Connie Brown
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A double murder leaves a family shattered. The oldest child told me that he woke up to screaming and two big men came in to rob daddy. There was blood all over the place. I would describe it as overkill. As investigators dig, they learn that this family's bond is hard to break. This is a family that isn't going to take crap from you. And each family member covers for the next.

The statements were inconsistent. Someone lied to the police. She was trying to push the blame outside the family. At the center of it all, investigators find a woman willing to leverage loyalty for her own twisted desire. Ultimately, she wanted to run around and have fun. I never would have thought that she was capable of allowing that to happen to the magnitude that it did.

Almost an hour from popular Myrtle Beach sits the much quieter community of Green Sea, South Carolina. Green Sea is in Horry County, which is not maybe 20, 30 minutes from North Myrtle Beach. It's always been kind of rural agricultural. You'll see cornfields and tobacco fields and people out there farming and working hard for a living. ♪

It's just before 11 p.m. on June 21st, 2000, when a cryptic 911 call comes in to the Horry County Police Department.

Officers race to the scene, unsure of what they'll find.

As they approach the address, they are met by 55-year-old Johnny Neely and his daughter, Connie Brown. Johnny Neely advised the responding officers that two men had just broken into his daughter's residence on Olive Drive and attacked and assaulted her husband, Billy Ray Brown. Johnny's trailer is next door to their trailer.

Connie tells officers that Billy Ray's friend, Ronnie McDowell, had been crashing on their couch for the night. Concerned that the attackers may still be inside, officers cautiously approach Connie's trailer. What they saw when they went in was a very bloody crime scene. There was blood all over the place. There were trails of blood throughout the house. So they knew something was terribly wrong.

As they make their way toward the master bedroom, officers spot a male body, who they believe to be Connie's husband, 46-year-old Billy Ray Brown. He was on the floor next to the bed. You could visibly see a lot of blood and trauma to his body. The officers continue their sweep when they stumble upon a second body in the hallway bathroom.

Once the responding officers have the crime scene secured, that's when they make contact with dispatch to go ahead and have crime scene and violent crimes respond.

While officers wait for homicide detectives to arrive, they head over to Johnny's home to break the news to Connie and her young children. Connie and Billy Ray had three children, two young men and then a baby in arms. Billy Ray, he didn't have much on the record, if any. He was just a hardworking guy. Certainly, we had no reason to believe somebody that they wanted to kill him.

Billy Ray Brown was born on May 25, 1954 and raised in Green Sea, South Carolina. Billy was a hard worker and he was a really good friend. Billy could often be found helping out at a local bar owned by his aunt and uncle.

It was just this little old country store kind of place. Then they had made a bar. I want to say he was like the flower of the family because he took care of all of them. I know he helped them out a lot, especially around the bar because that was a family business for them. He drove cement mixers as well with my dad that worked for the same company. In the spring of 1991, Billy Ray was already once divorced when Johnny Neely introduced him to his daughter, Connie.

There was about 22 or 23 years age difference between Connie and Billy. I remember saying to myself, "God, he's old." He was about 38, I think, when they met. And her being 16 made me think, "Wow, what are you doing here?" But they got along good, and I liked that. He respected Connie a lot. It wasn't very long after they met, they got together.

Born on April 9th, 1975, Connie was the second of Melba and Johnny Neely's five children. Growing up with four younger siblings, it was a challenge, but it wasn't anything that we didn't do together. We had some really good times, but we had rough times too. There was a bad alcohol problem my mom and dad developed over the years. Connie was often left to mother her younger siblings.

Connie took it personally to a degree because she kind of felt like, why am I not good enough for mom and dad to not drink? I am the one who called social services. Connie and myself, we couldn't do anymore. We ended up in children's home in foster care for two years. And that's where they split us all up. Losing the kids eventually inspired Johnny and Melba to get their act together.

