Speaker 1: 0:05

Welcome to Beyond the Autopsy. I'm your co-host, Ken Mullis, a medical legal death investigator, and with me is my partner in true crime, Christina Mullis.

Speaker 2: 0:14

Thank you for joining us for our first episode. Creating this podcast has been exciting and so much work. I'm thankful for the feedback and encouragement from our family and friends. We hope our podcast will give you a chance to learn more about the importance of forensic investigations from a true crime professional who has honestly been there and done that on many occasions.

Speaker 1: 0:39

Today we will be discussing the case of an eight-year-old boy who was preparing for a regular school day, but he never made it there. His lifeless body was found just a few hours later nowhere near the school. The prime suspect maintained their innocence throughout their trial.

Speaker 2: 0:57

Before we get started, listeners should be advised that all of our episodes will contain sensitive content about death autopsies and other evidence collected. Listener discretion is advised.

Speaker 1: 1:11

Also, before we get started, please take a moment to subscribe on Spotify or beyondtheautopsycom. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Speaker 2: 1:38

Today we're covering a case that happened 30 years ago, in 1995. This happened in Claremont County, ohio. I was a junior in high school and I remember being gripped by another case that you may have heard of the OJ Simpson trial. Ken and I chose this episode as our first because it has a particular significance to Ken and his career. Ken, why don't you tell us a little bit more?

Speaker 1: 2:01

At the time I was 19 years old, hoping to become a police officer. I was an explorer with my local police department. For those who are not aware, this is a program through the Boy Scouts of America for 14 to 21-year-olds, giving them a chance to experience a career path ahead of time to ensure that that is the path that they would like to pursue. While I was at the police department, a page came in for one of our coroner transporters. So while I was at the police department, a page came in for one of our coroner transporters, who are people who are responsible for transporting deceased individuals to the morgue for autopsies on behalf of the coroner. The transporter was a sergeant at the police department. I asked if I could ride along this was my first time being permitted to do so and go on a coroner run.

Speaker 1: 2:39

I did not know a lot about the call. I knew where we were going and that it was potentially a homicide. Other than that, I had no idea on any other details. When we arrived, we didn't go to a house. Instead it was a dead end of a roadway that was a lightly wooded area. I noticed a white body bag laying next to a tree. The sheriff's detectives had already placed the victim inside of it. The coroner transporter still needed to put an identification band on the victim's wrist and put a seal on the outside of the bag. As he was doing this, I heard a detective mention the victim's book bag. This is when I realized the victim was a little boy. That took this case to a whole new level. It was this experience that I realized that evil can happen even to kids, and I wanted to be a part of the process to help victims find justice.

Speaker 2: 3:29

You mentioned that the coroner transporter took the child to the morgue. So let me read some facts that I found from the testimony of the pathologist, from the autopsy report, and I have some questions that perhaps you could answer. The investigators were still conducting the investigation while the autopsy was going on or happening. And before I get into the autopsy report, can you tell me a little bit about when an autopsy is being conducted, because I know that you assist with them sometimes? Does the pathologist need to know details from the case? Is that helpful? Or you know what generally goes on, you know, at an autopsy?

Speaker 1: 4:17

The information that the investigators obtain at the scene or during their investigation can be helpful to a pathologist. Primarily, the pathologist is responsible for the autopsy itself and collecting evidence, and then he will use that information passed on from the investigators to corroborate what maybe his theory is of how injury or something had occurred.

Speaker 2: 4:43

Okay, so at the trial the pathologist, which is Dr David Smith, he testified that you know again, he was the one that performed the autopsy and he said that the victim had his face had numerous pinpoint areas of bleeding. What would that generally indicate for somebody to have, like what are pinpoint areas of bleeding?

Speaker 1: 5:06

So typically pinpoint areas of bleeding could be what's called petechial hemorrhage. What that is is when, like if I violently sneeze and try to hold it in, you might see little red dots around my eyes or even on my eye. Red dots around my eyes or even on my eye. It's built up from the pressure and it causes the veins in your eyes to kind of burst or pop a blood vessel or something like that, and it stresses them. So that's where you get these, these pinpoint dots?

Speaker 2: 5:39

Sure, yeah, I feel like I've had those when you know I've been sick, had the flu, maybe drink too much, so okay. So the the victim also had a crushed chest and internal injuries that resulted in him having a lacerated lung and a torn liver. So this is obviously probably a little more of a violent injury than the pinpoint areas of bleeding, but what are some causes for some of those? You know, internal injuries.

Speaker 1: 6:10

So to have a crushed chest and those types of injuries would lead me to believe that there's some type of blunt force trauma or some real heavy pressure on the area that has those injuries, In this case a crushed chest. There would be some type of trauma to the chest and that would explain the petechial hemorrhage also, because if there's a heavy weight or something violent that prevented him from breathing, then it's possible for those to appear.

Speaker 2: 6:40

Okay. The victim also had burn injuries on the right side of his head and his neck and he had several abrasions and lacerations on the skin of his head, including a large laceration which tore the scalp from his skull and a skull fracture. So there's several indications here about lacerations, one you know saying like a large laceration. What does that mean and how is that different than you know just saying like his skin was scraped, or could you tell us a little bit about? You know what that would mean to put that in a report?

