On a summer night in June 2001, a 24-year-old Navy Petty Officer named Lea Anne Brown and her friend, 29-year-old Michael Eugene Patten, were the victims of a brutal and random act of violence in Prince George's County, Maryland. Their evening, which began at a nightclub in Washington D.C., ended in a horrifying sequence of events that culminated in their murders.
After leaving the club, the pair stopped in the parking lot of a church in Fort Washington.
It was there that they were ambushed by a group of men bent on robbery and violence. Brown and Patten were severely beaten before being forced into the trunk of Patten's Acura Legend. The assailants then drove them to a secluded, wooded area in Accokeek. In this remote location, both Lea Anne Brown and Michael Patten were shot execution-style, their bodies left to be discovered by a passerby the following day, June 10, 2001.
The investigation into the double homicide, led by the Prince George's County Police and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service quickly identified a group of local men as the perpetrators. Five suspects were arrested and charged with the murders: Marco Dominique Scutchings-Butler, Robert Alan Odum Jr., Cortez Nicholas Carroll, Eric Ronnell Thomas, and Aaron Thearone Hollingsworth. The investigation revealed the crime was not a targeted attack but rather a crime of opportunity by a group engaged in a series of robberies and carjackings in the area.
The legal proceedings that followed brought a measure of justice for the families of Lea Anne Brown and Michael Patten. Cortez Nicholas Carroll, who confessed to being one of the gunmen, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to two consecutive life terms plus 70 years. Eric Ronnell Thomas was also found guilty of both murders and received a life sentence. Aaron Thearone Hollingsworth entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Robert Alan Odum Jr. was acquitted of the murder charges but convicted on two counts of kidnapping and sentenced to 60 years. His conviction was later overturned on a technicality, but he was retried, convicted again, and resentenced to two consecutive 30-year terms. The fifth suspect, Marco Scutchings-Butler, was acquitted of the murder charges.