Two years later, the family reunited. The reuniting of us coming back home to mom and dad and all being a family again was great. But truth is, it didn't last long enough because I had to leave and go to the military, and Connie ultimately met Billy and moved out from home. At first, Connie's family balked at the 22-year age difference. As far as the family being protected from one another,

It was solid as steel. You couldn't get through. It was obvious that Connie was over the mom life that she led early in her teens, helping me with the other kids. Because once she met Billy, she changed completely. Billy was a great provider. She fell in love. Everyone else mattered. It was all about him.

Billy Ray was taking care of not only Connie but Johnny and her brother Andy as well. Billy Ray and Andy were close. They would go fishing together and just hang out, you know, as boys do. Billy Ray's family embraced Connie, even offering the teenager shifts at the family business. She was bartending for them at such a young age too. It was allowed because it was just this little country store.

And it's not like the authorities were there watching when they spoke of marriage. I heard at 16, my dad kind of stepped out of it because he thought it was just mom's decision. But that's ultimately what it ended up being was mama's decision. In the end, Connie's mother signed off on the marriage. They lived in an old trailer that Billy Ray had bought and fixed up. Over the next nine years, the couple had three kids, Billy Ray Jr., Tanner, and Matthew.

She was a wonderful mother. She didn't go anywhere without her boys. Billy Ray was a very hard worker. He provided for his family. In 1999, Connie's parents, Melba and Johnny, split up. He had started partying again, and she had had it. When they separated, Dad went and lived in a mobile home that was on the same property as Connie and Billy's property. So they were living really close. When I'd go to visit, it was a happy life.

Kids were happy, playing with their toys on the floor. It was just a normal life, you see. Until the night of June 21st, 2000, when a violent attack inside the family's trailer leaves Billy Ray and his good friend Ronnie McDowell dead. There were two blood trails. One that led from the door to the back bedroom, where we found Billy Ray Brown. There's a second trail that started at the door and went to the bathroom. That's where we found Ronnie.

This was a stabbing, and stabbings are bloody. And there were bruises consistent with being hit by a stick. The two men were beaten, stabbed, and their throats were cut. A little before 1 a.m., detectives head to Johnny Neely's home, where officers are waiting with the family. Before talking to Connie, investigators check on her three young sons.

Seven-year-old Billy Ray Jr. tells them he was asleep in the living room when the attack began. He told me that he woke up to screaming. Billy said his mama told him that two men had come in. Billy said he didn't see the men. Five-year-old Tanner adds to the story. He stated that his mama told him that two big men came in to rob Daddy. He also said that mama told him they had knives.

Both boys are physically unharmed, but investigators aren't sold on their stories just yet. It was a little odd that both children were telling me information that their mother had told them. Detectives have to wonder, did Connie coach her kids about what to tell police?

The oldest had blood on his foot, and the middle child, Tanner, had blood on his hands and feet, which tells me they were in close proximity when this occurred. If not, right there when it occurred. Coming up, an entire town on edge. When somebody comes out of the blue from nowhere and kills someone, that causes fear in the community. And investigators look for answers close to home.

She did say that he had his face covered, but she knew who he was. June 22nd, 2000. At 12.50 a.m., Horry County homicide detectives are questioning the family of Connie and Billy Ray Brown after Billy Ray and his friend Ronnie McDowell are found dead. Connie advised that she had went to bed around 10.15 p.m. that night.

About 10.30, she heard a knock at the back door and a commotion. And that's when she came out to see what was going on. She said two people came in and assaulted her husband and that she didn't realize who was coming in. One was striking Billy with a stick. He was wearing all dark colors and a face covering.

She said, with the commotion going on, Ronnie McDowell, at that point in time, tries to intervene. And that's when she gathered up her three children and went to her dad Johnny's house next door. Johnny Neely didn't have a residential phone, so he went down the road to call 911. When investigators ask if Connie knows the men who attacked Billy Ray and Ronnie...

They are stunned by her response. Connie had said that Andy Neely was striking Billy with a stick. Andy Neely was Connie Brown's brother. Connie also said that there was a blackmail with Andy that she believed was a friend of Andy's. When Andy was in the trailer attacking Billy Ray, she asked him what he was doing and he said that was none of her concern.