Speaker 1: 7:18

Sure. So this documentation also goes toward blunt force trauma. A lot of people confuse lacerations with just cuts. There's a difference. A cut like if you're cut with a sharp object, like a knife, is considered sharp force trauma. It's a clean cut. A laceration from blunt force is not a clean cut. There's tearing and bridging of the skin. It's not a smooth slice of the skin. You can tell the difference because it's just not cleaned. The tear from the scalp of the scalp, from the skull and the skull fracture again leads back to blunt force trauma. So everything that is being documented is all pointed to that blunt force.

Speaker 2: 8:06

Sure, I wish I could say that this is all that the pathologist found. Unfortunately, there's a few other things that he found on the body. He found some small stones in dirt that was embedded along those lacerations in his scalp. So again, you know what you just described. With that laceration, what would that mean? That now, after that skin's been torn, there is, you know, dirt and stones in it? What would you think about that?

Speaker 1: 8:36

So I'd go back to your last portion, because you mentioned abrasions as well and the small stones and dirt embedded along the lacerations and the scalp kind of probably go along with the abrasions, because abrasion is kind of like road rash, so there might be a contact with concrete or asphalt and that's how these small stones and dirt are getting embedded into these, these entries okay, the victim also.

Speaker 2: 9:04

On his right shoulder he had a fabric weave imprint that matched the thermal underwear top that he was wearing.

Speaker 1: 9:13

Tell us about that that screams that there was a strong force or a heavy force that was on one side and his skin on the other. With it, um, thermal underwear in between, and because of how much force or how much weight there was, it caused a imprint impression is that imprint permanent?

Speaker 2: 9:39

I mean, how does that work when you know, like I, I know that I'll have imprints from fabric if you know socks are too tight or something like that, and then it goes away? What does that do, Like after you die? I mean, eventually, does that imprint go away Like it just does when you're alive, or is it like a permanent? Could it be a permanent imprint? I know it's kind of a weird question, but I just was. I guess where I'm thinking is you know one, how much pressure would have to be to have that imprint to begin with, but also to still be there when the autopsy is conducted?

Speaker 1: 10:17

So it's hard to say because trauma is going to affect everybody differently and it's hard to replicate events like that over and over. In this case, there there's a lot of pressure. I mean just the imprint of cloth being impressed into his body. There there is a ton of pressure. That's that's doing that. Um, I don't know that. I would actually say it was prolonged. But for it to be there during the autopsy, that autopsy could have happened within a couple hours of the body being transported. So remaining there would be likely it it could disappear depending on certain factors, because once you pass away, your body starts decomposing and going through that decomposing process and that could affect it.

Speaker 2: 11:14

And then the last piece of evidence that Dr Smith testified to was that he found evidence of strangulation. He said that there were small abrasions, also on the victim's hands that he felt indicated defense wounds, and you just talked about those defense wounds or the abrasions rather. But you know, you see this evidence of strangulation. What could be some evidence, some physical evidence of that?

Speaker 1: 11:41

So some evidence of strangulation was mentioned before with petechial hemorrhage. That definitely is something that could result from strangulation. There's also potential of bruising or even abrasions around the neck and there could also be a break in the hyoid bone, which I don't think was specifically documented, but that might've been a reason as well.

Speaker 2: 12:03

I don't think was specifically documented, but that might have been a reason as well. So there was a mention about those small abrasions that also indicated defense wounds. Where have there been times that you've seen defensive wounds, or what again do you think might have indicated what that evidence might have looked like, to show that?

Speaker 1: 12:25

he had defensive wounds on his hands. So defensive wounds kind of speaks for itself. You're in defense of yourself. It's typically on the outside of your hands, like your palms. You're basically placing your hands up defending yourself from something and it's causing some type of injury on there. In this case it says small abrasions that potentially could be from defense or it could be from again hitting pavement or being drugged long pavement or concrete.

Speaker 2: 12:55

Now what we're going to do is the namesake of our podcast is to go beyond the autopsy and I want to take listeners down a journey to learn about our victim and some of the people in his life, to give you an idea of a little bit more of the human side of what we're going through here, and then we'll get into talking about the case again a little more detail. But our victim was, as we mentioned, an eight-year-old little boy. His name was Jerry Richard Howell. He was born on January 16, 1987 at University Hospital in Cincinnati, ohio same hospital I was born in though I think it was called General Hospital back then and he was born to Rhonda Jean Brown, who was going through a pretty tough time in her life at the time of Jerry's birth. We're going to talk about her and some of her situations a little bit more in the podcast.

Speaker 2: 13:50

But, jerry, at the time of his death he attended elementary school at Amelia Elementary, and those that knew him, including the pastor of the church where he attended, used a common word over and over to describe him, and it was rascal. Now you and I have raised a boy, and I would argue that most eight-year-old boys are rascals. So the fact that anyone who knew him used words like this to describe him must have meant that he was a little more rascally than the average eight-year-old. The pastor at the church did admit, actually, that he was a bit more rambunctious than most, but and some of his teachers also said he was a little aggressive, but they all really liked him, and it was also noted that sometimes he was an instigator and, you know, did things like rascals do. So what we do know about Jerry is that he was also a typical eight-year-old boy in the fact that he loved to play with sticks. This also makes me think of our son at that age, where sticks, you know, was a great imagination for everything. He loved action figures. He was really into Batman, but then he had turned over a leaf to some new action figures that he had a complete obsession with, and that was Power Rangers. He loved Power Rangers.

