Kristin Werkhoven described a years-long deception by her husband, Brian Brimager, a former Marine who murdered his girlfriend Yvonne Baldelli in 2011 and dismembered her body with a machete. Werkhoven married Brimager weeks after Baldelli's disappearance and only learned of his crime when FBI agents informed her.
Brimager, then 37, had told Werkhoven he was vacationing with military friends in Panama for two months. Upon his return to Southern California in late 2011, Werkhoven, who had a daughter with Brimager, offered him a place to stay. They rekindled their relationship, and Brimager proposed, marrying Werkhoven on New Year's Eve that year.
Soon after the wedding, Werkhoven noticed peculiar behavior from her new husband. He refused to discuss his time in Panama, was not eating, and stayed awake pacing at all hours, which she found unusual for a Marine. "He didn't sleep. He's a Marine and he can sleep anywhere in any environment," Werkhoven stated. "But when I'd go to work in the morning at five or six, he'd still be up, which was completely abnormal."
Despite his strange behavior, Brimager was doting on their daughter, which Werkhoven now believes was his way of cherishing time with her, knowing he was about to be caught. The FBI approached Werkhoven at a work conference, revealing that Brimager had not been on vacation with friends. Instead, he had been living in Panama with his girlfriend of two years, Yvonne Baldelli, 42, who had vanished two days before Brimager returned to the U.S.
Baldelli and Brimager had been dating since 2009 and moved to Panama in September 2011. Brimager, who had recently left the Marines, aimed to start a singing career, while Baldelli intended to create a swimwear brand. Their relationship in Panama was reportedly tumultuous, with locals reporting heavy drinking and frequent public arguments. Neighbors overheard shouting matches, and one witness claimed to have seen Baldelli with a black eye.
Baldelli's family in California grew concerned when her calls and emails home stopped around Thanksgiving 2011. Her sister, Michelle Valenzuela, received a text message on December 14 from an unknown number, which turned out to be Brimager, asking to pick up his truck. When Valenzuela inquired about Baldelli, Brimager claimed they had separated after Baldelli discovered he had secretly fathered a child with Werkhoven and that he had returned to the U.S. without her.
Baldelli's family did not believe she had left with another man, as she was devoted to Brimager. Further emails, purportedly from Baldelli, suggested she was going to Costa Rica and later planned to return to California for a family gathering in early January, but she never appeared.
Baldelli's parents, Lillian Faust and Jim, traveled to Panama to search for their daughter, distributing missing posters and scouring the area, but their efforts were fruitless. They later learned of Brimager's marriage to Werkhoven, which led Faust to suspect Brimager's involvement in Baldelli's disappearance. "I opened it and I screamed," Faust told the Daily Mail. "I thought right there, this must be why he killed her."
Meanwhile, authorities in California discovered that messages sent from Baldelli's email address to Valenzuela originated from a device in Brimager's home. Werkhoven maintained her disbelief in her husband's guilt, stating, "You want to believe the best in people, especially your spouse." She questioned him directly about Baldelli's whereabouts, and he denied any knowledge.
More than a year after Baldelli's disappearance, her dismembered remains were found in a green duffel bag in the jungle brush. Prosecutors stated Baldelli had been stabbed to death with a machete and dismembered in a shower. Brimager sold the murder weapon on Facebook shortly after, listing it as having "only used it to chop up one stripper." DNA evidence from the machete's handle linked him to the crime.
Brimager pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and received a 26-year sentence. He is scheduled for release in August 2035. Werkhoven stated that Brimager claimed he did everything wrong and wanted to do something right. She has remained married to him, and they have had a second child together.
Brimager has reportedly dedicated himself to his faith in prison, becoming a Christian worship leader and mentor. Werkhoven, who documents their relationship on social media under the name "The Real Inmates Wife," believes he has transformed and is putting their family first. "I told him the other day, 'I love you, but I hate what you did,' and people find that hard to understand," Werkhoven said. "But he has transformed."
Baldelli's family expressed difficulty in accepting Werkhoven's belief in Brimager's transformation. "She really believes he's a good man, and I don't understand that," Faust said. "He has taken so much from this family… Yvonne thought he was going to marry her and he disposed of her like trash, as if she meant nothing."