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E118: Eddie Brown
1.7k Plays4 years ago
The world seems to stop in a small town when one of their own dies. Ties are tested and strengthened as a community grieves. But the bonds of a community are tested even more when a pillar in the community is brutally murdered and 30 years later they are still searching for answers.
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Transcript
Starting a Podcast Journey
00:00:00
Speaker
Sleuthhounds, have you ever considered creating your own podcast? Have you been inspired by listening to some of your favorites and thought, I'd love to try this out on my own? Whether it's a true crime podcast like ours, a motivational podcast, or maybe one filled with tips and strategies for those interested in the same activities you are?
00:00:19
Speaker
When maggie and i first decided to start our podcast we knew absolutely nothing about what podcasting would entail but when we found that the platform bus sprout was one for which we didn't need any special equipment just a computer microphone some quiet space and each other we knew that this was the way to go it is intuitive to use
00:00:39
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Fun to play around with and so helpful in getting analytical data about our number of downloads to track trends and for more listeners hail. Best yet, Buzzsprout is affordable, even by our teacher salary standards.
00:00:54
Speaker
Buzzsprout will get your podcasts listed on every major podcasting platform. So what are you waiting for? Fulfill that dream of yours and start today. If you use our Coffee and Cases referral code, 709-643, linked on Facebook and in our show notes, not only will you help support our show, but you will receive a $20 Amazon gift card after your second month on a paid plan. It's that easy.
00:01:20
Speaker
Podcasting isn't hard when you have the right partners. Join over 100,000 podcasters already using Buzzsprout to get their message out to the world. Now, it's time for the world to hear what you have to say.
Introduction to Persons Unknown Podcast
00:01:34
Speaker
Each week, Alison and I like to try to introduce you to new podcasts that we think you'll enjoy since we know you share our true crime obsession. Yes. And this week, that podcast is coming to you straight from the UK. So if you love accented voices, giving you your weekly dose of true crime.
00:01:55
Speaker
just a very different accent from ours. Yeah, a hundred percent. Then we know that you will love Persons Unknown. Here's a bit about the show from the host John Dobson himself. Persons Unknown is a true crime podcast dedicated to unsolved murders and disappearances. My name is John. I'm based in Wales and cover cases from Wales, the rest of the UK and the wider world.
00:02:26
Speaker
Each episode tells the story of a cold case from the original timeline right through to recent developments. The content is based on thorough research, and all the evidence is presented in a clear and engaging way. There's no banter, but a respectful narration of what happened and any theories. A new episode is released every other Monday, with occasional bonus episodes.
Life in a Coal Mining Town
00:02:52
Speaker
There are already plenty of episodes to binge,
00:02:56
Speaker
Find persons unknown wherever you listen to podcasts.
00:03:01
Speaker
There's something special about growing up in a small town, and there's something even more special about growing up in a small coal mining town. The sound of a train whistle blowing on a crystal clear night waking you up from your sleep, the smell of coal burning hot on a snowy winter night, the feel of the slippery train tracks under your feet as you struggle to gain your balance, the coal truck zooming past school at recess, horns blaring at all the waving kids is hard to beat.
00:03:26
Speaker
Even harder to beat is the sense of community that comes from a small coal town. You flourish together and you struggle together. When coal is booming, families send kids to school with full bellies and packed lunches. When coal's slow, those same families send their kids to school with empty bellies and dirty clothes because sometimes mom and dad can't afford to pay the bills.
00:03:47
Speaker
We see each other in the best of times and the worst of times. But no matter what, we greet each other with a smile. I've seen families lose everything when their coal mine closed. I've seen my own family go without money to pay their workers wages when the coal business is slow. I've seen the best of people in my small coal town. And when that sense of community is even stronger is when one of us dies. We all feel that loss.
00:04:11
Speaker
Funeral homes are packed as we all gather to say our final goodbyes. We sent home casserole dishes and sandwich trays and desserts. We band together. Nothing rocks a small town like death. I remember vividly when I was a freshman in high school, a senior died. Our entire community stopped. Schools were closed, businesses closed. Everyone was there to pay their respects and cry along with his family, whether they knew him personally or not. Death hits hard in a small town, especially the unexpected deaths.
00:04:41
Speaker
What hits a small town even harder is a brutal, and I mean brutal, murder. This is the case of Eddie Brown.
Allison and Maggie's True Crime Podcast
00:05:23
Speaker
Welcome to Coffee and Cases where we like our coffee hot and our cases cold. My name is Allison Williams. And my name is Maggie Dameron. We will be telling stories each week in the hopes that someone out there with any information concerning the cases will take those tips to law enforcement. So justice and closure can be brought to these families.
00:05:42
Speaker
With each case, we encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast, because as we all know, conversation helps to keep the missing person in the public consciousness, helping keep their memories alive. So sit back, sip your coffee, and listen to what's brewing this week. Okay, Allison, it's our favorite time. Yes, it is shout out time since I got to do them all on my own last week.
00:06:13
Speaker
Don't remind me. Oh yeah, oh yeah. That's bringing up bad memories for Maggie's computer. I guess it's only fair that I let you start this time. Okay, so our first shout out goes to Marcy who wrote quote, I just found your podcast not too long ago and I'm hooked. Currently been listening to all of your episodes. You guys are amazing. Keep up the great work. I can't wait to sip my coffee and hear what's brewing next.
