In the small, quiet town of Ashland, Alabama, the autumn of 1960 was shattered by an act of unimaginable violence that took the life of a disabled great-grandmother, 82-year-old Everlena Ogle. Her death on October 1, 1960, was not an isolated tragedy but the beginning of a bloody rampage carried out by her own great-grandson, a 14-year-old boy who would come to be known as the serial killer "Blade."
Everlena lived in a modest home in Clay County with her daughter, 63-year-old Ethel Ogle,
and her granddaughter, 31-year-old Berta Mae Martin. On that fateful night, their young relative, Raymond Eugene Brown, a popular high school football player with no prior signs of violent behavior, broke into their house. His initial motive was reportedly to steal money for a pair of football cleats. However, the night descended into a horrific bloodbath.
When one of the women, Berta Mae Martin, was awakened by the noise, Brown attacked her with a butcher knife, stabbing her more than 100 times. To eliminate any witnesses, he then moved through the house and murdered his sleeping grandmother, Ethel, and his great-grandmother, Everlena, in their beds. The next morning, Brown's own mother discovered the gruesome scene and alerted the police. The brutality of the crime, with a total of 123 stab wounds among the three victims, stunned the community.
The investigation quickly focused on Raymond Eugene Brown. Bloody footprints found at the scene, along with statements from his classmates, led police to detain the teenager at his high school just five days later. Under questioning, Brown confessed to the murders in detail. The community was left reeling, struggling to comprehend how a smiling, well-liked boy could commit such a monstrous act against his own family.
Despite his youth, Brown was tried and convicted as an adult for three counts of first-degree murder. The jury, however, recommended mercy, and he was sentenced to three concurrent life sentences instead of the death penalty. In prison, Brown was described as a model inmate, participating in rehabilitation programs and learning auto mechanics. This behavior led to a fateful decision by the justice system: in 1973, after serving only 12 years, Raymond Eugene Brown was granted parole.
Freed from prison, Brown’s life soon spiraled back into violence. He developed an alcohol addiction and, in 1980, was sent back to prison for raping and attempting to strangle his apartment manager in Montgomery. Incredibly, he was paroled again in June 1986. Just over a year later, in August 1987, he murdered his 32-year-old girlfriend, Linda LeMonte, and her 10-year-old daughter, Sheila, in a crime of shocking brutality. This final, horrific act led to his capture and a sentence that would finally end his reign of terror.
Following the 1987 murders, Raymond Eugene Brown was convicted on four counts of capital murder and sentenced to death in 1988. He spent the remainder of his life on death row, his numerous appeals failing to overturn the sentence. He died in prison in 2008, leaving behind a legacy of at least five innocent lives lost, beginning with the disabled great-grandmother who was murdered in her own bed by a boy she should have been able to trust.
