In the quiet town of Topsfield, Massachusetts, the evening of January 27, 1978, brought a horrifying end to the life of 49-year-old Yoshiko Brown, an Asian woman of Japanese descent. What began as a seemingly ordinary Friday night descended into a shocking act of violence that would also claim the lives of her husband, Wilfred Brown, and their 20-year-old daughter, Dorina.
The tranquility of the Brown family home was shattered when their 15-year-old son, Alfred, used a.
22 caliber rifle, a Christmas gift from his parents, to perpetrate the murders. Investigators believe an argument over a failing grade may have been the catalyst. Alfred first shot his mother in the kitchen as she was preparing dinner. He then turned the weapon on his sister Dorina, who had witnessed the initial horrific act. His father, Wilfred, was the last to be killed, shot in the garage breezeway of their home.
Following the murders, Alfred took his father's car and fled, but his escape was short-lived as he crashed the vehicle into a snowbank not far from the family's residence. A Topsfield police officer discovered the abandoned car with the engine still running. Unable to get a response at the Brown home, the officer's concern grew. Alfred was later found and brought to the police station.
During questioning, Alfred Brown, showing no emotion, confessed to the killings of his mother, father, and sister. He was arrested and subsequently charged with three counts of first-degree murder. His trial commenced in February 1979, where he entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. Despite his plea, the jury found him guilty on all three counts, and he was sentenced to three concurrent life terms in prison. Years later, in 2018, Alfred Brown, then 55, sought parole, expressing remorse for his actions and citing a history of being bullied as a Japanese-American child as a contributing factor to his mental state at the time of the murders. His remaining sibling, who was not present during the incident, opposed his release.