Connie's revelation is shocking, but for detectives, her story isn't quite adding up. She told the first officer the same version she told her father. She said nothing about Andy being involved, and then told a different version when she was interviewed by detectives. Sometimes you never know with people that they don't want their kids to know that their uncle is involved in something like that, a crime against their dad.

They also questioned why he had his face covered. She knew who he was. Certainly, Connie would have recognized her brother, even with a mask on. The only reason I can think that they would have hidden their faces was just in case one of the children woke up or somebody saw them from the outside. While Connie's interview raises a lot of questions, it does give detectives their first lead.

When somebody comes out of the blue from nowhere and kills someone, that causes fear in the community. But it wasn't a random event. This was a family affair. It did strike me as odd because Connie had indicated that Andy and Billy Ray were the best of friends. Finding Andy becomes investigators' top priority. I spoke to Johnny Neely. He advised that he hadn't seen Andy Neely, his son, since 8.30 p.m.

In speaking with Johnny, it did not appear that he had any knowledge of what had occurred at his daughter's trailer next door. Johnny tells them that his son doesn't have a permanent address. Johnny said Andy bounced around. He would stay with Billy and Connie at times. Johnny said he'd also stay over in Green Acres at times, at Jodas' home.

Jodez Washington was Mel Bonnelli's boyfriend. Johnny said Andy was driving an 86 burgundy Honda Civic four-door with Tennessee tags. Police immediately put out a bolo on the vehicle. And only a few hours later, they get a call that Andy's car has been spotted just over the border in Greenacres, North Carolina.

Columbus County Sheriff's Office located the vehicle at Jodas' home. My mom started dating Jodas Washington, a friend of mine from school. They dated off and on. They were on for a good month, heavy dating, living together. Eager to catch Andy before he takes off again, investigators rush to the home.

Inside, they find Andy and Jodis, as well as Connie's mother, Melba, and Connie's sister, Renee. Andy and Melba voluntarily went with detectives back to the Loris Magistrate's office to be interviewed. I stayed and interviewed Jodis and Renee. Investigators inform Renee of Connie's account of the murder.

We told her that Connie had indicated that Andy was the attacker the previous evening. But Renee advised that she had been with Andy since 8 o'clock the previous evening and that she begged Andy also to stay with her because she hadn't seen him much lately. It appears that Renee is trying to give Andy an alibi.

Next, authorities turn to Melba Neely's boyfriend, 29-year-old Jodas Washington. When I interviewed Jodas Washington, he said that he was asleep at 9 p.m. the previous evening until this morning and that Andy's car was parked near his window, so he would have heard it if it moved. The statements were inconsistent with the statements that Connie herself made to the police. Someone was lying to the police.

Detective DeBerry heads back to the station where Andy and his mother Melba are being questioned. Melba advised that she was over at her husband's Johnny's trailer, which is next door to Connie's, from about 1.30 to 3.30 p.m. with Connie and the kids over there. Melba tells detectives that Renee and Andy were also there.

and that Connie was very upset. Renee was with them over Johnny's trailer, and Connie was telling her how Billy Ray had been beating her and throwing the kids around.

Coming up, did a loyal brother decide to take the law into his own hands? There were allegations of domestic violence and violence against kids. Or is there something bigger at play? This is a family that isn't going to take crap from you. They're going to fight back.

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when investigators uncover a potential motive for the killings. There had been prior instances of abuse that Melba was aware of between Billy Ray and Connie. But when Melba found out that one of the children was being abused, she was very upset. She said it was bad enough that Connie was being abused, but now you've put an innocent child into it.

But the revelations don't stop there. Melba says Andy wasn't the only one who wanted to teach Billy Ray a lesson. Melba advised that upon learning this information that Andy and Renee said that Billy Ray needed an ass whipping. This is a family that isn't going to take crap from you. They're going to fight back. Melba says the alleged abuse against his child was the last straw.

