Every day is a struggle, a tearful Mike Hanson told the Montana State Board of Pardons and Parole in late October.

Jessica Farbstein, the woman who had drunkenly struck and killed his 15-year-old daughter Brooke Hanson on May 20, 2021 had just finished addressing the board.  

“She didn’t just kill my daughter that night, she killed my whole family,” Mike said. “We’re not the same family we used to be. It’s difficult trying to hold the pieces together.”

Farbstein pleaded guilty to felony vehicular homicide while under the influence in Flathead County District Court in 2022 and subsequently received a 30-year sentence with 15 years suspended. Farbstein is eligible for parole in December, which was why Mike and his wife, Jessie Hanson, were on a Zoom call from the Flathead County Attorney’s Office on Oct. 23. 

They hadn’t had enough time to heal, the couple said. The parole board agreed.  

“We’re stuck with an urn that we take every year to snag salmon, and we put Brooke by a creek,” Mike told them, describing how much Brooke loved to fish. “A cold urn next to the cold water. And as a family we grieve.” 

Brooke was walking with friends to go fishing the night she died. Poles in hand, they walked single file along the road in the Hanson’s hometown of Columbia Falls. Farbstein, now in her 40s, struck Brooke about 9:40 p.m., knocking her into a ditch. Then she drove off.   

A Whitefish Police officer pulled over Farbstein’s blue minivan soon after, describing it as suffering “obvious damage” to the front passenger side and headlight. Farbstein told the officer she had hit a mailbox, court documents said.  

“Did I hit a person?” she asked next, according to court documents.  

During the parole board hearing, Farbstein described the programs she had completed while in prison, telling the board that she intends to remain sober upon release and move in with a sister out of state.  

“I know that I can never drink and drive again, I can never drink again, and I agree with you that it is a really big promise,” Farbstein said through tears during the hearing. “... I have the commitment to making that promise and working every day on maintaining my sobriety and never making a choice like this again.” 

Board member Brad Newman lauded Farbstein’s goals, but said she needed to do more work on herself.  

“These are choices in conduct; they’re not accidents,” Newman said. “Part of her recovery, part of her progress, is recognizing that.” 

For Brooke’s family and friends, the parole board’s denial means they have more time to heal before Farbstein is allowed to rebuild her own life.  

“Hearing [Farbstein] talk about everything she’s been accomplishing and all the plans she has for her future was painful, because Brooke doesn’t get that chance,” Alizia Henson, Brooke’s friend, said after the hearing. She was with Brooke when Farbstein struck her.  

The decision gives them a sense of relief knowing justice for Brooke is still being served, she said.  

“I felt relieved that she wasn’t granted parole and I felt really confident in the parole board and the [Montana] Department of Corrections that they were taking this seriously,” Jessie Hanson, Brooke’s mom, said after the hearing.  

She knows that there is a day when Farbstein will get out, she said. She just wants enough time to heal before then.  

Farbstein will continue serving her sentence at the former Riverside Special Needs Unit, which is housing inmates from the Montana Women’s Prison. She is eligible for an administrative review next October.