00:06:42
Speaker
You know what? I love that reference to one of our taglines. Marcy sounds like my kind of gal. Me too. I like her. That's one of her little reference. Yeah. Our next shout out comes from Lauren. And this is my friend Lauren from Facebook. Aww. Yes. And she wrote, quote, I'm happy to be a patron because I love y'all. I look forward to listening each week. This is by far my favorite
00:07:10
Speaker
podcast. We love you too, Lauren. And Sleuthounds, if you haven't yet, you all need to join Lauren's True Crime Facebook group called Cold Case Discussion Group. Yes, please do that for her. Please join Cold Case Discussion Group.
00:07:30
Speaker
And our final shout out goes to Rhonda Norris, who wrote, love the podcast. Thank you, Rhonda. Yes, thank you. And if you would like to get immediate access to bonus content, learn a little bit more about Maggie and me and hear your name read on our show.
00:07:48
Speaker
Be sure to subscribe to our Patreon page at patreon.com forward slash coffee and cases podcast all one word. And if you are already one of our Patreon members, but you have yet to fill in the shout out form, don't forget to do so because we want to announce your name or nickname or anonymous name and celebrate you.
00:08:12
Speaker
All right, so we are gonna go ahead and get started and I'm just going to let all of our listeners know that I literally cannot speak today.
The Case of Eddie Brown
00:08:21
Speaker
In the introduction and the shout outs alone we have more edits From my voice than we typically have for an entire episode. This is true so Just gonna let y'all know ahead of time struggle at times. Yeah, so Words are hard. It's just one of Okay, anyways
00:08:47
Speaker
So today's case takes place in Kincaid, West Virginia, which is a super tiny small town, like probably one of the tiniest that
00:08:58
Speaker
we've talked about. It's an extremely, not that any of our cases aren't sad, but this one is sad. And I'm not sure if it's because like the town is so small, or if this case happened nearly 30 years ago, but like part of the reason it's so sad is that this case hasn't received a lot of attention. There were like
00:09:22
Speaker
maybe four or five articles that I was able to find. Most of them all used the Crimestopper article, which is gonna be the one I referenced the most, to write their articles. And then there were no podcasts that covered this case. And one maybe 20 minute long YouTube video that I found.
00:09:48
Speaker
Wow. So this is when we say we cover lesser known cases, we cover lesser known cases. Yes, yes. And as I mentioned, Kincaid is a tiny town so small, in fact, that when you Google Kincaid, West Virginia, like the Wikipedia entry is like
00:10:09
Speaker
two pair of sentences. Yeah, it's like very tiny. The population is only around like 620. Oh, okay. So small. And this is like, super similar to the size of my hometown. And they are similar in more ways than just population because Kincaid
00:10:31
Speaker
and Virgie, where I grew up, were both founded around the same time. And they both flourished when the coal industry was at its high. And like since then have kind of been struggling a little. This town was actually like erected or whatever you would say, when the Kincaid family moved from old, like an old Virginia,
00:10:59
Speaker
and settled in West Virginia. And they were like Scottish and Irish, which is super prevalent in Appalachia. And so they, even to this day, the Kincaid family is a prominent family in this town. Like they've stayed there. Okay.
00:11:24
Speaker
And I think the article I read on Crime Stoppers summed up Kincaid West Virginia the best.
00:11:30
Speaker
It says, to a stranger passing through, Kincaid seemed the quintessential small neighborhood. The central features of the community were churches, the post office, a small store, and a Seneca station. Several churches in the community still held old fashioned suppers in their whitewashed wooden buildings where members congregated to strengthen their faith in the face of a changing world. Men still gathered at the woods quick mark to trade hunting stories and share community gossip.
00:11:55
Speaker
Children still waited for the school bus inside Seneca Station under the protective eye of Eddie Brown. And Allison, obviously today's case is about Eddie Brown. Okay, so two notes. Number one, do you know what? I have lived my whole life and said Senoco. Is it Senoco? I have no idea. Like, because the video that I watch says Senoco. Yeah.
00:12:23
Speaker
I've always, my whole life, said Senoko. Well, to me, I wanted to say Senoko. I have no idea. We're called as Senoko. Listeners, if you know how to pronounce that gas station, please tell us because I wonder if this is like tomato-tomato. Or I wonder if... Envelope envelope. Or I wonder if my brain is just so fried from...
00:12:49
Speaker
teaching today that I heard the wrong pronunciation. I honestly have no idea. But the other side note that I wanted to make is, yeah, this town sounds very quaint and like it is steeped in tradition and
00:13:12
Speaker
a strong, like you mentioned in your intro, like a strong sense of community. So obviously this Eddie Brown was like a protector, right? If he's watching over the kids. Yes, he was. I feel like just from what I've read,
00:13:31
Speaker
a huge part of this town. Like one of those like fundamental people when you think of a small town. Who everyone knows. Yes.
00:13:44
Speaker
Eddie was at the time of this case, 72 years old, and he had been a lifelong resident of the town. And he was known to bring a smile to everyone's face. He wasn't super tall. He was like five foot 10 inches. So like pretty average. And he weighed about 250 pounds. So
00:14:05
Speaker
A lot of the kids and some of the stuff that I've read that are now adults, obviously, but said upon like first meeting Eddie, they were kind of intimidated because he's like, you know, kind of like this husky, brute looking of a man. Oh, especially for little kids too. Yeah.
00:14:26
Speaker
but he didn't have a single mean bone in his body. I read that his sweet smile and his warm eyes would unravel any type of like this sense of like intimidation that you might have and like reveal this loving and gentle heart that was the essence of Eddie.
