Who Was Brian McManus?
McManus was originally from England, where he worked as a police officer in London. However, after 17 years, he was kicked off the force after several women accused him of sexual harassment. He moved to the United States and married a woman in Idaho. But the relationship unraveled because of domestic violence and ultimately ended in divorce. According to prosecutors, McManus moved on quickly, creating a Tinder profile to find his next prospect.
“He immediately started seeking a new sponsor for his green card,” Eric Edwards, district attorney for Houston County, told WGXA in July 2025. “Evidence in this case shows that he found our victim.”
He met Ann, relocated to Georgia and moved into the home she shared with her granddaughter and two great-grandchildren. The couple got married in 2022, just three months after matching on the dating app.
Prosecutors alleged, however, that the relationship was far from love at first sight. Instead, they argued Brian had only married Ann so he could obtain his permanent residency—a green card—and stay in the U.S. They painted a picture of Ann as a lonely, vulnerable woman who was easily manipulated.
Experts say marriage fraud is uncommon in the United States, in large part because federal immigration authorities are always on high alert. Beyond that, the process of obtaining a green card through marriage is rigorous and challenging.
“You must present credible joint evidence to prove the legitimacy of the relationship,” Marina Shepelsky, an immigration attorney and the founder of Shepelsky Law Group in New York City, tells A&E Crime + Investigation. “This includes joint tax returns, birth certificates of shared children, joint bills, shared leases, joint bank accounts, insurance policies, travel records and numerous photos with family and friends showing your shared life.”
On its own, online dating is not automatically a red flag, according to Shepelsky. But it may make authorities extra skeptical of a marriage’s authenticity, she says.
Additionally, many immigrants who hope to settle permanently in America do not commit marriage fraud because the risks are too high. If they get caught, the consequences are “very dire,” Jenifer Lopez, an immigration attorney and the founder of J. Lopez Law in Houston, tells A&E Crime + Investigation. “The person can never obtain residency in the U.S. without exception,” she adds.
For a while, Brian and Ann were married without incident. However, the relationship began to break down in the fall of 2023, according to prosecutors, when Brian accidentally sent his wife a text message intended for his mistress in Florida. Prosecutors claimed he had been taking fake business trips to see the woman and that he ultimately planned to run off with her. When Ann found out about the affair, prosecutors said, she threatened to tell immigration authorities their marriage was fake.
With fraudulent immigration marriages, there is always a “significant risk” that the relationship will become abusive at some point, according to Holly Davis, an attorney and founding partner of Kirker Davis in Austin, Texas. “The person who is seeking citizenship can easily be threatened with exposure by their partner,” she tells A&E Crime + Investigation. “That's tremendous leverage that can become a power play.”
Brian told investigators Ann had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but police did not find a gun or shell casings near her body, and her injuries did not match up with this explanation. She had lacerations on the top and back of her head, as well as brain bleeding, a fractured skull and spinal injuries.
They also found an unexplained scratch on Brian’s arm, and blood found beneath Ann’s fingernails was a match for Brian. Authorities later determined Ann had died from blunt force trauma and manual strangulation and that Brian was the one who had killed her.
During interviews, Brian was strangely calm and unemotional, authorities said. While canvassing the neighborhood, they also recovered home surveillance footage that showed Brian walking to a drainage ditch. When they investigated, they found a rubber mallet, which prosecutors believe Brian used to bludgeon his wife before strangling her.
When they challenged his version of events, Brian’s carefully crafted narrative began to break down. He tried to blame Ann’s granddaughter and her boyfriend and, when that explanation fell through, he next suggested Ann had been killed during a break-in.
Where Is Brian McManus Now?
At the end of the six-day trial, jurors found Brian guilty of one count of malice murder on July 12, 2025. Afterward, Houston County assistant district attorney Justin Duane described him as a “serial liar and con man” and a “textbook narcissist who thinks he is the smartest man in the room,” according to FOX 5 Atlanta.
“I am glad that the jury saw him for what he was—a monster,” Duane added.
Georgia has a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison for murder. However, the judge overseeing the case, Edward D. Lukemire, had the option to add the possibility of parole to Brian’s sentence. Prosecutors urged Lukemire not to, arguing Brian was “diabolical and evil” and that putting him away for life would send a clear message to other domestic abusers, according to the Macon Telegraph.
Lukemire ultimately sided with the prosecution, sentencing Brian to life in prison without parole on July 16, 2025.
Lukemire said at sentencing that Ann's murder "ranks right up there” in terms of its "brutality."
“You basically bashed in the skull of another human being,” he added.
Brian remains incarcerated at Hays State Prison in Trion, Ga. Ann’s family members, meanwhile, are still coming to terms with the loss of their loved one.
“She was my best friend,” Jessica Terrell, one of her granddaughters, said at the sentencing hearing, according to 13WMAZ. “And even though I'm an adult with children of my own now, I still deeply need her here.”
