Ep.45 - Carnell Sledge and Kate Brown (Unsolved) - Great Lakes True Crime

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
On Tuesday, June fourth, twentynineteen, longtime friends Kate Brown and Carnal
Sledge met up at a peaceful spotnext to the Rocky River in the Cleveland
Metroparks on the west side of Cleveland, Ohio. The two friends met up
after arriving separately about five oh fourpm. Sometime within the next four to

(00:21):
eleven minutes, they were both shotto death from the south shore of Lake
Erie. This is Great Lake's TrueCrime. As of the release date of

(01:14):
this episode of Great Lakes True Crime, we recently marked the four year anniversary
of this senseless, tragic double murder, and there are two reasons why this
case was picked to be covered atthe podcast at this time. One because
it's unsolved. The second reason isthat this case garnered lots of media attention
when it happened, and for thefirst three years after that they maintained that

(01:37):
attention. A Google search revealed thatmany local media stories could be found marking
the first, second, and thirdanniversaries of the deaths of Kate and Carnell.
However, that same Google search comesup empty for any media stories on
the four year mark. This isa fairly short episode, even by my
standards, and that's because there's simplyisn't a whole lot of information to report,

(02:01):
but it is important that we keepthis story out there. Kate Brown
was thirty three years old and CarnellSledge was forty at the time of their
deaths. The two arrived at aparking lot located just north of Lorraine Road
along the Valley Parkway. Inside thepark at approximately five o four pm.

(02:23):
They came separately and took a seaton a park bench overlooking the river.
Carnell drove to the meeting location afterhe got off work that day. It's
unclear how Kate arrived at the site, but we do know that the two
came separately and presumably came from differentlocations. It is believed that someone fatally
shot Kate and Carnell sometime between fiveo eight pm and five fifteen pm,

(02:49):
so possibly less than five minutes afterthey sat down. Their bodies were discovered
at five twenty two pm by twokayakers that were paddling on the Rocky River.
They immediately called nine one one andreported what they found. The kayakers
told police that they did not seeor hear anything unusual at the time of

(03:10):
the murders, including not hearing anygunshots. The two bodies were not immediately
next to one another when they werefound. Kate was shot in the head
one time and her remains were foundon the edge of the river. Carnell
had been shot multiple times in thehead and was about twenty yards away from
Kate on the river bank, stillnear that bench, suggesting that at least

(03:35):
one of them, probably Kate,had tried to run from their assailants.
It should be noted that Cleveland Metroparksis a very popular network of parks surrounding
the greater Cleveland area as well asthe city of Cleveland itself. Because of
the way the parks circled the city, the metroparks are commonly referred to as

(03:57):
the Emerald Necklace. The area wherethese shootings occurred is not isolated. It's
a very busy park area, withan all purpose trail running along it the
river with kayakers and paddle boards onit, and several popular golf courses nearby,
not to mention all the cars drivingalong the parkway because it connects many

(04:18):
densely populated areas in Cleveland. Sothe fact that these two were killed in
broad daylight in an area with lotsof people around is surprising, not to
mention alarming. Because of these circumstances, police wanted to avert any public panic
by holding a press conference two daysafter the murders. In that press conference,

(04:43):
investigators stressed that the shooting was anisolated incident in the popular recreation destination.
Nearly three weeks after the murders,on June twenty fourth, twenty nineteen,
no arrests had been made in thedouble homicide, and another pres conference
was held by Cleveland Metroparks Police aswell as the Cleveland office of the FBI.

(05:08):
Both agencies renewed their please for helpin identifying the killer or killers,
asking anyone with information to please comeforward. It was also during this press
conference that Metroparks Police Chief Katherine Dolanand Cleveland FBI Special Agent in Charge Eric
Smith explained that they determined the timeof the meeting to have been five o

(05:31):
four pm and at the time ofdeath had been between five o eight pm
and five fifteen Although they wouldn't sayhow they arrived at those conclusions, the
investigators reaffirmed their belief that someone musthave seen something quote, it's in a
highly trafficked area, especially in thelate afternoon and early evening weekday hours.

(05:54):
Agent Smith said there are numerous joggers, walkers, bicyclists, kayakers, and
even vehicles cutting through the area toavoid interstate backups, and this is true
to this area on any given day. The agent followed that up by saying,
quote, there was plenty of peopleand plenty of activity in the park.