Speaker 2: 15:17

So we also know something else that he really loved that wasn't an action figure, though it might have been like a real life action figure was his little brother, chance, the pastor at the local church, who operated a bus ministry and would pick the kids up in the area and they would take a bus to the trailer park where Jerry lived and Jerry and his brother, chance, would get on the bus and go to church and the pastor and other people at the church just recalled times that Jerry was just so concerned and considerate of his little brother. So there was a story where Jerry was given some crackers at church as a snack and he wanted to make sure that Chance also got crackers. So he found his little brother and he shared his crackers with him, which I think says so much about who he really was, because that's not really a typical eight-year-old behavior to be so concerned with his five-year-old little brother when they're rascals. So, um, and there's another instance where Jerry was sponsored by a family within the American Legion. They would sponsor needy kids in the community. Ken and I have actually participated in these types of events through law enforcement efforts and partnering with American Legion, and we've had the absolute, I would say, joy and blessing to be able to shop with these kids. And we know and I'm sorry I do get a little emotional about this, but when the family that was shopping with Jerry took him out, they bought him a Power Rangers jacket. So usually that's something you do you get a coat, and they were really impressed because Jerry asked them if they would also buy something for his little brother, chance, and the reports state the family just never had been in a situation where they saw a needy kid also ask and be considerate of their sibling. So we know that Jerry very much had a huge heart for his little brother. They were pretty close in age and Jerry was small for his size and they were kind of similar in size even though Chance was a little bit younger.

Speaker 2: 17:29

Now, on a sad end, we know through reporting that Jerry had a rough time at home In the early days. His home was his mother's car. It might be a trailer of a friend or even a cheap motel, and they found eventually a more permanent home at the Eastgate Mobile Home Park in Amelia, ohio, and a neighbor noted that the older children in this trailer park were often cruel. They would taunt Jerry, sometimes even beat him up. Jerry, as I mentioned, he was small. He had this long rat tail in the back of his hair that his mom allowed him to grow since he was born and the kids would tease him and they would pull that rat tail really hard. Jerry had to repeat the first grade, so that also made him a target of ridicule and you know the kids just being cruel to him. Neighbors also noticed that Jerry's mom, rhonda, was constantly yelling at her boys and even witnessed her hitting them with a spatula. But church workers said they never saw signs of abuse and they actually chalked up Jerry's rascally behavior as him being spoiled and not disciplined at home. And you know a mom constantly yelling. She's a single mom with a lot of challenges with two young boys, pretty. You know I wouldn't fault her for constantly yelling because there probably was some chaos going on at home. So now I want to talk about Rhonda Jean Brown. She was Jerry's caretaker, probably maybe next to his brother Chance. The most important person in his life, usually as an eight-year-old mom, is when Jerry was born.

Speaker 2: 19:21

Rhonda was in the midst of a common law divorce from Jesse Eugene Brown. Now, common law marriages used to exist in the state of Ohio and they did until 1991. Before anybody who had declared that they had a common law marriage prior to that. I mean, I think it was something like there there are some stipulations that constitute where you can have a common law marriage, but I think it was before 91, something as simple as you saying we're married and we've been living together for X amount of time and maybe we have assets together or debt together. You know things like that.

Speaker 2: 20:00

So Rhonda and Jesse had been together since 1974. They lived in a trailer park in Moscow, ohio, which is about 40 minutes east of downtown Cincinnati, ohio, along the Ohio River. Jesse was a window installer and Rhonda was a waitress, earning about $136 a week. Now when I read this reporting, I don't know what year that was, and if it was before Jerry was born, I think it was. So, you know, I'm even thinking back to 1995, $136 a week. She probably had to really work hard and work a lot of hours to make that little money.

Speaker 2: 20:41

When Jesse and Rhonda decided to part ways, the divorce was messy. She had a restraining order against Jesse Brown because she said that he had struck her and her older son from a previous relationship multiple times. So when Jerry was born in 1987, rhonda was around 33 years old. She was in poverty. She had no family or friend support and didn't have a husband, or at least was in the midst of not having a husband, but there wasn't a father figure in the picture.

Speaker 2: 21:19

A couple of years later, after Jerry was born is when her son, chance, was born, and I already mentioned how much Jerry loved him and I can only imagine, and especially through testimony, how much Chance loved Jerry and he called Jerry Bubby and that was his you know term of endearment of you know, his brother Bubby. Neighbors and later prosecutors will talk about the living conditions inside of this trailer at the Eastgate mobile home park where they last lived. Neighbors talked about a terrible smell that came from the trailer. Just when you walk by you could smell it. Others described the condition inside the trailer is dirty, crowded, not well kept, a disaster. And they lived in such cramped, filthy conditions that it's not a wonder that she often sent these kids outside to play. So I wanted us now to talk about the day that Jerry Howell was murdered.