And the family decided to pay Billy Ray a visit that same night. Family advised that when they drove over there, they parked on the side of the road. She went and knocked on the door and Connie answered the door. Billy Ray came out and started cussing her. And that's when Andy struck Billy Ray with the stick.

She also told us she saw Jodas cut Billy's throat when he was on the porch. Melba helps Connie get the children over to Johnny's house, and then she leaves with Jodas, Renee, and Andy. And the vehicle goes back to Green Acres. She said that she went to bed around 11.30 p.m., and she didn't get up till 9 a.m.,

Renee and Andy had went back to Connie's that morning, and when they came back, they told her that Billy Ray was dead. With Melba's statement, investigators now have three different versions of what took place the night of the murders. Renee stated she had been with Andy the previous evening and hadn't seen Billy Ray all day.

Connie told us she was in the bedroom, asleep, and that Billy Ray had answered the door, when in fact her mother, Melba, now states that Connie answered the door at 10:30 at night. Detective Merritt and I both believed that Connie had some type of involvement in this incident. While Melba is being questioned, Andy's interview is taking place in another room.

Andy waives his rights and wishes to speak to us. Andy Neely was a very kind of laid-back kid. He didn't have a record of assaulting people or anything like that. Andy tells them that after listening to Connie's tales of abuse earlier in the day, he went to her trailer with his mom, Jodis, and Renee around 10.30 that night to deliver a beatdown on Billy Ray. Andy brought a special weapon along, one he had made himself. ♪

Andy said that there were two weapons. There was a large kitchen knife and a stick that was, I would say, four feet long. It was carved with Neely power. It's something that Andy had made when he was younger. Andy advised that when they got there, that Melba and Renee knocked on the door while him and Jodas kind of hid in the shadows. Connie answered. When Connie called Billy Ray to the door,

The two men jumped out and went after him, and all that was part of the plan. Andy advised that he struck Billy Ray in the head with the large stick that he had. After Billy Ray dropped to the porch, Andy advised that Jodus jumped up and cut Billy Ray's throat.

Andy claims the plan had only been to beat up Billy Ray, and Jodas' escalation came as a surprise to everyone. But investigators aren't buying it. We don't know when it switched over from beating him up to killing him, but the knife, which was a large kitchen knife, very long, they brought with them. So it seemed all that was part of the plan. What Andy is telling us is matching up

with what Melba said and the physical evidence, what we saw based on the blood spatter and where the blood pooling and all took place. As for Ronnie McDowell, Andy says he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ronnie McDowell wasn't supposed to be there. He had just been forced from his own home because of a domestic violence investigation. He couldn't stay there. So he went to stay with his friend, Billy Ray.

With the commotion going on, Ronnie McDowell awakens from the couch and goes to the door to see what's going on. And he tells him, this doesn't concern you. And Ronnie tries to intervene. They had to deal with a witness that they hadn't expected.

An altercation starts to occur. Ronnie turns around and runs and goes to the right, down to the bathroom. Jodas and Andy give chase and proceed to beat and stab Ronnie. Meanwhile, Andy tells them, even with his throat cut, Billy Ray was still alive and trying to get to a gun he kept in his bedroom. Billy Ray is able to drag himself into the living room.

where he is bleeding profusely, somehow gets to the bedroom, and Andy alleged him and Jodis beating stab Billy Ray in the bedroom. Investigators have enough to place both Andy and his mother Melba under arrest. And based on their statements, investigators also obtain arrest warrants for Renee Young and Jodis Washington.

But when authorities return to Jodas' house, they find it empty. Jodas and Renee, they were not at the residence. They were on the run. While the search is underway for Renee and Jodas, detectives take another look at Connie. First she tells Johnny the false story that was passed on to 911. Then she told us it was her brother. She didn't tell us that she answered the door. She was looking like a liar.

We just didn't have enough to charge her because none of them had really stated that Connie was in on it. Just hours later, investigators get a break. Renee is located at a house in Tabor City and placed under arrest. Investigators are eager to hear if Renee has changed her tune in light of her mother and brother's arrests.

