In the quiet, early hours of October 1, 1960, in the High Pine community near Ashland, Alabama, a noise from the kitchen stirred 31-year-old Berta Mae Martin from her sleep. When she went to investigate, she found a familiar face in the darkness of her home: her 14-year-old nephew, Raymond Eugene Brown. Any sense of relief she might have felt at recognizing the intruder was tragically short-lived.
The young man, a popular football player at Clay County High School, had not come for a friendly visit. He had broken in to steal money for a pair of football cleats.
The moment Berta Mae recognized him, her fate was sealed. To prevent her from identifying him, Brown grabbed a kitchen knife and launched a frenzied and brutal attack on his own aunt. It was an act of shocking violence that ended Berta Mae’s life. An autopsy would later reveal the horrific extent of the assault, counting 123 stab wounds. Brown’s rampage did not end with his aunt. He then moved through the house to the rooms where his 63-year-old grandmother, Ethel Ogle, and his 82-year-old disabled great-grandmother, Everlena Ogle, were sleeping and murdered them as well, slashing their throats to ensure there were no witnesses.
The gruesome discovery was made the next morning by Brown's own mother, Emma Lou Brown, who immediately alerted the police. Investigators arriving at the weather-beaten frame house were met with a horrific scene. Key evidence found included bloody heel prints that appeared to belong to a young person. As police began interviewing friends and classmates of Raymond Brown, they learned he had mentioned wanting to visit his aunt after football practice. The community was gripped by fear and outrage, with hundreds of cars flocking to the crime scene as news of the triple homicide spread.
Five days after the murders, investigators detained Raymond Brown at his high school. During questioning, the teenager confessed to killing his aunt, grandmother, and great-grandmother, providing a detailed account of the horrific events. He told Sheriff Paul Dempsey he did it for money, though there was likely less than $40 in the house. His parents, Marvin and Emma Lou Brown, were hospitalized in a state of shock upon learning their son was responsible.
Despite his youth, the Clay County Prosecutor's Office moved to try Brown as an adult. After a psychiatric evaluation at Bryce Hospital in Tuscaloosa deemed him sane to stand trial, he faced three counts of first-degree murder. The evidence against him was overwhelming, and he was found guilty. The jury recommended mercy, sparing him the death penalty, and he was sentenced to three life terms in prison. He reportedly showed no emotion as the sentence was read.
Brown was considered a model prisoner, studying to become an auto mechanic and participating in rehabilitation programs. His behavior earned him parole in 1973, after serving just over a decade. The freedom, however, was temporary. He violated parole in 1980 after attempting to strangle his landlord and was sent back to prison. He was paroled again in June 1986, a decision that would have devastating consequences. In August 1987, Brown, then known as "Blade," murdered his girlfriend, Linda LeMonte, and her 10-year-old daughter, Sheila Smoke, in Montgomery.
For these new crimes, Raymond Eugene Brown was convicted on four counts of capital murder in 1988 and finally sentenced to death. After years of appeals, his sentence was upheld. He died of natural causes on death row in 2008, closing the final chapter on a life marked by shocking violence that began with the brutal murder of his aunt, Berta Mae Martin, a woman who had the misfortune of waking up to a familiar face in her home.