Speaker 1: 22:25

So the best way to summarize this day is through a timeline of events. Timelines are extremely critical in criminal investigations for multiple reasons. They can defeat alibis, they can help determine a general time range of when a death occurred and many other reasons For our listeners. I want to give an initial summary of the events of that day because we will be referring back to these noon times throughout the remainder of the podcast, because we will be referring back to these noon times throughout the remainder of the podcast. So on March 3rd 1995, approximately 8 am, rhonda Jean Brown says that Jerry left the trailer to head to the bus stop. He walked to the bus stop alone. Rhonda did not go with him. Sometime between 8 am and 8.55 am. According to witnesses, rhonda Jean Brown left the trailer park and her station wagon Shortly before noon. A local resident by the name of Dennis Lawson was looking for friends who fly remote control airplanes when he spotted a small body near a turnaround at the end of Union Chapel Road.

Speaker 1: 23:24

Union Chapel Road is an area that butts up to East Fork State Park. The end of the street is used by school buses as a turnaround. It's paved some gravel on the sides of the road, like you would often see in rural areas At this time of the year, there are no leaves to obstruct someone's view. Union Chapel Road is about a nine-minute drive from the bus stop. At the trailer park, at approximately 12-17 pm, the crime scene is secured by the first responding deputy and it remains secured for the next seven days.

Speaker 1: 23:55

At approximately 12.30 pm, according to witnesses, rhonda Jean Brown was seen moving her station wagon in her driveway, but it's unclear when she arrived back home. Sometime between 1 pm and 3 pm the coroner's office is contacted and the transporter is paged out. At approximately 2 pm, according to witnesses, rhonda Jean Brown's car was not in her driveway. Between 3 pm and 3 10 pm a deputy in an unmarked car is in the trailer park and observes a school bus drop off kids, but Jerry is not on the bus. Someone else was missing at the bus stop too Jerry's mom, rhonda Jean Brown. According to deputies, at approximately 4.07 pm, nearly an hour after Jerry should have gotten off the school bus, they arrived at Rhonda Jean Brown's trailer to question her. Rhonda later told the Cincinnati Inquirer that she was interrogated until approximately 5 am.

Speaker 2: 24:55

So let's talk about the suspects. On March 5th, a couple two days after the murder, the deputies reported to the Cincinnati Inquirer that no one had been cleared as a suspect. But rest assured, these deputies were working overtime to identify who could have done something so horrific to an innocent little boy. One of the things that needs to be noted about this case and the work that the deputies did is that, despite it being 1995, these deputies and the other law enforcement professionals that were involved did an absolute tremendous job with basic investigative skills. Today law enforcement is spoiled with the technology that exists, that didn't exist 30 years ago. But you still need to rely on those basic investigative skills.

Speaker 2: 25:50

And I know, ken, when we reviewed this case, you specifically were saying this was good I think you used the word good old fashioned police work. And so you saw, in this case, officers that were literally like kind of like boots on the ground. Ken, one of the things that you noticed you know yourself personally when you were there on the scene with the coroner transporter, you mentioned seeing one of the officers walking down the road. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Speaker 1: 26:22

So the best way I can describe it is at that scene. I was in awe at that scene. I was in awe as a younger person wanting to pursue a career in law enforcement and being a part of the explorer post at the police department. We had opportunities to practice crime scenes and see crime scenes laid out for us to kind of learn some of these tactics. But this was a time that it was real life. It was everything in process and there was a lot going on in my mind at the time. But the one thing that stood out was how impressed I was with the deputies and how thorough they were being. Specifically, as we're leaving with Jerry's body to head to the morgue, we're a couple miles down the road and these deputies are still walking along the roadway, searching the roadway, searching the ditch. They could have quit miles back and they didn't.

Speaker 2: 27:31

The fact that not only was it just physically walking miles that they went door to door, knocking on people's doors and talking to people and gathering evidence. You know, today there's fancy tools that might you know, you have, like your drone operator, for example, you know so like a drone might be used maybe not, but could maybe be used in lieu of maybe somebody walking a few miles to, you know, get some evidence. Very time consuming that the investigation and the things that these officers did, but it did help them identify the suspect and make an arrest. And that suspect was Rhonda Jean Brown, jerry's mother. So, ken, let's talk about some of the evidence that was collected and was reviewed in court and how this evidence and how this evidence and you know, for the listeners I think it's you and I had had conversations as we were preparing for this about the differences between you know, some evidence being circumstantial, you know, so anything that you can add to that, because the one thing that this case didn't necessarily have was that proverbial smoking gun.

Speaker 2: 28:49

You know, like there wasn't a weapon found that was traced to Rhonda Jean Brown. So there was, but there was plethora of evidence that was collected and used. You know witness statements, so on and so forth. So why don't you take us through some of the key highlights? I'm sure we'll probably miss some. There's a lot of documentation in this case, but some of the things that were really important in prosecuting Rhonda Jean Brown.

Speaker 1: 29:16

So, like you said before, today in law enforcement we are spoiled. A lot of technology has happened that benefits us. A lot of advancements in science, especially with DNA. The internet fits us. A lot of advancements in science, especially with dna, the internet, stuff like that. That all did not exist. One thing, evidence-wise, that did not exist was digital cameras, and back in these days, if they were lucky, they had polaroids where they may be able to see what type of photo they had. Initially, but most likely they had 35 millimeter camera, which means they they have to take it and then get it developed and they may not know if their pictures turned out any good or if they took pictures the right way if they're going to be blurry for a week or two.