00:14:49
Speaker
So in 1992, Eddie was a staple at the service station that I mentioned earlier where he worked. And he actually worked there for 14 years prior to 1992. And he actually worked super long hours, like sometimes 14 hours a day, but on average around 12 hours a day. Gosh, that's a lot. It is a lot. And like you would think, like, because at first when I was reading this, like,
00:15:19
Speaker
This isn't so much of a thing now, but like I feel like when we were younger the like greeters at Walmart, you know They had like the little stickers. Mm-hmm. They were always like old people Mm-hmm, and it always made me so depressed to think that one day like I might not have enough paid into retirement that I would have to be like a Walmart which is still possibly true, but you know, I
00:15:44
Speaker
And that's kind of what I thought of Eddie. He's struggling. Yeah, and he needs money. But according to the four articles that I read, Eddie wasn't hurting for money. Everyone that knew Eddie, and believe me, Allison, everybody in this town knew Eddie, knew that he actually carried a large wad, and we'll talk about how large that is, of cash in his right shirt pocket.
00:16:13
Speaker
Why would he carry it there? I feel like that's like, well one, you're in a small town. And two, I just feel like that's such a generational thing. Oh, like not wanting to put it in a bank or something. Yeah, and like to always have like large amounts of cash on a person, you know. I guess debit cards weren't popular in his town in 1992, like they are for me now. Right, right.
00:16:42
Speaker
So is he carrying this like so people see how much money he has? Oh no. So like Eddie also is super humble and this is why like Eddie's generation will literally be the greatest generation because
00:17:02
Speaker
Like people knew about the money in his pocket, not because he like went around bragging that I have like, you know, $500 in my pocket or whatever, but because he was so generous. Like he was known to pull that money out and help anyone who needed it. So if like a mommy couldn't buy diapers, he was pulling out that cash to buy her diapers. If somebody couldn't fill up their car with gas, he was paying to give you a full tank of gas.
00:17:29
Speaker
Eddie. I know like this is our case person. Yes. Oh yes. And like this world just needs to stop. I know. And you're like you will fall in love with him. And like I wanted to be like his grandkid or like I wanted to grow up in this town and have an Eddie because he just seems seemed so just at his core good.
00:17:58
Speaker
Mm-hmm, and he lived a very simple life I read that Eddie still at this time lived in the family home with his younger sister and Allison I'm sure you have gathered
00:18:11
Speaker
that why Eddie worked at the service station he worked at. It wasn't for the money, obviously, but he worked- It's because, I guarantee you, that's where everybody comes. Yeah, he worked there for the people interaction. I could totally see that. Right, because he's a helper. People went there. He wanted to be somewhere that he could help people if they needed.
00:18:36
Speaker
Help at like the gas station. It was like I'm sure as in most towns there's like, you know a like a hub of activity and I feel like that was probably where I
00:18:47
Speaker
majority of the gossip and everything was spilled was in this service station. And one thing that was really sweet about him is that he actually watched over the children. They would come, the ones that rode the bus that picked them up near there, they would come into the service station in the early mornings to escape the cold or the rain or whatever.
00:19:09
Speaker
And he would be there to watch them, give them a piece of candy, greet them in the morning, just being like literally the best person. And he actually reminds me, this is a little off topic, of this man that I grew up knowing from my church. His name was Johnny and he always had a smile to offer or like a tight squeezing hug if you needed one. He was like,
00:19:39
Speaker
The type of man you respected because his presence almost demanded you to respect him. You know what I mean? He was a colonel in the U.S. Army. He was in World War II. He was in the Korean War. And to me, growing up, Johnny was the definition of what a man should be.
Challenges in Kincaid
00:19:59
Speaker
like a deacon in church like just everything and like he was known for like mailing you letters letting you know he was praying for you slipping cash into your hand during church when you were starting a new semester of college and saying this is for your books oh i know and he would like
00:20:16
Speaker
during like the welcome him and like where people were shaking hands he'd like sneak a piece of candy in your hand when he shook your hand. I love that. The best type of person and I really think that Eddie was the same. Someone who like leave a lasting impression on every single person that he came in contact with. Right.
00:20:36
Speaker
So as I mentioned, obviously, most of my research came from just a few articles. So I actually use Crimestoppers the most because, like I said, the majority of the other ones also use this Crimestoppers article. Right. But it's stated, as the decades of the 1980s drew to an end, the way of life was changing and concave. And I think that was really the same for the rest of the country as well. Like, I think we kind of had a shift in
00:21:05
Speaker
like morals and life. Yeah. Yeah. Like I feel like life became even more fast paced and small communities like Virgie and Kincaid became hotspots for drugs because unemployment rates grew dramatically. Poverty lines became blurred. And we know that, you know, those two things go hand in hand. Right.
00:21:29
Speaker
Once I took a train ride through it was like parts of Virginia and Pike County and like if you've grown up in deep Appalachia and it's not a palatia and
00:21:44
Speaker
Right. You know that like there are so many stereotypes that surround that area and like I guess where I grew up like
00:22:01
Speaker
I had heard that there were kids that I went to school with that didn't have like Floors like their floors were dirt and this was like 2000s, you know But like when I went on this train ride, I was probably 28 ish It literally shook me to my core like people and this is coming from a girl who grew up in a super tiny house that had
00:22:27
Speaker
like leaking roofs, rotting floor. Like, you know, I was not living in a mansion, but my house looked like a mansion compared to families that I saw literally living in tents, camp or like rundown campers and trailers that were like halfway falling in. That breaks my heart.
