Bree Carson (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries)

The evil Bree Carson

Sabrina "Bree" Carson (Tammy Gillis) is the main villainess from the 2019 Hallmark film, Aurora Teagarden Mysteries:  A Game of Cat and Mouse, the tenth film of Hallmark's Aurora Teagarden series (airdate August 4, 2019).

Backstory

Bree Carson is a forensic psychologist, but her backstory revealed that three years prior to the film's events, she had her designs set on firefighter Andrew Morgan. However, Andrew was in a committed relationship with Jessica Howard, who eventually became his fiancée, Bree turned heel and stalked Jessica, who she saw as a romantic rival, and her scheme included committing small crimes while leaving excerpts from romantic novels. Her constant harassment led to the couple moving to the city of Corinth, but Bree continued her pursuit of the couple, mainly Jessica.

As shown in the beginning of the film, Bree entered Jessica's home late one night and strangled her to death, using a belt as a weapon. Shortly after killing Jessica, Bree approached Andrew and made her attempts to date him, but Andrew was still grief-stricken over losing Jessica, prompting an annoyed Bree to move on from the object of her psychotic obsession.

Events

Bree holding Aurora at gunpoint during her reveal

The film's events saw Bree in Lawrencton as a professor and the superior to fellow professor Nick Miller, who began catching Bree's eye in the film. A stickler for the rules, Bree didn't fully pursue a romantic relationship with Nick, as she was prohibited from dating subordinates. This led to Bree secretly resigning from her job beginning with the end of the semester, but after seeing Aurora Teagarden with Nick, the maniacal villainess began her elaborate plot to kill her. 

Bree used the same method she used in her pursuit and eventual murder of Jessica, stealing various objects (Lilian's car and a laptop belonging to Aida Teagarden) while leaving excerpts from romantic novels. The deranged madwoman even resorted to strangling Sally Allison (she survived), and threw the entire Real Murders club off the track by making her written excerpts appear to be from detective novels. When Bree's expertise was used, she stated that the culprit was female, which led to a pair of possible suspects:  Nick's assistant, Dina McMillan, and Aurora's close friend Valerie Wagner. Suspicion on the latter increased when it was uncovered that Valerie checked out one of the detective novels at the library, and even more so when Valerie ran off after seeing Nick and Aurora together.

All the while, the evil Bree used the suspicions to her advantage, doing so by poisoning Valerie's heart medication and using her hands to send a text to Nick's phone. She also intentionally fell down the stairs to make it appear that she was attacked, with the ruse coming after Nick was assumed to be the next victim. When Valerie was found by Lynn and Arthur Smith, the pair concluded that Valerie (who actually survived Bree's attempt) had accidentally killed herself during her own attempt to kill Aurora, who had her doubts about Valerie being an actual killer.

Reveal

While Sally went to Corinth to interview Andrew, Aurora went to Bree's home, where Sally delivered vital information to Aurora over the phone. Sally learned from Andrew that he briefly dated a woman after Jessica's death, but all he could remember was that her name began with an "S." Sally was shown a photo of the woman and texted it to Aurora, who recognized the woman next to Jessica as Bree. Aurora attempted to tell Bree that Sally's reveal about Andrew hit a dead end, but at that moment, Bree took out a gun and pointed it at Aurora, while demanding to see the photo.

Bree's reveal was completed after seeing the photo, as she stated that her friends called her Sabrina, after which she boasted that her job profiling murderers gave her the ability to plan the perfect murder and right wrongs. After Dina entered Bree's home, the villainess began manipulating Dina and telling her that Aurora attempted to kill her, and that Dina needed to help her subdue Aurora. The unwilling Dina does so, with the plan to place Aurora inside the trunk of her car, only for Bree to later order Dina to enter the trunk with Aurora, revealing that she was using her. 

The villainess drove both women to the home of Professor Heller, and it was in the house that Bree planned to kill both women and make it look like a murder-suicide committed by Aurora. When Aurora asked Bree how she wronged her, the villainous madwoman stated that she quit a job she loved in order to date Nick, claiming that Aurora cut in line for Nick's affections. She stated that she killed Jessica to get to Andrew, while voicing her disgust over his grief regarding losing his fiancee, and added that Valerie and Dina were both in the way. The arrogant Bree mocked Aurora's abilities as a detective, only for Aurora to disarm Bree after stating that the police were coming. 

Bree chased after Aurora inside a barn, while Dina escaped and informed Nick (who arrived with Phillip Pifer) about Bree's evil actions. Nick later confronted Bree inside the barn and tried to talk her down, only for the villainess to lash out at Nick for attempting to rescue Aurora. Aurora later tackled Bree and disarmed her again, and she was later arrested by Lynn and Arthur.

Personality

• As Bree's backstory and actions in the film showed, she was portrayed as a cunning and villainous psychopath who used her occupation to mask her sinister traits. She was also a narcissist, which was shown when she expressed her disgust with Andrew's grief over Jessica, who Bree killed to get to Andrew.

Gallery

Bree attacking Jessica before killing her

Videos

Aurora Teagarden Mystery - A Game of Cat and Mouse