In the small town of Ashland, Alabama, the Ogle family lived a quiet life, deeply rooted in their community. Ethel Ogle, a loving 63-year-old grandmother, shared her home with her own mother, the disabled 82-year-old great-grandmother Everlena Ogle, and her 31-year-old daughter, Berta Mae Martin. Their sense of security was shattered on the night of October 1, 1960, by a betrayal from within their own family, an act of violence that would mark the beginning of a long and tragic story.
The person responsible was Ethel's own grandson, a 14-year-old boy who was known to all as a popular and well-behaved high school football player.
On that fateful evening, Raymond Eugene Brown, Ethel's grandson, broke into the family home through an unlocked back door. His initial intent was to steal money to buy a pair of football cleats. However, his aunt, Berta Mae Martin, was awakened by the noise and confronted him. To prevent her from identifying him, the teenager grabbed a kitchen knife and launched a frenzied attack, stabbing his aunt 123 times. To eliminate any other witnesses, Brown then went to the bedrooms of his sleeping grandmother, Ethel, and his disabled great-grandmother, Everlena. He stabbed both women multiple times, ensuring they were dead, and slashed their throats.
The horrific discovery was made the next morning by Brown's own mother, Emma Lou, who immediately alerted the police. Investigators at the scene found bloody heel prints, which they believed belonged to a young person. The community was stunned, and as news spread, a crowd of over 600 cars descended on the crime scene, needing to be dispersed by law enforcement. During the investigation, friends of Raymond Brown told police that he had planned to visit his aunt after football practice. Five days after the murders, authorities detained the 14-year-old at his school for questioning. He confessed to the brutal killings, providing a detailed account of his actions. His fingerprints also matched those found inside the house.
Despite his youth, the Clay County Prosecutor's Office moved to have Raymond Eugene Brown tried as an adult. After a psychiatric evaluation at Bryce Hospital in Tuscaloosa deemed him sane to stand trial, the court agreed. The evidence against him was overwhelming, and he was swiftly convicted on three counts of first-degree murder. The jury, however, recommended mercy, and Brown was spared the death penalty, receiving three life sentences instead. He reportedly showed no emotion as the sentence was read.
Brown, who acquired the nickname "Blade" in prison, was considered a model inmate and participated in rehabilitation programs. Shockingly, after serving only 12 years, he was granted parole in 1973. His freedom was short-lived; in 1980, he was sent back to prison for a parole violation after attempting to strangle his landlord in Montgomery. Yet, the Alabama parole board released him again in 1986. This decision proved to be a fatal mistake. In August 1987, Brown murdered his 32-year-old girlfriend, Linda LeMonte, and her 10-year-old daughter, Sheila Smoke, in another savage knife attack.
Following the 1987 murders, Brown was arrested after being spotted looking disheveled at a service station. He claimed to have amnesia but was found guilty of four counts of capital murder and, on May 13, 1988, was sentenced to death. The case sparked a grand jury investigation into the state's parole board and its decision to release a man with such a violent history. Raymond Eugene Brown spent the remainder of his life on death row at the Holman Correctional Facility. He died there of natural causes in 2008, closing the final chapter on a life defined by the brutal murders of five people, beginning with his own grandmother, Ethel Ogle.