Speaker 2: 29:58

Yeah, I remember paying for packs of photos that were blurry and not great.

Speaker 1: 30:05

So you're, you're, you're kind of on the back burner already. But what these guys did have, that I think officers tend to forget about, are their senses, and their senses paid off in this investigation. Specifically, underneath Jerry's body was a white, blood-stained shirt. It had a chest pocket, a button missing, and the lead investigator was observant enough to use his sentences that he was able to tell that there was a clean, fresh laundered smell on that shirt. And that later becomes important.

Speaker 1: 30:47

Probably one of the most crucial pieces of evidence, besides that shirt and, of course, the body and the autopsy, was the book bag. That book bag was what led to jerry being properly identified and allowed the officers to actually start looking into what we call victimology, the study of the victim, to understand who they are, where they live, what kind of social surroundings they have. So that became a key piece of evidence as well. The contents inside Jerry's book bag showed that he was a student at Amalia Elementary School. The school was able to confirm that Jerry was a student and was not present at school that day. They also confirmed that he lived at Eastgate Mobile Home Park with his five-year-old brother, Chance. Deputies also located blood on the paved portion at the end of Union Chapel Road near where Jerry's body was. What is consistent about that is the small pieces of gravel were along that edge of the paved portion and that was consistent with what was on his body in the lacerated part during the autopsy.

Speaker 2: 31:56

So that was some of the evidence that we know was collected at the crime scene. Let's talk a little bit about what was collected after deputies left the crime scene and went to visit Jerry's mom. So can you talk a little bit about the testimony the deputies had with their interaction with Rhonda Jean?

Speaker 1: 32:20

Prior to making contact with Rhonda Jean Brown at her trailer. The next kind of round of evidence actually starts with the deputy being stationary in an unmarked car and watching the school bus drop kids off. Observations are evidence as well. So this deputy's observation that Jerry did not get off the bus there was nobody there waiting for him. Nobody came to him, nobody was looking for him, nobody came to him, nobody was looking for him. Then that led to some suspicions which ultimately led to additional observations when they made contact with Rhonda Jean Brown at her trailer. When deputies arrived at Rhonda Jean Brown's trailer before they even knocked on the door, she came to the door and immediately asked if something was wrong with Jerry. This observation is critical because this was an excited utterance. This is something that is not hearsay. It can be admitted into court because she has not been asked any questions. We haven't told her why we're there and she's just automatically saying this.

Speaker 2: 33:22

Do you think that that could also be a sign of a guilty conscience?

Speaker 1: 33:28

It could be. We also look at how people handle a trauma response, but in this situation there should be no response because it wasn't elicited yet. Something else that was really significant is when they told her that Jerry had been a victim of a homicide. She lit a cigarette, made some crying noises, even though the deputy noticed that she was not actually crying.

Speaker 2: 33:54

So she was like fake crying.

Speaker 1: 33:56

She was fake crying and I believe the investigator in the trial actually called it fake grief. She later told deputies that she had not left the house all day because her car was broke down. This contradicted multiple witness statements who saw her in her car multiple times that day, in the car running.

Speaker 2: 34:15

Yeah, I also read that one of the deputies actually went out in the driveway and started the car and it was operational. There wasn't anything he was able to demonstrate. The car could be driven. So she lied. There wasn't anything he was able to able to demonstrate.

Speaker 1: 34:30

The car could be driven, so she and that that also goes back to how persistent these deputies were. Without the technology and things we have today, they actually got out, they tested things and they made sure that what she said was actual, a fact, but in this case it was proof damning toward her. So earlier I talked about someone's utterance or how they respond to trauma. So later on, at trial, these deputies had to testify to their interaction with ronda jean brown at her trailer. At that time. At no time did she ask what happened to Jerry, how he died, where he had been killed, where he was now. She didn't inquire whether she could see his body or even if they were sure it was Jerry. She also did not ask if they had any leads or any suspects. Now we talked about how people respond to trauma. This does not match that. I've been on many, many death notifications and these questions are always asked.

Speaker 2: 35:34

Yeah, I know, just from years you're beginning with the highway patrol where you would have to make notifications of somebody being killed in an automobile accident or a motorcycle accident, or even just having to make notifications for anything you've. You've recalled to me multiple times um of parents, mothers, fathers, uh, sometimes violently, you know they want to attack the person who is giving that message because they're just so overcome with grief, um, you know, or pass out, or you know, just hysterical. I cannot recall a time in your near 30 years where you've made a notification and they've never had a response, like no response.

Speaker 1: 36:21

It's never happened to me. As a matter of fact, whenever you are trained to do death notifications, these are the questions that you are prepared ahead of time to answer because you know they're coming, and in this case, they weren't even alluded to.

Speaker 2: 36:41

So the next piece of evidence is the autopsy report and earlier in the podcast we talked about the findings of Dr David Smith. But I want to talk. We talked, I asked your opinion about how some of these injuries could happen and we're gonna review what Dr David Smith actually found and what his professional opinion. And I don't think that there is too much of a discrimination between what you said and what he said. But Dr Smith did say that the cause of death was not due to strangulation but rather the chest injuries due to a large force. He also said that the chest injuries were more likely caused by a vehicle than by the hand of a person. And would that be just because of the nature of the force? Like a, a human might not be able to have quite as much force as a vehicle, I I'm assuming.

