June 29, 2021 • 11 mins
I'm not dead yet! ....I will be one day, but this isn't that day! I have posted about where I've been on both Twitter, and in the Facebook group, so if you want to interact directly with me, or get any news I might have, those are the best places to find it.
This is a short true crime story I wrote a while back that I was personally involved in. The Murder of Paul Brown in Hamilton Ohio. I've pulled it from Patreon exclusivity, and I give to you all. It's...intimate, and very real, especially to me since it was so close to home. Just listen to it, this story probably has more soul than anything I've ever released.
Content Warning by Emily G. Thompson of the Morbidology podcast: https://morbidology.com/morbidology-podcast/
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=29802408
https://www.facebook.com/WorseThanFictionPodcast
https://twitter.com/WorseTFPodcast
Theme music by Ecdysis:
https://ecdysis66.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ecdysisofficial/
epidemicsound.com
Sources:
http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/pdf_viewer/pdf_viewer.aspx?pdf=587808.pdf
https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/3958956/state-v-miller-unpublished-decision-6-5-2006/
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-ca6-09-03151/pdf/USCOURTS-ca6-09-03151-0.pdf
This is a short true crime story I wrote a while back that I was personally involved in. The Murder of Paul Brown in Hamilton Ohio. I've pulled it from Patreon exclusivity, and I give to you all. It's...intimate, and very real, especially to me since it was so close to home. Just listen to it, this story probably has more soul than anything I've ever released.
Content Warning by Emily G. Thompson of the Morbidology podcast: https://morbidology.com/morbidology-podcast/
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=29802408
https://www.facebook.com/WorseThanFictionPodcast
https://twitter.com/WorseTFPodcast
Theme music by Ecdysis:
https://ecdysis66.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ecdysisofficial/
epidemicsound.com
Sources:
http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/pdf_viewer/pdf_viewer.aspx?pdf=587808.pdf
https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/3958956/state-v-miller-unpublished-decision-6-5-2006/
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-ca6-09-03151/pdf/USCOURTS-ca6-09-03151-0.pdf
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
The story you're about to hear maycontain detailed descriptions of intense violence that will
certainly be worse than fiction. Hello, my name is Les. Thank you
(00:45):
for joining me as we take alook at a true tale of unimaginable horror.
Now, Listeners, this story isa little different. It didn't come
from Reddit. I don't have toget permission for it. This is my
(01:06):
own story and I can back itup with court documents. I will leave
some sources in the notes of thisso you can check it out for yourself
if you want to. Also,if you listen to Tales by Cole,
you may have heard this story sincehe narrated it on his podcast. This
(01:26):
is my friend murdered Paul Brown byme Less. It was somewhere between June
and August of two thousand and two, which was eighteen years ago at the
time of this writing, so Ican't be certain of the exact date.
I am sure that it was summer, and I remember the car I had
(01:49):
at the time and how old Iwas. I was nineteen and the proud
owner of a nineteen eighty five buickLess Saber, which was a giant SI
luxury car that seemed to float itsway along the harsh, pockmarked streets of
Hamilton, Ohio. It was thefirst car I've ever owned, and I
(02:10):
was damned proud of it, sinceI bought it with my own money.