(06:16):
So early news reports stated that Carnell'sfamily was unaware of his friendship with
Kate and they didn't know Kate atall. They supposedly had never heard of
her before. During the press conference, however, this narrative was disputed when
police advised that the man and womanhad been friends for over ten years and

(06:36):
their relationship had always been platonic.In the days and weeks following the highly
publicized murders, the FBI and ClevelandMetroparks Police tried to minimize public panic about
a potentially random double homicide in apopular park used by thousands of people.

(06:56):
In that earlier press conference, MetroparksPolice Chef Dolan gave an assurance that there
was no immediate danger to the public, which gave rise to speculation that investigators
either knew or suspected that the killingswere not random attacks. The reporters from
several news outlets asked both Chief Dolanand FBI Agent Smith whether investigators believed the

(07:20):
killings were targeted, but the answersasserted that the nature of the ongoing investigation
precluded them from answering those questions.Agent Smith did, however, reassured the
public that he had no reason tobelieve the attacks were random, which seemed
to indirectly answer the questions about whetherCarnell and Kate were targeted. Based on

(07:46):
this information, a question comes upas to how or why police could reassure
the public that they were not inany danger. How did they know this
to be true or did they knowthis to be true? In other words,
did they know something about this beinga targeted attack or were they just
providing these reassurances without any reason todo so or any backing behind them.

(08:11):
Other questions that went unanswered in thepress conference include how many credible tips the
investigators received, whether they had anysuspects in mind, or whether the pair
were robbed of any personal belongings beforeor after the shootings. Again, the
ongoing investigation was given as the reasonfor not answering many of the inquiries.

(08:33):
Metroparks Police Chief Dolan did reassure thepublic that they could safely use the metroparks,
though citing the fact that no othermurders had been committed in the park
system in over two decades. CarnealSledge, who again was forty years old
at the time of his death,was a huge fan of all Cleveland sports

(08:54):
teams. He worked for a companythat installs audio visual equipment in homes and
businesses, but also volunteered his timewith a nonprofit that provides mental health services
to a children and adults. Hehad also worked in special education in a
suburban Cleveland school district for about fiveyears. Carnell was described by one friend

(09:20):
as the sort of man who litup every room he walked into. He
always managed to be the center ofattention, even without trying to or seeking
the limelight. Another friend described himas kind, genuine, and compassionate.
Yet another friend described Carnell as arare type of person, one who touched

(09:43):
many lives, who loved helping peoplefrom all walks of life, and was
always optimistic. She said Carnell oncesent her a pep talk via email in
which he said, quote, don'tpursue happiness, create it. Of all
Carnal's friends and co workers, noneknew of anything that would suggest he had

(10:05):
enemies or was in any type ofdanger. Kate Brown was described by friends
as someone who had a love forart, animals of all types, and
her family. According to Kate's father, Tom, Kate quote head or demons,
but had recently lost over a hundredpounds through diet and exercise and had

(10:30):
been sober for over two years atthe time of her death. Essentially,
she was at the top of hergame. Kate's sister Alex, expressed some
frustration with the pace of the investigationand communication to her family from law enforcement.
After a while, she said,quote when they actually had data to
give us, they would call us. But then as time has gone on,

(10:52):
it has slowly gotten more and morequiet. Years later, Alex still
feels the pain of losing her sister. She said, you deal with the
pain, but it never ever everceases to feel. It takes your breath
away remembering that this happened, andthat she will never be at a family
party again, or you can't callher. It's the worst feeling in the

(11:13):
world, and I wouldn't wish thaton anyone, and Kate's mother, Kim,
is not giving up hope. Somedaywe will get justice, she said,
I know deep down that it willhappen. This is a truly baffling
and frustrating case. There seems tobe no known suspects and no obvious motive.