00:22:48
Speaker
And we obviously have heard about that type of poverty, but I didn't realize that it was so close to home. And obviously that type of living style isn't limited to Pike County or just Appalachia. But in Appalachia, as more and more people lost their jobs, and even in Kincaid, West Virginia,
00:23:09
Speaker
poor living condition spread. And Kincaid was one of those places that were affected by that. So I read that rundown campers were brought in and parked in the hauler because we don't say hollow.
00:23:24
Speaker
near Camp Branch Road where Eddie had lived. And Crime Stopper said that the like long standing neighbors, so people that had grown up in Kincaid were complaining because with these campers coming in, people had began partying, people were coming in doing drug deals, they were drinking. And so like the town was kind of shifting.
00:23:47
Speaker
This small town's really struggling, it sounds like. And community leaders formed a plan of action. They worked with the sheriff's department. They set up a neighborhood watch program. But the drug usage increased and the crime rates increased. And in the fall of 1991, so the story we're on today is 92, residents were scared by a barrage of burglaries
00:24:15
Speaker
Burglaries break ins and windows being shot out shot out yeah so like oh yeah this small town this is almost things like almost like you would hear like in a big city like right nothing you are small town right.
00:24:32
Speaker
Police stepped up the patrols in the area though, and eventually they did catch like a juvenile who they believed to be like the leader of this almost kind of gang that was responsible for this activity. So obviously we're in a small community and news quickly spread. So the news that this guy was arrested quickly spread throughout Kincaid. And I know that there was a wave of relief for everyone, you know, thinking that now that this guy's arrested, yeah, this will stop.
00:25:02
Speaker
But that wave soon came crashing down because on January 22nd, 1992, something happened in Kincaid that to this day, the community is still struggling with. Wow. So we're like only, gosh, barely over 30 years. Yeah. So Eddie, being the ever giving person that he was, woke up
00:25:31
Speaker
every day, not just on the 22nd, but every day, woke up bright and early to go to his job at the service station. Yeah, because he's got to watch over the kids. Right. And the amazing thing about, one of the amazing things about Eddie is that the gas station didn't technically open until 6am, but every single morning, every single morning,
00:25:59
Speaker
On the dot, Eddie would open the service station at 4 a.m. So two hours prior to it being required to be open. He was there. Why did he do that? Because that's pretty early.
00:26:13
Speaker
Again, because it's so freaking sweet. Because it's Eddie. Yes, because he said that the other service station in the area didn't open until 6am and that he would reason with his family and friends like, what if a minor was headed home from work or headed to work and needed something for lunch?
00:26:31
Speaker
Like he wanted something to be open. Where would the children go to wait for the bus if the station wasn't open? Because you know, school buses run early. They stayed inside to take shelter or whatever. And if he didn't open early, like where would they wait? Aw, so he literally everything he does is for other people. Yes, and he would get out of bed
00:26:58
Speaker
by one o'clock in the morning, like 30 in the morning. That's dedication. They get to work and this man's working 12 hours. Oh man. I know. So he would get up at one 30, his sister who does not get enough credit, then I'll talk about it in a minute, would get up to prepare him breakfast. Oh, and he would embark on the one and a half mile long journey to the service station.
00:27:27
Speaker
And he didn't own a car. So he walked away. Yes. Yes. The people in this town need to buy, they should have bought him a car. He needs a statue. Yeah, he does. And again, this reminds me of Virgie. Like it's so tiny, we had no like red lights. That's not a thing. And we had a bank, a post office, a library, a grocery store,
00:27:54
Speaker
two service stations and now a dollar store, which was, is a new addition. But if you lived close enough to any of those, you could walk to all of those. Oh yeah. Yeah. So I can only assume like Eddie's hauler was close to town because you know, if you're 72 a mile and a half as far to walk, but like if you're a mile and a half wouldn't really be that bad. Right. But, and he's walking this in the winter. This is January. Yes. I did read that sometimes there was like a family that,
00:28:24
Speaker
um delivered the newspapers and like sometimes they he would accept rides from them but most of the time he just walked. And that morning Eddie left his house and it was brutally cold that morning he left in a hoodie with the hood up a jacket that also had a hood so he had that up his little pants and also a baseball cap to kind of keep the wind from being able to get to his face. He grabbed his flashlight and went out
00:28:54
Speaker
into the dark with his little flashlight lighting the way to set out on foot to his job. Wow. Yes. And like I said, I want to give Eddie's sister some credit because I love my brother, but I don't think that I would have woken up before 4am or even at 4am to make him breakfast and see him off to work. Yeah.
00:29:22
Speaker
Like I just would have been like, grab a Pop-Tart, peace and blessings, have a great day. Peace and blessings to you. Yeah, don't wake me up. This is like a whole family of givers. Yes. And she did that every morning that he went to work. Like that, the January 22nd just wasn't a special morning. That was every day. She would do that for him. God bless the Brown family. Yes, their mommies and daddies raised them right.
00:29:46
Speaker
So she fixes him breakfast, he goes off to work, and she would later recall that as normal, she went back to bed because, yes. Yes, exactly. But on her way to her room, she thought she heard muffled voices outside.
Eddie's Attack and Investigation
00:30:01
Speaker
Oh no.
00:30:02
Speaker
Brushing it off like as if it were nothing because again, it's 130 you're probably sleep deprived like we got a new puppy sleuth hounds and so This morning at like 5 she started crying So of course Anthony walked her because he wanted her so he gets to walk her when it's 5 o'clock in the morning and then I was like just like just let her sleep in bed for the hour before we have to get up to go to work, right and
00:30:27
Speaker
which was a mistake because she threw up on me. So I had to get up and take care of that. And then I was like, you know what? It's 30 more minutes. I can still sleep. Like I went back to bed. So like, yeah, I'm sure like me, she was like, you know what? I'm just going to bed. That was nothing. Yeah, it's fine. Right. But I think now she probably wonders if she had gone outside to check on what she heard. Would things have turned out differently?
