Lubbock, Texas - A man convicted of first-degree manslaughter for the 1988 beating death of a young girl in what its organizers characterized as an Olympics training boarding house was found shot to death.
Brian J. Brinson, 52, was convicted in 1989 of participating in a beating that killed Dayna Broussard, 8.
The girl was rushed to a rural Clackamas fire station on Oct. 13th 1988. Paramedics could not revive her. She had been struck several hundred times with a hose, a pipe and electrical cord, all while other children were forced to watch.
According to news reports Sunday, Brinson died of a single gunshot wound to the torso early Sunday morning in Central Lubbock. He was alone in a car. The case was being investigated by homicide detectives.
Brinson was a leader in a group called the Ecclesia Athletic Association headed by a charismatic leader and the victim's father, Eldridge Broussard.
After the girl's death, over 50 children were taken from a farmhouse where Broussard led a group of adults that practiced strict discipline. Broussard was convinced that he could train children to become star athletes and also to adhere to life-long principles that would keep them crime and drug free.
He started the program in Los Angeles and later moved it to Oregon.
Three other adults were convicted of first-degree manslaughter, along with Brinson.
Broussard was not present the night his daughter was beaten. While awaiting trial in federal court, he died in 1991 at the Clackamas farmhouse of his organization, of causes related to diabetes.
