times before his marriage to SueB, not just once as he told her. His third wife had left him after he was arrested in 2004 for battery. The charge was later pleaded down to disturbing the peace, and Newby served 95 days in jail and on unsupervised probation from June 2005 to February 2006, according to Ada County Court documents. Police investigating SueB’s death found more circumstantial evidence that made Mark Newby a primary suspect. As they were serving a search warrant of the couple’s home in May 2008, Mark Newby shot himself. The questions about what happened during that fatal trail ride remain unanswered.
One in four women will be impacted by domestic violence in her lifetime. That’s more than twice the number of women affected by breast cancer. “It’s much more pervasive in our community than anyone really acknowledges,” Marjory said. “No one of us really had the whole story about Sue’s life at the end. I was really glad to learn that WCA has hotlines that someone can call in and tell the whole story to someone who can intelligently assess their situation and help connect them with the services to protect them.”
If you or someone you know need help, please call our 24-hour Hotline at 208-343-7025.
Register Here for the 15th Annual SueB Memorial 5K on October 6, 2024!
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