00:30:53
Speaker
Oh no. And neighbors would also go on to recall being like jarred out of their sleep by dogs barking, which was out of the norm because the only person stirring in town would have been Eddie. And no dogs barked at Eddie because he's Eddie. Because he's Eddie and everyone loves him, even animals. Yeah. And so they too are left to wonder what would have happened if they had only gone outside to check what the dogs were barking at. Oh no.
00:31:23
Speaker
within just 30 minutes of leaving home, something went horribly wrong on Eddie's morning commute in that short 30 minute timeframe. So we guesstimate that his sister thinks that he left home around two o'clock in the morning. So within 30 minutes, so we're right around 2.30,
00:31:52
Speaker
Okay. Someone acted so violently that it ended the life of the ever giving and loving Eddie Brown.
00:32:03
Speaker
Oh no. See, I don't want him hurt and then to know that it was violent. Yeah. And it's very sad the way that he dies. Oh no. I don't think I'm prepared. I know. This, like, old people, I love old people. Like, there's just something about them I think is just so sweet.
00:32:26
Speaker
Mm-hmm and like this just this story and all their stories are sad but like old people around up there with babies like Right protect all people Our story picks up. So remember we're in that like 30 minute time frame. Okay, I
00:32:43
Speaker
when the former service station owner Esley Bills saw Eddie unlocking the service station and he would tell investigators that Eddie almost had like this deer in headlights look. That's weird.
00:32:59
Speaker
And he just like chucked it up to thinking maybe like his car coming unexpectedly down the road had maybe startled Eddie cause it's like two 30 in the morning. Right. Okay. And so he just keeps going on towards home. Um, but would obviously later feel a twinge of regret. Um, he did tell investigators that he glanced at his clock and noticed the time was two 39 AM. So almost, you know, we're within that 30 minute time period.
00:33:30
Speaker
Oh goodness. So we, he at least makes it to the service station, but he looks. Startled. Dazed. Yeah. Okay. And like the whole timeframe will also kind of come into question. Okay.
00:33:47
Speaker
So the Marshall family regularly traveled throughout Kincaid at that time of night because they delivered the newspaper. Oh, makes sense. Yeah. And they had grown accustomed to seeing this service station open on their return journey because Eddie was preparing for the coming day.
00:34:06
Speaker
So they're on their way home. But this morning was different. So instead of the service station, like the lights being turned on, there's a warm glow welcoming people. It was in complete darkness, which is not how it's supposed to be. Right.
00:34:23
Speaker
So looking abandoned, they pulled in because this is out of the norm. And they realized that the service station actually wasn't abandoned. The door was standing open despite the fact that the lights were out. Yeah. So now they're obviously very concerned because this was not like Eddie. This is out of the ordinary. So they pull in to see what's going on.
00:34:49
Speaker
As they entered the service station, they knew something was amiss. Inside, they found a man with his face covered in blood. In fact, there was so much blood that the man was unrecognizable at first. Oh my gosh. So somebody had like beaten him? Yes. Finally, the marshals realized that the man who was bleeding on the floor was none other than the Eddie.
00:35:17
Speaker
They switched the lights on and they could not believe what they saw. The inside of the store was covered in blood and so was Eddie. He was confused and it looked like maybe he had wandered around the room and that's why there was blood everywhere. He was holding like what appeared to be a brown rag to his head in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
00:35:43
Speaker
Oh no. And according to who killed Eddie Brown of Kincaid, West Virginia, he didn't seem to understand how much he was bleeding or how badly he was injured. He was so disoriented he didn't
00:35:58
Speaker
Hear the buzzing of the burglary alarm that was going off because he hadn't disabled the alarm. Oh Gosh, but I guess if they hit him maybe in his ears. I don't know if that could have Damaged or maybe maybe he's lost so much blood. He's gone. Oh gosh Yeah But like he tells the marshals like I'm fine. I don't need to go to the hospital I fell on the railroad tracks and
00:36:28
Speaker
And like, you know, I'm okay. And they're like, I don't know. There's lots of blood everywhere. Like, let's look at that wound that you're trying to get to stop bleeding. So they lowered the hood of his jacket, and then they see even more blood than what they realized. Because remember, he's wearing a hoodie. Well, a baseball cap, a hoodie,
00:36:54
Speaker
and then the hood of his jacket. So those thick double hoods that Eddie wore and the baseball cap that he was wearing had absorbed a lot of the blood from that head wound. Blood had actually run down his back and soaked into the two layers of clothing.
00:37:14
Speaker
Oh my goodness. So bewildered that, you know, Eddie is still bewildered. They finally convinced him like you need to go to the hospital. And he allows them to drive him to Oak Hill hospital and his family quickly arrived to be by his side at the hospital. Wow.
00:37:33
Speaker
So my first thought, Alison, and probably yours and our listeners, is that someone came in with an intent to rob the store as he was opening it. Yeah, because I would have thought that because the other guy who drove by at like too little after 2.30 didn't say anything about seeing blood. And if he said that he looked bewildered, then that means obviously he saw his face. Right. Well,
00:38:03
Speaker
Which obviously means he didn't fall on the railroad tracks on the way right and everyone knew you know The robbery theory I think at first would make the most sense because everyone knew what time he would arrive at work every day You know in my mind robbing the store is the most plausible But as the investigation evolved it became clear that the intent was not to rob the service station but to rob Eddie himself and
00:38:29
Speaker
So they took Eddie's money, but not the money from like the till and the gas station? I'll get there. Oh, okay. So the first indication, according to the Crime Stopper article, was that when x-rays were taken at the hospital, the doctor told Eddie's brother, Glenn, that his brother's skull looked like a, quote, roadmap of holes and fractures.
