CALHOUN COUNTY, Mich. — The man who broke into the home of his ex-girlfriend and her mother and violently assaulted them in 2022 has been sentenced to prison.
Brandon Conklin, 24, was charged with first-degree home invasion and assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder and a misdemeanor charge of aggravated assault.
He was sentenced to a minimum of 57 months and a maximum of 10 years for the assault charge and a minimum of 23 months and maximum of five years for the home invasion charge. The sentences will be served concurrently.
NOTE: Certain details in this story may be disturbing to some viewers.
The attack happened Dec. 6, 2022, when Conklin broke into the home of his ex-girlfriend, Allison Denbrock, and her mother, Sarah.
Shortly after 7 a.m., Allison was lying in her bed as a man dressed in all black entered her dark room.
"He told me, 'if you scream, I'll shoot,'" she remembered.
Allison said she tried to fight back, wrestling with the attacker.
"He pulled me to the ground, and that's when he began suffocating me," she said. "He put one hand over my mouth, and one hand over my face."
She remembered then being able to somehow fight him off for a brief moment.
"I bolted to the door, and that's when he began shooting at me," she said.
Police say it was a BB pistol that the suspect was firing into her back.
Allison screamed for Sarah, who had been asleep in another room.
"By this time I'm in tunnel vision running towards (Allison), and she's crawling on the ground towards me," Sarah said. "As I was standing over her, he puts the gun to my head, and pulls the trigger four times," she added, "but nothing happens."
When the gun proved empty, Sarah said the suspect started pistol-whipping her on the top of her head, and punching her in the face with his other hand. Sarah punched back.
"He was hitting with such force that pieces of the gun are breaking off everywhere," Sarah said. "I could feel the warmth of blood running down my head, but I never stopped hitting him."
"The only thing I literally felt in that moment was anger and rage," she added.
Allison said when she eventually came to, she joined in the fight, kicking the man, and he eventually fell back.
Police say Conklin drove away from the scene, and a short time later, a Calhoun County Sheriff's deputy saw a vehicle matching the description provided by the Denbrocks on northbound M-66 near B Drive South. Conklin was arrested, and a black BB pistol was found during a search.
Sarah had several gashes in her head that later required staples. Allison suffered nearly a dozen shots to her back, neck, head and knee. Several of the metal BBs were lodged in her skin and had to be removed by doctors.
The two said they later found makeshift zip-tie handcuffs and a beanie hat that were left behind, and that the man had a backpack, but they don't know what was inside.
"He didn't come here to steal, or to rob," Sarah said, "he came here to hurt."
Allison and Sarah said they knew it was Conklin from the beginning. Allison had broken up with him more than a month earlier, but said he didn't take it well.
Court documents reveal that Conklin admitted to breaking into the home, intending to hurt Allison, but not kill her.
The earliest Conklin will be released from prison is March 9, 2028, according to court documents.
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic abuse, help is available. The National Domestic Abuse Hotline is 800-799-7233
You can also get help by texting the word 'START' to 88-7-88.
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