Speaker 1: 37:48

Yeah, even a punch or using a weapon is not going to have the kinetic force that the weight of a large vehicle has, so that crushing chest injury is more likely from that vehicle or that heavier weight.

Speaker 2: 38:05

He also said that the chest injuries were consistent with a body lying on the ground and being run over by a vehicle and, furthermore, he even said that the chest injuries were not consistent with a body being struck by a car while they're standing. You know, pedestrians being hit and there are differences in, maybe, how the body responds if they're standing up versus lying down. Do you have anything to add to that?

Speaker 1: 38:37

Yeah, typically what we see on pedestrian strikes or somebody that's upright or standing is you're going to have some injuries on the lower extremities, so you're going to have broken legs. You might even have them knocked out of their shoes. You are less likely to have the crushing chest injuries. While you may have some upper extremities, you're not going to have them to the extent that Jerry had, and Jerry did not have any lower extremity injuries. So that led him to believe, or led his opinion to state, that Jerry would have been laying down at the time.

Speaker 2: 39:12

Yeah, you know, we just recently watched a documentary on Karen, the Karen Reed trial and you know, in that case with the officer, the Boston police officer, obviously he a determination that he was probably hit by a car and he was knocked out of his shoes.

Speaker 1: 39:35

Yeah, in that case he was definitely. In my opinion, he was upright because he's knocked out of his shoes and he also had like pieces of the taillight in his shirt which would have shown that to break that he would have had to have been standing or that that part of the car would never been damaged. Yeah, and he didn't have injuries consistent with being crushed.

Speaker 2: 39:54

You know where he wasn't run over, but more hit, right, um, you know. And another thing that, um, he said is that there were that jerry had burn injuries, that could, that it could have been caused by the skin touching the hot underside of a vehicle. But I, you know all of this is horrific. So I'm not trying to categorize you know which, which piece of evidence is worse, but some of it just grips you.

Speaker 2: 40:23

And when the coroner or when the pathologist said that the evidence that Jerry's body had, evidence that he had been alive for at least a few minutes after he had been struck by that large force, can you talk a little bit about? You know what that could mean. You know, I think the you know you and I have discussed about. You know things that parents are concerned about when they find out that their child has died is the idea of did they suffer, right, and I think that's what makes this so hard to swallow, in addition to some of Chance's testimony that we're going to talk about here in a little bit, that might be consistent with the fact that Jerry was alive. But I mean, what are some things on an autopsy that could give you that kind of evidence?

Speaker 1: 41:10

Mainly you're going to look at the blood still flowing in the body. So in my opinion he probably observed evidence that Jerry remained alive for a little bit because the blood was still flowing. But you brought up a good point about whether he suffered or not and knowing that Jerry may have lasted a few extra minutes may be suffering during that time frame. But again, every parent's going to ask that. But Rhonda Jean Brown didn't.

Speaker 2: 41:42

The last piece of evidence that we're going to talk about is Clement County Children's Services, and a deputy worked with Chance Jerry's five-year-old brother. Can you tell us a little bit about that visit that Claremont County Children's Services had with Chance?

Speaker 1: 41:58

Sure. Three days later, after the murder, the supervisor of the Claremont County Children's Services and an investigating deputy were able to take Chance. And an investigating deputy were able to take chance and without divulging anything to him. He's talkative, in the car, just being a normal boy. They drove him without his knowledge to this area on Union Chapel Road where Jerry's body had been found. They testified that while they were driving there he was a typical boy, being talkative, kind of happy-go-lucky. But as soon as they got to the dead end of there his whole demeanor changed. He became silent, he started shaking, became frightened and again we talked about excited utterances. He, without being asked, started giving the excited utterances which were crucial. Now a lot of people will say that a child this age has a very wondering imagination. But when you put what he's saying in the context of how he's acting, what he's saying, and look at it with the evidence that was collected, it pretty much corroborates everything that he said and it was heartbreaking.

Speaker 2: 43:14

The supervisor of the Children's Services and the deputy mentioned. I think what's really hard is that you know Chance used the name for his brother, bubby, so it just takes things and you know, as you mentioned, they said he became silent and that he shrunk down in his seat and he stated that he'd been here before with Bubby. And the reality was he was there three days before. Tell us a little bit more about what Chance did on that site visit.

Speaker 1: 43:48

So keep in mind this area, and we've driven it as recent as today just to prep for this podcast. This area is far away from the school. It's far away from their residence. It's a very secluded place. It's not someplace that people would visit repetitively.

Speaker 2: 44:08

It's actually a road that you have to turn off and just to paint a picture for our listeners, there's a very, very sharp curve and this road intersects in a curve, so it's a side street, so when you are pulling onto it you have to. It's almost like playing Frogger a little bit, you know. You're waiting to make sure that somebody's not coming around that curve, because there isn't really any visibility.

Speaker 1: 44:35

It's kind of a busy area of State Route 222.

Speaker 2: 44:38

Yeah, but this road is secluded and you have to very purposely you know, you either know somebody who lives there or you live there to go down that road. But I'm sorry go ahead.