In those days, I still livedwith my mom, rent free and helda
not too shabby job at a tumbleweedrestaurant. In the only real responsibilities I
had to worry about, we're feedingthat hungry beast of a car and keeping
(02:30):
a good stock of weed to sharewith my buddies. One day, sometime
during that summer, me and afriend of mine that I won't name had
met up with a mutual friend namedRick Miller that I had known since our
sophomore year in high school. Hewas cool and made his way into our
circle of friends pretty easily. Wehad similar interests listening to metal, playing
(02:57):
video games, and smoking weed.We were all hanging out with our friend
Tom and his girlfriend and took thehint that they wanted some intimate time,
so we decided to go out fora cruise to smoke some bud and give
them some space. Of Course,since I was the only one of the
three of us with a car,I was the driver. Usually on these
(03:22):
rolland smoke trips, I would driveout of town to the more rural outskirts,
which is exactly what we did.Hamilton is what I would consider a
small city, and the townships aroundit are fairly densely populated, except on
the west side. It goes fromconcentrated populations and packed shopping centers to country
(03:45):
living in less than a mile onthat end of town. It was probably
somewhere around three or four o'clock inthe afternoon at this point, and once
we had finished, we came backand parked the car across the from the
house where Tom and his girl werehaving their fun. We sat there for
a while chatting, and Rick wasunusually alert and seemed paranoid, even more
(04:12):
so than being stoned. As responsiblefor I said something along the lines of
what's up, Rick, you seemkind of nervous. I thought he was
just worried that the cops were ontheir way to bust us for smoking a
little bit of weed. But hisresponse was something I had never expected and
didn't take too seriously at the time. He said something to the effect of,
(04:38):
man, I'm just worried that Ihave a worn out on me.
Me and Brad beat up some fagthat owed me money the other night on
the West Side. I'm worried tocops are after me because that dude ended
up dead. We didn't kill him, man, I swear. We just
took his wallet and it had likefive bucks in it, and we left
him in a ditch. I foundout a few day days later that a
(05:00):
dead body had indeed been found onthe West Side. While the crime rate
in the city is pretty high,the number of murders that occur each year
or usually in the lower single digits, usually around five, and those are
mostly domestic situations. Finding a murdervictim in a wooded area of a populated
(05:21):
neighborhood just doesn't happen. Brad wasa year or so younger than our circle
of friends, but he was stillone of us at this particular time.
I hadn't seen him in a while, and it wouldn't be until two years
later that I found out he hadbeen housed at a sojourn or rehab facility
(05:42):
for some time. Apparently, onthe night Rick robbed Paul, Brad had
snuck out of sojourner and wandered aroundtown with Rick, and the two were
trying to find drugs. At somepoint, they crossed paths with Paul Brown
as he was leaving BW threes andwalking home. The last images of Paul
(06:04):
were captured on an ATM surveillance camerain the plaza where BW three's is located.
They followed him for about three quartersof a mile until they reached a
small wooded area that had a creekrunning through the middle of it. They
caught up to him and Rick confrontedhim about some money he owed him and
(06:26):
pushed him into the wooded area whileBrad stayed on the outskirts of the tree
line as a lookout. What happenedin that wooded area would be described by
seasoned prosecutors as one of the mostheinous and brutal murders they had ever prosecuted.
(06:56):
Rick assaulted Paul and made him turnhis pockets out, then took his
wallet, which would be found justdownstream upon discovery of the crime scene and
his back pocket. A little overseven dollars hadn't been discovered by Rick,
and it's unclear how much was inthe wallet, but as Rick said,
he only took around five dollars.According to Rick, he left Paul laying
(07:21):
in a ditch, but he wasalive, and that someone else must have
came along later and killed him.Paul had suffered not only a beating,
but he had been stabbed at leastfourteen times, and his throat had been
slit so deeply he was nearly decapitated. Certainly a manner of death that no
(07:43):
one should have to endure, especiallyover such a paltry sum of money.
Could I have came forward to policewith the statements Rick made, Probably,
but I was a paranoid stoner atthat time and didn't want anything to do
with it. Nearly two years later, and I hadn't seen Rick since that
(08:05):
day. In my car, ifI remember correctly, it was mid two
thousand and four, and I waswalking down the street to a local corner
store. A dark red brand newlooking for tourists pulls up next to me
and stops. The man driving getsout hastily. I'm a little concern since
(08:26):
it was a section of the streetwhere no parking was allowed. A tall,
balding man, probably about six footthree, with a thick mustache,
a long trench coat and dress slacks, walks right up to me and asks
are you less. I reluctantly sayyes, and he reaches into his coat
(08:46):
and pulls out one of those famousleather wallets and flips it open to reveal
a Hamilton PD badge and introduces himselfas Detective jem Sefuentes. He then asked
me if I know a guy namedRick Miller. To keep it brief,
I answered a few other simple questions, and he asked me if I would
(09:07):
come down to the prosecutor's office fora formal interview, to which I agreed.