00:38:57
Speaker
Yes. That someone had hit Eddie so hard, it cracked his skull and he had been hit more than once. Oh my goodness. Yeah. And this is Eddie. Yeah, Eddie. When forensic experts examined the X-rays, it was determined that 72 year old little Eddie had been struck at least four times with a sharp pointed object that had punctured his skull with each blow.
00:39:26
Speaker
Oh my God. I mean, that is violent. Yes. And like this doesn't give anything away, but like he didn't die instantly, obviously. So like I can't imagine the amount of pain that he was in. Right.
00:39:48
Speaker
At the hospital, Eddie's clothes were turned over to his family, which really didn't make sense to me because there could be hair fibers, there could be DNA. Yeah, especially if he's been attacked and they know he's been attacked. You know he's been attacked, you know this isn't an accident, but they were turned over. I read in that article to his family. And do you remember what I said Eddie always carried on him? Yeah, big wad of cash. Yeah, and so when his family got his clothes back,
00:40:17
Speaker
Do you want to guess what was missing from his pockets? I'm going to guess a big wad of cash. Yeah. Yeah. His sister-in-law said that she knew he carried about $500 in his pocket. Yeah. That he gives to everybody else. I know that he doesn't even use for himself because he's Eddie and all of that money was missing.
00:40:41
Speaker
What his attacker did not find was the small amount of cash that he kept for himself in his other pocket, along with a pen, a piece of paper, and a tire gauge that he kept in case the customer needed help.
00:40:58
Speaker
To know how much higher pressure they had. So Eddie was left. This is, to me, this is very interesting. Eddie was left handed, right? So he always kept the money that he helped people with in his right shirt pocket, right? Because that makes the most sense of your left hand and to crap. He kept his personal money and pen and stuff in his left pocket because he didn't get in that pocket as often. So to me,
00:41:25
Speaker
if they knew yes yes because they only saw him get out of that right pocket right because they knew either they knew one that Eddie was left-handed because they've owned and they've only seen him get out of the right you know the right pocket mm-hmm like that that has to be what it is because naturally if you're robbing someone
00:41:48
Speaker
you're going to check both pockets because you're not going to know which pocket they're naturally sticking their money. Right. And it's rare to be left handed. So this person had had to have an interaction with Eddie or multiple interactions in which Eddie probably gave this person money or whatever. Oh gosh. His pocket to think that he could have helped this person. And then this is what they do. Yeah.
00:42:18
Speaker
Yeah, I feel it I feel in my heart that he had to have at least one in a counter and Helped this person at least one time because how else would they know? Mm-hmm that he was someone they could target to get money from yeah, well, I think you're right so Eddie we obviously know is amazing, right? Mm-hmm. Like he's Eddie what's even more amazing is that
00:42:49
Speaker
Given the extent of his wounds that Eddie was able to walk at all, but Eddie was not attacked at the gas station. What? Eddie walked to the service station after being attacked. Oh my gosh. Yeah.
00:43:13
Speaker
But then, I don't know about that siding it to something then. Yeah, that's how I was saying. Do you come back to that? Yeah. Okay, yeah, because I'm not feeling that.
00:43:25
Speaker
Yeah, we come back to it. So investigators first believed that Eddie was attacked during a robbery at the service station. But the fact that no money, as you mentioned, was taken from the cash register or whatever, only money taken directly from Eddie, opened their eyes to other possibilities. And then to further add to this skepticism of the robbery theory,
00:43:49
Speaker
Was the fact that eddie's knees were bruised like severely bruised And he had gravel like because you know, like when you're little and you fall like a gravel road you get it stuck in here Oh, yeah. Yeah, so he had gravel stuck in his knees and in like the material of his trousers So and there's gravel by railroad tracks and you know where there wasn't gravel
00:44:13
Speaker
at the gas station. So could it have been that he was attacked? Because I mean, there's a railroad track that runs right through where I grew up. And so
00:44:28
Speaker
A lot of the times when my mom would walk me home, I would beg to walk on the railroad tracks because I was obsessed with trying to balance on the balance beam, I called it. Could it have been he was maybe walking on the railroad tracks that night and someone was there to attack him on the railroad tracks?
00:44:50
Speaker
We know that the blows to his head came from behind, so investigators speculated that he was hit and then fell to the ground, thus the bruising and gravels on his knees. And he could have been disoriented from the very first hit.
00:45:11
Speaker
Yeah and like he said he tripped over the railroad tracks and tripping over them after being hit the first time is probably all that he can remember. So really that him saying that makes sense to me.
00:45:28
Speaker
even more evidence was found to support this personal attack theory because his flashlight that the one he faithfully carried to like light his way to work was found the next morning by his neighbors and the flashlight was found only about 75 feet from the Browns property.
00:45:47
Speaker
Oh, so he didn't make it far at all. No. And the lens was broken and cracked as if the flashlight had been thrown violently to the ground. Oh, now it makes sense. The muffled voices, the dogs barking. Yeah. You know, I never read in the like one article basically that I found what they named the official crime scene, but I feel like that would almost have to be it. Mm hmm.