Renee was interviewed again after she was given her Miranda rights, where she waived her rights and decided to speak with us. At that point, Renee really wanted to look at saving herself. She pretty much gave up the whole plot. Coming up, a stark confession leads detectives to a crude murder weapon. The Neely power stick was thrown out by the side of the road.

And will Connie's dark secrets finally be exposed? Billy Ray and Connie did have a volatile relationship. On July 23, 2000, two days after the vicious attack that killed Billy Ray Brown and his friend Ronnie McDowell, Melba Neely, her son Andy, and daughter Renee are in police custody. ♪

Melba's boyfriend, Jodas Washington, is still at large. According to Melba and Andy, the plan was just to beat him up. But Jodas Washington got in there and it switched over from beating him up to killing him. However, when investigators sit down with Renee following her arrest, she changes her story again. But this time, investigators suspect they're getting a little closer to the truth.

Renee advised that all four of them, Melba, her, Jodas, and Andy all went to the residence because Billy needed to be killed. She said they had a basic plan, which was that they would go over to the house and kill him there. We found Renee's story to be the most forthcoming because you can't help but know that a murder's going to happen when one of the people has a knife. That gives us the premeditation involved for all four to drive all the way over there

after that statement knowing exactly what was going to happen. The results of forensic testing at the crime scene roll in and they're damning. We found fingerprints in the getaway vehicle that was used for Melba, Renee, Jodis and Andy to come to the house. But the only complete match was Jodis Washington

Hours after Renee's statement, Jodas Washington walks into the Columbus County Sheriff's Station and turns himself in. Jodas knew that we had everybody else in the family in custody and just went ahead and turned himself in. Jodas invoked his right to remain silent and never spoke with us. The rest of the Neely clan reels from news of the arrests.

Meanwhile, investigators look into Connie's allegations of abuse.

However, friends of the family tell investigators that Billy Ray and Connie did have a volatile relationship.

Connie's relationship with Billy Ray, there had been some heavy drinking as far as Billy Ray was concerned. Connie knew that she had children to take care of and that she had duties and that she couldn't completely let herself go. But no matter how hard they look, they find nothing to link Connie to the murders.

As far as thinking that Connie has some involvement, sure, that's what we thought. But we didn't have any evidence that we could actually use to prove that or to establish probable cause because nobody else had implicated her. Seemingly in the clear, Connie goes about her business. I didn't believe her participating with it, any of it.

The police, they were really pointing the finger at her. And so I wanted to protect her. She had the kids. When I got my own place, she moved in with us, her and the boys. As prosecutors and investigators prepare for four murder trials, Renee's attorneys and prosecutors reach a plea deal. There were only five living adults that knew what happened that day. There wasn't enough to prove our case without statements from at least some of them.

We had to make a deal with someone. Renee was most forthcoming. She was obviously the one that was most cooperative. Renee also agrees to help in the hunt for the murder weapon. At the scene, we never located a stick or any knives. On July 6th, we had signed Renee out of the detention center. She advised that she would assist us in locating the stick that was used in the crime and the knife.

Renee tells investigators the weapons were disposed of on the ride home from the crime scene. The Neely power stick was thrown out by the side of the road. We were able to locate the stick off the side of the road. The stick was actually broken in half, and you could see with the eye blood spatter on the stick.

They are unable to locate the knife, but the discovery of the Neely stick will strengthen the prosecution's case against the four accused. The clear agreement with Renee was that she had to testify truthfully in all trials arising from the facts of the murder.

On August 7th, 2001, over a year since Billy Ray and Ronnie McDowell's murders, Renee finally confirms what law enforcement has suspected all along. She told us that Connie was the reason that it happened. She's the ones that asked them to do something about Billy Ray. According to Renee, Connie knew the plan when she opened the door. The plan was to kill Billy Ray. The attack was planned for that night.

