A man already serving a life sentence for killing a teenage girl has claimed responsibility in 47 other slayings — a 25-year cross-country spree that, if true, would make him one of the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history, officials here said Thursday.
Authorities said they had confirmed the details in at least seven of the murders Robert Browne claims to have committed. The 53-year-old man on Thursday morning pleaded guilty in one of those 47 slayings, the 1987 strangulation of a 15-year-old in Colorado Springs.
The case was cracked by volunteers in the sheriff’s cold-case squad, including Charlie Hess, a 79-year-old former FBI and CIA officer. Hess engaged in a four-year-long correspondence with the imprisoned Browne, coaxing out details of the killings in exchange for jailhouse favors.
This story is all over the media.
There are important questions — which no one seems to be asking: Were others arrested and convicted for those murders? Are there innocent people doing time for this maniac’s killing spree?
Ask questions? We are talking about modern American journalism — right?
…and the American justice system.
The American “justice” system seeks not justice but convictions. Being above average Americans I think you know the difference.
There is some skepticism – he’s claiming just one more murder than Gary Ridgeway, the Green River Killer, claims and might just be doing it for the attention. For example, he claims he killed a Spokane girl and dumped her at a “scenic overlook near the Columbia”. Extensive searching hasn’t found anything where he said he dumped the body and local law enforcement have their doubts about his story.
Dave, cold case files means they haven’t been solved. Meaning…no convictions.
5. I did not see anything in the article that indicates all the killings he confessed to were ‘cold cases,’ just that some of the things he confessed to had been unsolved.
I suspect that if he confesses to cases where someone else has been convicted, the local authorities will find some way to discredit what Browne is saying.
Does anyone else find it amusing that this whole blog is based on speculation? The speculation that the big bad government people (local and federal) put innocent people behind bars. Nothing indicates that happened…except what Davey says.
Dave? Dave’s not here, man.
Moss, to whomever is posting the snide pathetic comments.
Let’s see, the news article is about a killer admitting to a big chunk of murders. The so-called journalists writing that article — the AP releases covering the story — the so-called journalists stealing from the AP article, all appear to be consistent with our lapdog media. They didn’t ask any questions.
Don’t question anything! Especially don’t question authority!
So, what’s your problem, rw? Afraid someone might ask the wrong question? Are we supposed to be neo-conformists to keep all the neo-cons happy, now?
RW, false convictions happen all the time in America. The problem is we don’t want to admit we wrongly convicted anyone because it throws the whole police, legal, and justice fields into repute.
The Police lie on the witness stand. Exculpatory evidence is not followed up. Evidence is fraudulently obtained. Prosecutors hide evidence. Judges worry about their image in the community before election. It all becomes conviction rates for all concerned.
No, this does not happen every day and certainly not in every case. It does happen enough to seriously warrant a better defense system and appeal level. Wrongly convicting someone isn’t just a travesty of justice, it is a travesty of society that we could allow it to happen.
So moss makes a good point when he raises the question of why no one asked any questions. I would like to know if anyone has been convicted for a crime this guy is admitting to.