00:46:14
Speaker
Sadly though, like Eddie is admitted to the hospital. He never regained full consciousness. So he was never able to recall and relay to investigators what happened the night he was attacked. So we're just kind of forced to make our own determinations. So he's like alive for a while, but he can't like remember anything. I'm assuming like,
00:46:45
Speaker
a completely unresponsive type alive right now. Crime stoppers did say that despite the fact that Eddie was a large man, even though he was old, right, he was a large man, and he could have attempted to fend off any attack that he would have seen coming from the front. Oh, yeah. Because he was still pretty healthy, but he had no defensive wounds.
00:47:10
Speaker
So somebody obviously did come up behind him in the darkness, struck him not once but four times, and he had no time to fight back.
00:47:22
Speaker
Another question was one that you brought up Allison and that is the timeframe. We don't really know for sure what time Eddie left home because his sister told investigators that he typically left home between 2 and 2.30. Remember he's up at like, what do we say, 1.30? Right.
00:47:42
Speaker
And we know he lived a mile and a half away, which isn't a super long time, but like for anybody to make it walking a mile and a half and like 30, what was it, like 39, 36 minutes, something like that, is not very possible, especially if you're 72. And if Bill saw him that morning, you know,
00:48:05
Speaker
just a few minutes after yeah it would not be possible for him to have walked that far so there's only two things right either someone gave him a ride which seems unlikely because surely they would have noticed that he was hurt and would have taken him to the hospital right or we have some time somewhere is mixed up
00:48:28
Speaker
I just but here's why I still struggle with this sighting because I feel like if this person noticed Eddie enough
00:48:42
Speaker
to say like, oh, this is abnormal, he looks disoriented, then that's something we talk about memory all the time. That is something that you would remember. You know what I mean? But if he looked at Eddie at all in the face, he would have seen blood.
00:49:02
Speaker
Well I'm wondering like because I didn't read what time the Marshall family went by. Was it closer to 4 a.m. So had he been there almost two hours and that's why he was so covered in blood.
00:49:18
Speaker
like did the man that passed him bills um was that so soon after the attack that it the blood hadn't had time to like soak through all the layers that eddie had on um maybe so maybe that's like the time in between the two right dottings was longer than what we want to think that it was yeah yeah
00:49:41
Speaker
Because then again, but okay, even still, we're assuming that he walks a mile and a half injured in like 36 minutes or whatever it was.
Community Suspicions and Investigations
00:49:50
Speaker
Which is wild because that's not very long. And you would assume if someone did drive him to the gas station, not realizing that he's hurt. I mean, I guess maybe they just didn't know him and they thought they picked up like a
00:50:05
Speaker
senile old man who was just really confused like if that had happened you would want to say if they heard this story on the news or read it in the paper that they would come forward and say like oh yeah i gave him a ride but nobody came forward and said that
00:50:26
Speaker
Eddie Samly pulled their resources and offered a reward for information regarding Eddie's attack. Obviously, Allison were in a small town, so rumors quickly started pouring into the tip line at the station. Investigators did track down every single lead. And the Browns did continue to push for answers and urged people to come forward. But not, there wasn't a lead I read that
00:50:54
Speaker
really gave any substantial information to investigators. I'm guessing though that most people believed it was one of the newer people to town. Oh yeah, many suspected that it was like the frequent visitors to this new like party camper scene near Eddie's home who had attacked him. You know, people do crazy things when they need your money. And parties might be winding down or still going at 1.30 in the morning.
00:51:22
Speaker
Yeah, I hadn't even thought about that. At the time he would be walking. And if you're needing your next buzz and you pass sweet little Eddie. Who you know has cash. And you typically wouldn't hurt him but you're tweaking or you need money because you need to get high. He would be a very easy target.
00:51:41
Speaker
So people did suspect that it was one of the people at the parties. More rumors onto that theory said that one of the people who was a regular there like never came back and actually moved to Florida shortly after Eddie's attack.
00:51:59
Speaker
Determined to follow every lead, deputies traveled to Florida to interview this man. And at first, he tried to avoid them, but later met with them and actually was able to give proof that he was not in the area that night. Darn it. I know. And one by one, clues led nowhere and the trail grew cold. Wow. There was one thing
00:52:26
Speaker
to me and to investigators that stuck out about Eddie's case. And so this brown rag that he was using was actually a blouse. What? Yeah. So this blouse
00:52:44
Speaker
was assumed to be brown and that he had picked that Eddie had picked it up like as a scrap of material maybe that they used to clean this or whatever and was actually they're not using a blouse to clean
00:53:00
Speaker
Yeah. And the service station owner was like adamant, we have nothing like that that we would clean with. Like I closed the station that night. I know what was there that wasn't there. And like the blouse really couldn't pass as a cleaning rag anyway. It was like an unusual design. It was tiny. It was like, looked like it was made to fit a very small woman. The material was silky. Like not anything you would use for cleaning.
00:53:38
Speaker
More questions come to my mind now. Yeah. So like, how did Eddie get this? I read nowhere where his sister had a shirt like this. Did somebody give it to Eddie to use? If so, who was that? Was it someone who maybe drove him to work? Was it his attacker that kind of realized, holy crap, I just murdered Eddie. And in a moment of regret, like gave that to Eddie to kind of help. Yeah.
00:53:56
Speaker
Hmm. So I feel like somebody should be able to easily identify this.
00:54:04
Speaker
Like, how did he get this blouse? I feel like the blouse has so many answers. Right. It has to have something to do with something. Yeah. Whoever did this. Was it the Amy and the Hall of it case that like it was a crazy green curtain? Yep. Like somebody should recognize this blouse.