Renee and Jodas at one point did draw out a map of Billy Ray's house, more so for planning the attack than for anything else. Connie knew it was coming, and she was acting a part of it to lure Billy Ray to the door. Even though Jodas wasn't family, Renee alleges he was eager to help. Renee told us that Jodas had said, I've never knifed someone. I know what it's like to knife someone, so I'm going to use a knife.

Renee confirms that killing Ronnie McDowell was never part of the plan. Ronnie McDowell was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Connie, she didn't do anything to say, stop, no, this isn't good night, there's somebody else here. She let it go on, knowing that Ronnie was there and would probably have to be disposed of as well. I think Renee had remorse and probably also, well, why am I paying for this? He was your husband. You wanted this done.

With Renee's statement, investigators finally have enough to obtain a warrant for Connie's arrest. The next day, on August 8th, investigators inform Connie that she must turn herself in. Her and the boys, they were all living with me. And we signed notarized statements giving me custody to take the babies to the hospital for emergencies and everything like that and get them in school.

Coming up, a family's once united front splinters in the courtroom. Renee Neely is the star witness. And Connie fights back. She wouldn't have done this in her own home with her children there.

Almost a year after the murders of Billy Ray Brown and his friend Ronnie McDowell, Billy Ray's wife, Connie Brown, is taken into custody. Because she was present at the scene and aiding and abetting her family in doing it, she was charged with principal and murder. In October 2001, Connie's brother, Andy Neely, appears before a judge. It came right down to it. Andy did not want to testify against his family. He wasn't willing to cooperate.

He ultimately pled guilty and received a life sentence. A month later, Melba and Jodis go on trial. Rene Neely is the star witness testifying against both Jodis and Melba. The jury found Melba guilty and sentenced her to 35 years. Jodis Washington was found not guilty by the jury and released.

how they came to that conclusion, but all their attorney kept yelling about. His fingerprint was there before. It was there before. He doesn't know anything about it. He was asleep. His attorney basically said that Renee was lying. Renee was the primary way we had to prove Jonas' involvement other than showing that they were associates because they never recovered the knife. He convinced the jury that Renee had lied about him being present. She was trying to push the blame outside the family.

In the eyes of the law, Jodis is completely innocent of these crimes. Almost a year later, on June 18, 2002, 27-year-old Connie Brown finally stands trial for murder. We wanted the jury to know that Connie was in on this from the beginning, that she helped plan it, she was the driving force behind it, and that came from Renee, her sister's testimony. Throughout the trial, Connie maintains her innocence.

Connie Brown's defense tried to argue that she wouldn't have done this in her own home with her children there. But her argument was the plan at the beginning was that it was going to happen on the porch. And the children were inside asleep. I don't think it was ever meant to come back into the house like it did. She opened the door and got Billy Ray to come to the door for the attack to take place. So she was part of the planning and part of the execution. Our theory of the case was that Connie just wanted to be rid of Billy Ray. It seems mostly this was a crime to

to get rid of an inconvenient husband. On September 19, 2002, the jury convenes. That same day, they reach a verdict. On September 2002, Connie Brown is found guilty and sentenced to life in prison for her involvement in the deaths of her husband, Billy Ray Brown, and his friend, Ronnie McDowell.

I think it's important for people to know that this family was not your typical family. They are extremely close-knit. They truly thought that they could help Connie in this situation. They thought they were doing her a favor. Instead, they left a wave of destruction in their wake. It destroyed that family. There was a mother and a father and three children. And the father was dead and the mother went off to prison.

Ronnie, poor fellow, was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I never would have thought that Connie was capable of guiding them or even allowing that to happen to the magnitude that it did. It could have been prevented just by her leaving Billy.

Melba Neely is currently serving 35 years at Leith Correctional Institution. She will be 77 years old by the time of her projected release. As a result of her cooperation, Renee Young was sentenced to 30 years and is serving out her sentence at Leith Correctional Institution. Andy Neely is serving life without parole at Kirkland Correctional Institution. Connie Brown is serving life without parole at Leith Correctional Institution.

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