Woman collapses as death sentence is returned in brutal slaying The former prostitute, 25, is to be

executed for killing an 80-year-old man in Amarillo.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX) (Published as Fort Worth Star-Telegram) - March 28, 1998

Author/Byline: Associated Press

Edition: FINAL AM
Section: METRO
Page: 2
Readability: 7-9 grade level (Lexile: 1060)
This article contains explicit descriptions of violence.
CANYON - A one-time prostitute is the first Texas woman to be sentenced to die since Karla Faye Tucker was executed on Feb. 3.
Brittany Marlowe Holberg wailed, "Oh my God! " and collapsed into her attorney's lap when she was sentenced late Thursday to die for
killing an 80-year-old man in his Amarillo apartment in 1996.
State District Judge Patrick Pirtle pronounced the sentence after a Randall County jury concluded that the 25-year-old woman constitutes
a continuing threat to society.
The body of A.B. Towery Sr. was found on Nov. 14, 1996, in his southwest Amarillo apartment. A knife protruded from Towery's torso.
He had also been stabbed with a paring knife, a butcher knife, a grapefruit knife and two forks. An autopsy revealed 58 stab wounds.
A footlong lamp pole was shoved more than 5 inches down his throat.
"She didn't just kill A.B. Towery," District Attorney James Farren told jurors. "She butchered him. She slaughtered him. " Defense attorney
Catherine Brown Dodson argued that Towery was wrongly portrayed as an innocent elderly man. She said Holberg was a prostitute who
acted in self-defense when Towery, a client, attacked her.
Holberg eluded West Texas law officers for three months. She was arrested in Tennessee after America's Most Wanted aired a segment
on the case, calling her the nation's No. 1 fugitive.
Memphis police said Holberg admitted stabbing Towery, hitting him with a claw hammer and leaving a lamp pole embedded down his
throat to silence his gurgling.
She said she was high on crack cocaine when she took a cab on Nov. 13, 1996, to the apartment complex where Towery lived.
Record: 518154
Copyright: Copyright 1998 Star-Telegram, Inc.