(11:39):
We have found out over time thatrobbery doesn't seem to have been a
motive. Nothing valuable was taken fromthe victims or their vehicles. Cleveland Metroparks
Police say they have conducted over twohundred interviews related to this case, so
they are, by their account,putting in a lot of effort to solve
this case. Yet they still havereleased a very other on the stattus of

(12:01):
their investigations, which again has goneon for over four years now. We
do know that several shell casings werefound at the site, but not much
else about any physical evidence that mayhave been uncovered. Carnell's body was found
right by the bench after having beenshot twice in the head. Kate's body

(12:24):
was down by the edge of theriver to suggests again that Carnell may have
been approached from behind and shot first, and then Kate was shot while running
away. Local media did come upwith a potential tip, though. In
twenty twenty one, TV station Foxeight Cleveland received an anonymous letter stating that

(12:46):
the person who sent the letters knowsthat the shooter was a woman, and
provided a very detailed description of whatthe woman was wearing that day. In
looking into this further, though,it seems that the writer was not an
eye witness, but rather a psychicwho had a vision about the crimes.

(13:07):
Different people may put different levels ofbelief in the ability of psychics. To
me, if this letter really wasfrom a psychic, it is of little
value in solving this case. Speculationabout motives runs rampant on Internet message boards.
Some people have suggested perhaps this wasa racially motivated hate crime, as

(13:28):
Carnell and Kate were of different races. Perhaps someone saw the pair assume that
they were dating or married and becameso enraged that he killed them. But
interracial couples are certainly not uncommon inthis area, so it seems unlikely that
this was the case. This isespecially true when you consider that the killer

(13:52):
would have had to be known whenthey arrived at the park, then killed
them, and then left all withina few minutes. Others have speculated that
a forlorn lover killed the two,either an x or maybe someone who wanted
to date one of the two andwas rejected. Perhaps this person followed one
of the two and killed them whenthey met up at the park. Given

(14:15):
the short period of time between thepair's arrival at the park and the shootings,
it seems likely that at least oneof the two were followed there.
If this was a targeted killing,of course, it's also possible that someone
went out and randomly killed two peoplefor whatever reason they have, or no
reason at all, sort of athrill kill type of killing. With the

(14:39):
public nature of this attack in broaddaylight on a beautiful June afternoon, the
killer or killers must be very brazen. In any case, somebody must have
seen or heard something that day intwenty nineteen or sometime since then from someone
involved in this crime. Anyone withinformation on the murders of Carnal Sledge and

(15:01):
Kate Brown can call the Cleveland FBIat ARIA code two one six five two
two fourteen hundred, or the MetroparksPolice dedicated tipline at ARIA code four four
zero three three one five two onenine, or you can call crime Stoppers
at ARIA code two one six twofive two seven four six three. In

(15:26):
either of these cases, tipsters canremain anonymous, and there's a one hundred
thousand dollars reward for information that helpssolve these crimes. If you want to
hear more about this case, thepodcast True Crime Garage does a deeper dive
into the case and spends more timediscussing potential motives in their episode number six

(15:48):
sixty. Check that out if you'reinterested. Before we go, I did
want to recommend a four part TVseries that we just finished watching. It's
called four her Sins and is currentlyon Channel five in England. I haven't
heard which platform it'll be on yetin the US and Canada, but I'm
sure it's coming soon. For HerSins involves a normal middle class family that

(16:14):
seems to be doing pretty well untila charismatic stranger happens to come into their
lives. Things start to unravel andgo off the rails people, marriages,
friendships, as you start to learnthat there is a dark history amongst several
of the characters and it eventually allcomes to light. It's definitely worth a
watch if you get a chance,so keep an eye out for her sins.

(16:38):
That's all for this episode of GreatLakes True Crime. You can follow
the show on Facebook and Twitter justsearch for Great Lakes True Crime. You
can also check out links in theshow notes for sources and more information.
Also, you may notice a bitof rebranding for the show. I'm trying
to move a little bit away fromthe darkness with a little more upbeat kind

(17:00):
of logo. Thanks to those ofyou who recently left positive reviews through your
podcast app, I appreciate those andif you do like the show, please
tell a friend about it. Andalso, we recently received several donations and
those are super appreciated as they helpkeep the show going. You can email
me at Great Lakes true Crime atgmail dot com with any thoughts on this

(17:23):
case or suggestions for other cases tocover for Great Lakes True Crime. This
has been Steve, You're hosting producer. Thanks for listening. Byes. People

(18:00):
are at the people are contained the

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Ep.45 - Carnell Sledge and Kate Brown (Unsolved)

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