On a Sunday afternoon in June 2001, the bodies of 29-year-old Michael Eugene Patten and his friend, 24-year-old Lea Anne Brown, were discovered by a bicyclist along a back road in Accokeek, Maryland. Both had been shot execution-style. Patten, a white male, was an employee at Riggs Bank and a graduate of Friendly High School and Prince George's Community College.
The night before their bodies were found, Patten and Brown, a petty officer stationed at the Washington Navy Yard, had been out with friends at a club in Washington D.C.
The investigation into their deaths revealed a random and brutal sequence of events. Patten and Brown had stopped in a church parking lot in Fort Washington on their way to Patten's home in Waldorf. It was there that they were ambushed by a group of men who intended to rob them and steal Patten's car. After being beaten, they were forced into the trunk of Patten's Acura Legend. The assailants then drove them to the secluded area in Accokeek where their bodies would later be found. All of their valuables and identification had been taken. Patten's car was discovered abandoned days later in Fort Washington.
Five men were ultimately arrested and charged in connection with the murders. The legal proceedings that followed resulted in varying outcomes for the suspects. Eric Thomas was found guilty of both murders and received a life sentence. Cortez Carroll, who confessed to shooting Brown, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder to avoid the death penalty and was sentenced to two consecutive life terms plus 70 years. Aaron Hollingsworth received a 30-year prison sentence in exchange for his testimony.
Robert Odum, Jr. was acquitted of the murder charges but convicted on two counts of kidnapping and sentenced to 60 years in prison. His conviction was later overturned on appeal, but he was retried, convicted of kidnapping again, and sentenced to two consecutive 30-year terms. The fifth suspect, Marco Scutchings-Butler, was acquitted of the murders. None of the suspects admitted to shooting Michael Patten.