Speaker 1: 44:47

There's no reason for anybody to go down there, unless they know somebody there.

Speaker 2: 44:51

There's no, I mean it's completely residential. There are no parks or anything.

Speaker 1: 44:56

Yeah, so what's significant about that is they go to this secluded area that this kid probably should have never been at and he has this change of behavior and he makes the comments that that's where we left Bubby, or that's where Bubby was left, something along that lines that's where we left Bubby, or that's where Bubby was left, something along that lines. And at some point he pointed in that area and, like a like a kid would typically talk he says that um, that's where Bubby was took in there and hurt. Um, and where he pointed was the exact spot that Jerry's body was found and the protective services supervisor did not know that at the time. Yes, so nobody was leading him to the— A blinded test, in a way.

Speaker 1: 45:51

Yeah, I feel like I'm repeating myself when I keep saying it can't get any more heartbreaking, but his final statement that he said said to them if you can tell our listeners um what chance testified to as they were um getting ready to leave there with the cps chance looks points, stated that as him and his mom, ronda jean brown, drove away without jerry, jerry was there crying and he said help, yeah, they left him I mean, this five-year-old boy sees his best friend, probably his protector, and he sees an injured little boy, his brother, and god knows what happened.

Speaker 2: 46:39

Because we don't, because ronda jean maintained her innocence through all of this and and has never spoken um, was he in the car when jerry was run over? You know, we don't know, but you know he did see with his own eyes and I can only hope that those memories have faded with him as an adult at this time, that he doesn't have recollection of that.

Speaker 1: 47:03

I would hope so, but I think the evidence points that he he was there and he has some pretty intimate knowledge which helped out in the trial.

Speaker 2: 47:11

Yeah, so I'm going to take us past all of this evidence and talk a little bit about the aftermath of this case. You know, the night before Jerry's funeral, rhonda, she was arrested later, that later, the night of Jerry's wake, but she wasn't arrested before his wake and she attended, and the pastor of that church, which is the same pastor that you know, had the church that picked up the little boys in the bus. He made a comment or he made a statement that Rhonda said to him, quote, that I just, I wanted to make peace, my peace. She said, I want to make my peace with Jerry. And you know she and she went to the service. What she meant by that I'm not sure. The pastor said, you know, he hugged her, he was being pastoral and at this point Rhonda hadn't been arrested, but she was arrested later, that night I believe it was that night and and she asked to attend his funeral and she was not permitted to be there.

Speaker 2: 48:23

You know, painting a picture, you know, we know that this is a horrible, horrible crime when anyone is murdered, and especially kids, right, because they've got their whole life in front of them. And why would somebody, especially a mother, do something like this? You know Jerry I mentioned earlier. His body was smaller than the average eight-year-old but he was laid to rest in an adult coffin and you just think of this tiny little body in an adult coffin and I think maybe it was symbolic for his larger-than-life personality that he had that he had. Jerry was buried in that Power Ranger jacket that that couple at the American Legion bought for him and I'm sure Jerry would have wanted that. He was obsessed. We had conversations earlier about which Power Ranger might be his favorite.

Speaker 2: 49:13

After a 45-minute funeral service, the casket was closed and Jerry was escorted to his final resting place in this small, unassuming cemetery Olive Branch Cemetery which is probably five minutes from our house, and we had the privilege of visiting Jerry today at his gravesite and his tiny little tombstone that had a little boy, you know, etched on it and looked like he was reaching for a toy and we're going to try to put some of those pictures up on our website to show you. But it's heartbreaking. It's a tiny little gravestone and it's just this senseless death that this little guy endured. Ken and I both choked up at the cemetery and I'm not ashamed to say that we're choking up right now talking about it because it's rough, and even though it was 30 years ago, it doesn't change the fact that this was absolutely a senseless, horrific tragedy.

Speaker 1: 50:11

So we did go see Jerry's gravesite today and I think a couple things popped in my head today and I think a couple things popped in my head Looking back at this investigation. There was the theory I don't know where it came from, if it came from witnesses or if it was just a theory brought on by the prosecutor showing what potentially could have happened. That theory was that this all started over a Power Rangers toy, that Jerry wanted to take this toy to school. Rhonda Jean Brown got upset of him wanting to do that. The theory even goes on that potentially little Jerry was going to the school bus turned around and came back for that toy, going to retrieve it yeah, and you know, chance did testify that um he that there was a a fight between jerry and his mom at home earlier that morning.

Speaker 2: 51:05

Yes, um, and so we know that you know, and again there this a lot of of information to pour through.

Speaker 2: 51:12

But that has actually been a constant story in this case since it happened yes that ronda jean lost her temper because jerry wanted to take his power ranger toy and put it in his backpack, the the one thing that he was obsessed about, that he loved, you know, for his mom. And so what happened at that house? Whether I mean there's things that he could have been struck by, a frying pan, or maybe the strangulate, the attempted strangulation or whatever happened at home, but it's. It was really tough on the two of us to see a little boy etched on that tombstone, reaching out for a toy.

Speaker 1: 51:53

Yes. So that that's kind of what stuck out to me, I guess is we're looking at that headstone and there's a little boy supposed to be Jerry, I'm assuming and he's reaching back to grab a action figure, probably his power ranger. I took some pictures of it. We're going to post it online for everybody else to see, but I think that that really was powerful.