I knew what this was about andrealized that this was actually serious,
so I gave them everything I knew. I found myself in court on the
witness stand in February two thousand andfive, sitting directly across from Rick Miller,
(09:28):
who was facing murder charges for thehorrific death of Paul Brown. Rick
apparently had loose lips about the crime, and I saw numerous familiar faces,
all of which were there to testifyabout the things Rick had told them as
well. All said and done,Rick was found guilty and the death penalty
(09:50):
was on the table, but hewas spared that and given life in prison
without the possibility of pearl for hisrole in the crime. Brad Jackson was
given fifteen years to life for lessercharges, as the prosecution in his trial
couldn't prove that he participated in themurder. This guy was sitting behind me
(10:13):
in my car just days after heviciously murdered a man for no reason.
I never in my life thought thatI would be friends with someone capable of
a murder so brutal, But itjust goes to show that you never truly
know what's behind someone's eyes.
The story you're about to hear maycontain detailed descriptions of intense violence that will
certainly be worse than fiction. Hello, my name is Les. Thank you
(00:45):
for joining me as we take alook at a true tale of unimaginable horror.
Now, Listeners, this story isa little different. It didn't come
from Reddit. I don't have toget permission for it. This is my
(01:06):
own story and I can back itup with court documents. I will leave
some sources in the notes of thisso you can check it out for yourself
if you want to. Also,if you listen to Tales by Cole,
you may have heard this story sincehe narrated it on his podcast. This
(01:26):
is my friend murdered Paul Brown byme Less. It was somewhere between June
and August of two thousand and two, which was eighteen years ago at the
time of this writing, so Ican't be certain of the exact date.
I am sure that it was summer, and I remember the car I had
(01:49):
at the time and how old Iwas. I was nineteen and the proud
owner of a nineteen eighty five buickLess Saber, which was a giant SI
luxury car that seemed to float itsway along the harsh, pockmarked streets of
Hamilton, Ohio. It was thefirst car I've ever owned, and I
(02:10):
was damned proud of it, sinceI bought it with my own money.
In those days, I still livedwith my mom, rent free and helda
not too shabby job at a tumbleweedrestaurant. In the only real responsibilities I
had to worry about, we're feedingthat hungry beast of a car and keeping
(02:30):
a good stock of weed to sharewith my buddies. One day, sometime
during that summer, me and afriend of mine that I won't name had
met up with a mutual friend namedRick Miller that I had known since our
sophomore year in high school. Hewas cool and made his way into our
circle of friends pretty easily. Wehad similar interests listening to metal, playing
(02:57):
video games, and smoking weed.We were all hanging out with our friend
Tom and his girlfriend and took thehint that they wanted some intimate time,
so we decided to go out fora cruise to smoke some bud and give
them some space. Of Course,since I was the only one of the
three of us with a car,I was the driver. Usually on these
(03:22):
rolland smoke trips, I would driveout of town to the more rural outskirts,
which is exactly what we did.Hamilton is what I would consider a
small city, and the townships aroundit are fairly densely populated, except on
the west side. It goes fromconcentrated populations and packed shopping centers to country
(03:45):
living in less than a mile onthat end of town. It was probably
somewhere around three or four o'clock inthe afternoon at this point, and once
we had finished, we came backand parked the car across the from the
house where Tom and his girl werehaving their fun. We sat there for
a while chatting, and Rick wasunusually alert and seemed paranoid, even more
(04:12):
so than being stoned. As responsiblefor I said something along the lines of
what's up, Rick, you seemkind of nervous. I thought he was
just worried that the cops were ontheir way to bust us for smoking a
little bit of weed. But hisresponse was something I had never expected and
didn't take too seriously at the time. He said something to the effect of,
(04:38):
man, I'm just worried that Ihave a worn out on me.