00:54:22
Speaker
Mm hmm. Have police posted pictures of it? You know, I know that at first it was left like close to the best. They weren't saying anything about it. But then as they were like Eddie's case grew colder, they started releasing more information and that was something that they released. But again, there's been so little info that I'm not 100 percent sure. I'm sure they release photos like they would almost have to have. Mm hmm.
00:54:53
Speaker
But on February 20th, 1992, Eddie finally did pass away from the injuries he received on January 22nd, 1992. So he suffered for nearly a month. Wow. Yeah.
00:55:11
Speaker
Very little has come forward as far as information in Eddie's case. Crownstopper said that on March 19, 2007, the Fayette County Sheriff William Laird IV and a local author George Bragg approached the county commission requesting an increase in the standing reward
00:55:31
Speaker
in regards to Eddie's case. And everybody obviously wholeheartedly agreed to increase the reward amount for information. So it was increased from $5,000 to $20,000.
00:55:44
Speaker
So, I mean, 2007 now is quite a long time ago, but obviously this small community still wants answers for what happened to somebody that was very loved in their community. And, you know, we typically have theories that we can talk about now, which I guess we sort of talked about as we went, but like, I really don't have any theories about who would want to murder
00:56:14
Speaker
Eddie Brown. Other than whoever's connected with this blouse, which hopefully has DNA on
Eddie's Legacy and Call for Justice
00:56:22
Speaker
it. I did read that they are testing the blouse for DNA. Um, I didn't read where they have said anything about results to that. But I'm telling you the answers are in the blouse. The answers are in the blouse.
00:56:40
Speaker
With the death of Eddie Brown, one community changed forever. Gone were the days of innocence from Kincaid, West Virginia. With the death of Eddie, I'm sure people began locking their doors again. Those who didn't own a firearm likely went out and bought one. People started questioning those who they once trusted. Could it have been you who killed Eddie they might would think? Eddie left a lasting impression on the people of Kincaid. And if we learned anything from the life Eddie lived, it was to be a giver.
00:57:08
Speaker
I found this tribute to Eddie on the Kincaid West Virginia Facebook page and felt that it was more than fitting for today's closing. Clothed when I was growing up in the mountains of West Virginia in the early 60s, I knew a man by the name of Eddie Brown. Eddie worked in the service station next to my house. He didn't own a car so he would walk to work. Every morning he'd walk up the road beside the creek past my house to open the garage as we called it. And every evening he returned down the road, go across the creek and over the railroad tracks
00:57:37
Speaker
to home at the mouth of Camp Branch Hollow. Before leaving, he would always put half the station's money in one pocket and half in the other. He explained that if someone robbed him, they'd probably only take half the money. He seemed to me to be a bearer of a man as he limbered past my house in the early morning mist. Invariably, he would pause for a moment or two and turn back towards his house to survey the creek or the mountains before traveling onto the station. It was as if there was something important in those mountains that he was looking for. Each morning, he would greet us.
00:58:07
Speaker
As we came to the station to wait for the school bus and each afternoon he was there to wait us when we returned. He always made sure the station was open so he wouldn't have to wait out in the cold. He was always there to sell us pop and candy and tell us a joke or two. Eddie was always at the garage. I never saw him anywhere else. He had no wife or kids and lived with his parents. Rumor had it he never left the creek except to go to the doctor.
00:58:31
Speaker
From my experience, the rumor was true. He never left the garage, even to get a haircut. The barber came to him instead. Many times I've seen him sitting behind the counter or beside the pot bellied stove while the barber trimmed his hair.
00:58:43
Speaker
If there was one thing constant in the life of Loop Creek, it was that when you pulled into the infraservice, Eddie would be there to greet you. When I was a kid, I never really thought anything about it. I was traveling through my hometown of Kincaid, now almost 25 years ago. A few things have changed in Kincaid, but Eddie was still manning the service pumps. The old station was now a hair salon, so Eddie had taken up the residence at another station a couple miles down the road.
00:59:08
Speaker
He still didn't own a car and now walked three miles each day down the railroad tracks and back to work. He was now a man of his late 60s. He hadn't changed a bit in those 30 years. He was still the same old Eddie that I had known as a kid. He filled the tank with service and I bought some candy and pop. He let me behind the counter to pick out the candy just like he did years ago. I was still the kid and he was still the grownup. I introduced him to my family and we talked for a while before I left down the road to Charleston.
00:59:37
Speaker
That's the last time I saw Eddie Brown. They buried him yesterday. I wrote this at the time of his death. A month earlier on his way to the station, Eddie was robbed and beaten severely with a crowbar. Even though he was injured badly, he still managed to make it to the station to open it.
00:59:53
Speaker
He never recovered from the beating. Ironically, Eddie was right all along. The robbers only took the money out of one of his pockets and left the rest. To this day, his murder still unsolved. If by some small chance you're ever through Kincaid, West Virginia, stop at the service station, now abandoned for a while. Take the time to survey the beauty of Eddie's mountains. Experience the tranquility of his creek. Listen to the rhythm of the hills and remember Eddie Brown. I know I will, by Johnny Kincaid.
01:00:23
Speaker
If you have any information concerning the murder of Eddie Brown, please contact the Fayette County Sheriff's Department at 304-574-4126 or Crimestoppers at 304-255-7867. Crimestoppers will pay a reward up to $5,000 to the tipster who provides information that leads to an arrest of the persons who murdered Eddie Brown.
01:00:50
Speaker
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01:01:19
Speaker
Stay together. Stay safe. We'll see you next week.