Speaker 2: 52:21

Just a few things. With the aftermath, you know, little chance. He was placed in foster care. He did not attend the services, the funeral services for Jerry, and he was later adopted and I hope that he's thriving. I don't have any details and it's not appropriate. I hope he's, you know, moved on with his life and is living a good life with people who cared about him and is living a good life with people who cared about him. On July 6, 1995, so just months after Rhonda was arrested for murder, she was found not guilty of aggravated murder. So tell me what a charge of aggravated murder means.

Speaker 1: 53:04

So tell me what a charge of aggravated murder means. In Ohio. Both murder and aggravated murder have a what we call a culpable mental state of purposely that they purposely caused the death of another. Aggravated means it was under specific circumstances. So back in 1995, the circumstances might have been a little bit different because over time there's amendments to these laws and whatnot. But looking at today's version of aggravated murder, it means basically that it was through prior calculation or design, which we all know from TV shows is premeditated. It occurred while they were committing a felony and I believe that felony actually has to be a certain degree. Potentially I could be wrong on that A victim under 13, which in this case it would have been.

Speaker 1: 54:05

If it's somebody that's under detention, like in a prison, and they commit a murder, it automatically becomes an aggravated murder and in the case of a law enforcement officer being murdered it's also aggravated. So what sticks out to me is she's convicted of murder, but she's not convicted of aggravated murder. So how do you convict and this is just me questioning this, because I don't know what the jury's specific reasoning was how do you find her guilty of murdering an eight-year-old but not find her guilty of aggravated murder if she's murdered someone under 13?. So that is just kind of that.

Speaker 2: 54:49

what if that kind of sticks out there for me yeah.

Speaker 1: 54:50

And.

Speaker 2: 54:50

I don't know if you know reasonable doubt of certain charges go in or not, because Rhonda, rhonda Jean certainly maintained that she was innocent, though you did steal my thunder a little bit, and it's okay, because I was gonna say, you know, don't, don't fret that she was found not guilty of aggravated murder, because she was found guilty of murder and she was sentenced 15 years to life. Now, I mentioned that Rhonda Jean maintained that she was innocent. She even filed a notice of appeal on August 1st 1995. On August 1st 1995. So just again, a month after the conviction, and she presented 12 assignments of error. I will tell you that this appeals case is a public record and it's online and you can download all of it and it's got a lot of the evidence that we used for this podcast. The appeals court I don't think. I think the judge was less than amused and he did not find error with any of her claims and her sentence stayed. But she came up for parole in 2012 and that was denied. And then a year later, on March 24th 2013, which was 18 years after Jerry Howe was murdered, rhonda Jean Brown died in prison from apparent natural causes and she was cremated. It's unclear from our research of you know where she is now and finding I actually found this information about her death on Ancestrycom. I am 99% positive it's her, but you know it's unclear if you know she had any family there to mourn her. It seemed that she had no one there throughout her whole life murdered, you know, one of her children and the other, you know, being raised by another family, and despite Rhonda Jean Brown maintaining her innocence until her death, she never spoke. There are questions that we have to this day about the case that it would just been nice if she if she, spoke about it, but she maintained that she did not commit this murder. What's important to remember is that the dead don't lie and little Jerry's body told us a story about what happened to him.

Speaker 2: 57:14

Cases like this leave communities reeling. The Cincinnati Inquirer reported members of the community saying things like if she did this, it's sick and it's tragic and senseless. There's no excuse for it. Some people blamed the welfare system for not providing more assistance. Others blamed politicians for handing out foreign aid and not investing more in child services and to have help for desperate parents, and others were just riddled with guilt about missing signs.

Speaker 2: 57:44

And this got me thinking about missing signs in our community and started thinking a bit about having a car that drips oil. So one morning you pull out of a driveway and you notice a small dark stain on the pavement where your car had rested overnight and you're like, ugh, it's probably oil. And you think to yourself it's just a few drops. So the next day the stain grows larger, but you're in a hurry. The next week you barely look at it and then a month later your engine's groaning, the car's sputtering when it's on hills and you tell yourself your car's fine because it still runs.

Speaker 2: 58:27

And then one evening, as you're driving along on a lonely road, the engine gives a final heavy sigh before locking up completely. And as you sit stranded in the middle of the night, you realize you're a mistake. The small leak had drained the car's lifeblood drop by drop, until it could go no further. Your car could have been Rhonda Jean Brown. It could have been, or it may be, your next door neighbor, your co-worker, even a family member. Just like dripping oil in a car, people give signs, and small signs left unattended can lead to breakdowns, whether in machines or people. So let's all pay attention before the damage runs too deep.

Speaker 1: 59:35

Join us for our next episode, Blade of Grass. When a 19-year-old woman was found lifeless in her backyard, everything pointed to a tragic accident. But months later, a single blade of grass revealed something more sinister.

Speaker 2: 59:54

Don't forget to subscribe and visit our website. You can also support our show by visiting buymeacoffeecom backslash beyond the autopsy for as little as $5. Your support means so much to us, and it helps us not only pay for the caffeine that's needed to fuel this podcast, but also all the expensive equipment that we need to get this show going. And it will help us continue to go beyond the autopsy, because the dead have stories to tell.