Lisa Bragg-Hurlburt had led the Colfax Public Library since 2016 before police say her son killed her.
COLFAX, Wis. — Lisa Marie Bragg-Hurlburt was known in Colfax as a library director, volunteer and public helper before authorities said her son killed her May 22 inside her Eau Claire apartment.
Bragg-Hurlburt, 56, had served as director of the Colfax Public Library since 2016 and had worked at the library before that, according to library colleagues. Her death is now the center of a criminal case against Michael Jon Hurlburt, 27, of Menomonie, who is charged with first-degree intentional homicide and held on a $1 million cash bond.
In the days before her death, the public record of Bragg-Hurlburt’s work looked ordinary and local. Posts from the library promoted a spring hallway book sale, a Little Seed Library, a summer reading kickoff featuring Pablo’s ARTmobile and Tonies and a Toniebox starter kit for checkout. One post said the library would be closed the week of May 25-31. Those small notices were part of her regular work in a public building at 613 Main Street in Colfax. Days later, library system colleagues wrote that Lisa had been tragically killed and that she was “not a headline” and “not a statistic.” The words reflected a community trying to hold onto her life story as the criminal case began.
The police account started in Eau Claire, about 20 miles southeast of Colfax, where officers were sent to Half Moon Lake Apartments near West Grand Avenue after an emergency call around 8 p.m. Friday, May 22. Police said the caller was Michael Hurlburt, who allegedly told dispatchers, “I would like to report a homicide.” When dispatchers asked how he knew, he allegedly replied, “I killed her.” Officers arrived and found Bragg-Hurlburt lying in a pool of blood. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Detectives found a bloody kitchen knife about 6 feet from her body, according to the police account described in the complaint.
Authorities said Hurlburt was found and arrested near 6th Street and Congress Street after the call. Investigators said he identified the victim as his mother and told dispatchers she might still be alive. When asked what happened, he allegedly said he had found a kitchen knife and stabbed her about 40 times. The medical examiner later documented 44 stab wounds, mostly to the neck and upper back. Police have not identified any other suspect. They have also not said that anyone else was inside the apartment during the attack. The charge filed against Hurlburt remains an allegation unless and until it is proved in court.
The complaint also describes a statement Hurlburt allegedly gave after he was taken to police headquarters and read his Miranda rights. Detectives said he told them he had thought about killing his mother before because she had been “mean to him” when he was growing up. He allegedly said he formed a plan at about 4 p.m. that Friday. Before going to the apartment, police said, he wanted a last meal at Dairy Queen because he expected to be arrested afterward. Investigators said Bragg-Hurlburt picked him up from the restaurant, then went with him to her apartment after he said he wanted to speak with her alone.
Police said Hurlburt gave several alleged explanations after the killing. During the 911 call, he allegedly said he believed he had been “gang stalked” by the U.S. government and the Chinese government. Asked how that related to his mother, he allegedly said he felt she had made him “crazy in the first place” and that others were forcing him to get along with her. During the later police interview, investigators said, he alleged he wanted to “make a statement” to the rest of the family. Court records described in public reports show a prior Dunn County case in which Hurlburt was found guilty but not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect in December 2025. The prior case was separate from the homicide charge.
Bragg-Hurlburt’s public life offered a different set of details. A memorial fundraiser said she was the director of the Colfax Public Library and was “always advocating for those in need.” It described her as an artist, a creative mind and someone with a quirky sense of humor. Her obituary said she was born Aug. 22, 1969, in Woodruff and grew up in Rhinelander, where she was the eldest of six siblings. It said she graduated from Rhinelander High School in 1987 and credited her childhood in Wisconsin’s Northwoods with shaping her love of nature. It also said her most meaningful role was serving at the Colfax library.
Colfax had recognized that service before her death. In 2025, the Colfax Commercial Club presented the 2024 J.D. Simons Community Volunteer Award to Bragg-Hurlburt and youth services librarian Jolene Albricht. The award honored their work at the library and their place in village life. Public library work often appears in small ways, through book clubs, children’s programs, community events and help at the front desk. In Bragg-Hurlburt’s case, those records now help explain why her death drew grief beyond her family. They also show the gap between a public servant’s routine community role and the violent allegations now being handled in court.
The legal case is in Eau Claire County, where Hurlburt remains jailed on a $1 million cash bond. He is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, and his next court date is scheduled for July 6. Future hearings could address evidence, statements, mental health issues, plea matters or a trial schedule. Authorities have not publicly announced every investigative step still pending, and no final court finding has been made. For now, the record includes the 911 call, the alleged confession, the apartment scene, the medical examiner’s count of wounds and the statements Hurlburt allegedly made to police.
In Colfax, the public response has stayed centered on Bragg-Hurlburt’s life as much as on the charge against her son. Library colleagues wrote that she had been “an amazing, generous” member of the community. The fundraiser organized for her family said she volunteered her time to many causes and looked for ways to help others. Those remembrances do not change the legal questions in Eau Claire County, but they frame the loss being felt in the village where she worked. The homicide case now moves forward while the library community marks the absence of a director whose name remained on recent posts and programs.
Hurlburt remains in custody before the July 6 hearing. Bragg-Hurlburt’s colleagues, relatives and patrons are left with memorials, court dates and the work of remembering her outside the facts of the criminal complaint.
Author note: Last updated June 22, 2026.