Me and Brad beat up some fagthat owed me money the other night on
the West Side. I'm worried tocops are after me because that dude ended
up dead. We didn't kill him, man, I swear. We just
took his wallet and it had likefive bucks in it, and we left
him in a ditch. I foundout a few day days later that a
(05:00):
dead body had indeed been found onthe West Side. While the crime rate
in the city is pretty high,the number of murders that occur each year
or usually in the lower single digits, usually around five, and those are
mostly domestic situations. Finding a murdervictim in a wooded area of a populated
(05:21):
neighborhood just doesn't happen. Brad wasa year or so younger than our circle
of friends, but he was stillone of us at this particular time.
I hadn't seen him in a while, and it wouldn't be until two years
later that I found out he hadbeen housed at a sojourn or rehab facility
(05:42):
for some time. Apparently, onthe night Rick robbed Paul, Brad had
snuck out of sojourner and wandered aroundtown with Rick, and the two were
trying to find drugs. At somepoint, they crossed paths with Paul Brown
as he was leaving BW threes andwalking home. The last images of Paul
(06:04):
were captured on an ATM surveillance camerain the plaza where BW three's is located.
They followed him for about three quartersof a mile until they reached a
small wooded area that had a creekrunning through the middle of it. They
caught up to him and Rick confrontedhim about some money he owed him and
(06:26):
pushed him into the wooded area whileBrad stayed on the outskirts of the tree
line as a lookout. What happenedin that wooded area would be described by
seasoned prosecutors as one of the mostheinous and brutal murders they had ever prosecuted.
(06:56):
Rick assaulted Paul and made him turnhis pockets out, then took his
wallet, which would be found justdownstream upon discovery of the crime scene and
his back pocket. A little overseven dollars hadn't been discovered by Rick,
and it's unclear how much was inthe wallet, but as Rick said,
he only took around five dollars.According to Rick, he left Paul laying
(07:21):
in a ditch, but he wasalive, and that someone else must have
came along later and killed him.Paul had suffered not only a beating,
but he had been stabbed at leastfourteen times, and his throat had been
slit so deeply he was nearly decapitated. Certainly a manner of death that no
(07:43):
one should have to endure, especiallyover such a paltry sum of money.
Could I have came forward to policewith the statements Rick made, Probably,
but I was a paranoid stoner atthat time and didn't want anything to do
with it. Nearly two years later, and I hadn't seen Rick since that
(08:05):
day. In my car, ifI remember correctly, it was mid two
thousand and four, and I waswalking down the street to a local corner
store. A dark red brand newlooking for tourists pulls up next to me
and stops. The man driving getsout hastily. I'm a little concern since
(08:26):
it was a section of the streetwhere no parking was allowed. A tall,
balding man, probably about six footthree, with a thick mustache,
a long trench coat and dress slacks, walks right up to me and asks
are you less. I reluctantly sayyes, and he reaches into his coat
(08:46):
and pulls out one of those famousleather wallets and flips it open to reveal
a Hamilton PD badge and introduces himselfas Detective jem Sefuentes. He then asked
me if I know a guy namedRick Miller. To keep it brief,
I answered a few other simple questions, and he asked me if I would
(09:07):
come down to the prosecutor's office fora formal interview, to which I agreed.
I knew what this was about andrealized that this was actually serious,
so I gave them everything I knew. I found myself in court on the
witness stand in February two thousand andfive, sitting directly across from Rick Miller,
(09:28):
who was facing murder charges for thehorrific death of Paul Brown. Rick
apparently had loose lips about the crime, and I saw numerous familiar faces,
all of which were there to testifyabout the things Rick had told them as
well. All said and done,Rick was found guilty and the death penalty
(09:50):
was on the table, but hewas spared that and given life in prison
without the possibility of pearl for hisrole in the crime. Brad Jackson was
given fifteen years to life for lessercharges, as the prosecution in his trial
couldn't prove that he participated in themurder. This guy was sitting behind me
(10:13):
in my car just days after heviciously murdered a man for no reason.
I never in my life thought thatI would be friends with someone capable of
a murder so brutal, But itjust goes to show that you never truly
know what's behind someone's eyes.
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