United States of America
BROWNE
Robert Charles
Allegedly active from 1980 to 1993 in Louisiana, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas
DID YOU KNOW...
Lying Fact
Browne made dozens of murder confessions
Interesting Fact
At least one murder was accidental
Killer Fact
Browne claimed he was 18 when he first committed murder
THE DISPATCH
The Beginning
Browne claims that when serving in the US Army in South Korea in the 1970s, he killed a person and was never held accountable. This was another male soldier who got into a fight with the killer over a woman. This was likely his first murder, if the claim is true.
Early Crimes
In the 1980s, Browne was a felon, and had served 10 months for burglary and car theft in Louisiana. His parole was transferred from Louisiana to Colorado. He ended up living just a half mile from Heather Church’s home.
The Murders
Below are the two murder for which Browne was convicted, and another seven which authorities believe have plausibility.
Katherine Jean Hayes
- March, 1980
- Coushatta, Louisiana
In March, 1980, Katherine Jean Hayes met Browne while hanging out in the Uncle Albert’s Chicken Stand parking lot. Browne offered Hayes a ride to his mother’s house at 1010 Carol Street, Coushatta, Louisiana. Hayes was 16 and Browne was 28. They argued after having sex, but she stayed. When she fell asleep, he strangled her with shoelaces. Browne dumped her body off a bridge between Clarence and Montgomery, Louisiana.
On October 16, a hunter found her skull and responding police found more skeletal remains. Her identity was announced in the press on November 1, 1980.
Faye Aline Self
- March 30, 1983
- Coushatta, Louisiana
On March 30, 1984, Faye Aline Self headed out with some friends to the Wagon Wheel Bar and Restaurant on Highway 1 in Armistead, Louisiana. She said she had to leave to pick up her child, who she’d left with her mother. She left the bar and was never seen again. Her locked car was left in the parking lot. Browne later claimed he snuck into her apartment while she was sleeping. He chloroformed and bound her, but she died unexpectedly. Browne claimed he threw her body off a bridge into the Red River. She has never been found.
Wanda Faye Hudson
- May 27, 1983
- Coushatta, Louisiana
In Coushatta, Louisiana, Wanda Faye Hudson, was well-known in the community. She worked at a local supermarket when she moved into the Riverside Apartment complex. Hudson thus became neighbours with Browne. In the late night hours of May 27, 1983, he broke into her apartment and “chloroformed” her with red ant killer. He stabbed her to death with a screwdriver. She was stabbed almost 30 times, and even strangled. The 20-year-old was found by her boyfriend. A reward of $4,000 was quickly raised by locals hoping to catch her killer.
Nidia Mendoza
- February 6, 1984
- Sugar Land, Texas
On February 6, 1984, the body of 17-year-old Nidia Mendoza was found dismembered along Highway 59, southwest of Houston, Texas. Her head and legs had been severed. She had been stabbed twenty-five times in the chest and four times in the vaginal area. She was beaten and strangled before she died.
Browne said he met her at a strip club and police confirmed Mendoza worked at Dames Nightclub. He brought her to a hotel room for paid sex, then strangled the girl. Browne dismembered her in the bathtub with a dull butcher knife he found in the kitchenette.
Melody Ann Bush
- March 20, 1984
- Flatonia, Texas
On March 25, 1984, Melody Ann Bush’s body was found in a culvert near Flatonia, Texas. She had been dead about 5 days. She died from acute acetone poisoning, which the killer thought was ether. Browne had also stabbed her with an ice pick. There are contradictory death dates for Bush, but her headstone says March 20, 1984. The Texas Death Index indicates March 25 (that was the day she was found).
Rocio Chila Sperry
- November 10, 1987
- Colorado Springs, Colorado
Rocio Sperry, 15, went missing after going to the movies. Her car was found November 22, 1987, by her husband in a parking lot. She was never found. Browne confessed to her murder years later. The life of Sperry’s husband, Joseph, was never the same after her disappearance. He became a heron addict, although later he became sober. He had been married 5 more times.
Heather Dawn Church
- September 17, 1991
- Colorado Springs, Colorado
Thirteen-year-old Heather Dawn Church was taken from her Black Forest home on September 17, 1991 while babysitting her younger brother. She was not quickly found, despite extensive police searches. Over the years, hundreds of people, including the FBI, searched for her. Millions of postcards with her photo were mailed out. The only evidence the killer left behind was three fingerprints on a window screen.
Lisa Marie Lowe
- November 3, 1991
- St. Francis River in Lee County, Arkansas
Lisa Marie Lowe, an alleged sex worker, met the killer in a club. They agree to paid sex, and afterwards, Browne claims he either shot or strangled her. Her body was found 3 weeks later floating in the St. Francis River in Lee County, Arkansas. She was 21.
Timothy Lee Warren
- March 12, 1992
- Mohawk Park, Tulsa, Oklahoma
On March 12, 1992, Timothy Lee Warren, 39, went to a restaurant in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Warren entered a restaurant and sat next to a stranger- Browne. Browne convinced Warren to come with him to Mohawk Park, a gay cruising site. As soon as they exited Browne’s truck, he overpowered Warren and killed him. In his first confession Browne said he strangled Warren, but in his second confession Browne said he shot Warren. Tulsa police later confirmed that Warren was the victim of an unsolved homicide. He was found partially nude in the Mohawk Park creek. He had been shot three times in the head with a .22.
Church Found
- September 16, 1993
- Rampart Range Road, west of Colorado Springs, Colorado
Part of Church’s body was found near an abandoned car off Rampart Range Road. She suffered blunt trauma to the head. The car was quickly ruled out as evidence, as were pajamas also found nearby.
Church has received significantly more media attention than the other victims of Browne, including Sperry who was also a minor.
Heather Church’s story was featured on “Screen Pass”, Season 12, Episode 12 of the TV show Forensic Files. It aired January 7, 2008. It was also featured on “Who Took Heather?”, from Homicide Hunter: Lt. Kenda, which aired January 16, 2019.
Arrest & Trial
Browne Arrested in Church Murder
- March 28, 1995
- Colorado Springs, Colorado
The El Paso County sheriff’s office continued reviewing the Church cold case. In 1995, it was noted that fingerprints had been gathered from the scene, but not submitted to every one of the 92 AFIS fingerprint systems. Crime lab investigator Tom Carney did so. He got a hit: Browne’s fingerprints had been on file in Louisiana since 1991. Browne was arrested for Church’s murder on March 24, 1995.
Browne Pleads Guilty to Church Murder
- May 25, 1995
- Colorado Springs, Colorado
On May 25, 1995, Browne accepted a plea deal in the matter of Church’s murder. He originally faced 26 counts including first-degree murder kidnapping and a number of unrelated counts including sexual assault of a minor. Browne was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. The agreement meant Browne avoided a death sentence.
Browne Pleads Guilty to Sperry
- July 27, 2006
- Colorado Springs, Colorado
Browne pleaded guilty to the murder and dismemberment of Sperry. He avoided the death penalty. He got life with a chance at people. Sperry has never been found.
The Aftermath of Browne’s Murders
After his arrest, Browne taunted police with letters and poetry claiming he killed 49 women and men. Browne claimed his first murder was in South Korea while stationed there in the US Army. Browne said he killed another soldier during a bar fight over a woman.
While in jail, he provided a very rough country map to authorities indicating 17 murders in Louisiana, 9 in Colorado, 7 in Texas, 5 in Arkansas, 3 in Mississippi, 2 in California, 2 in New Mexico, 2 in Oklahoma, and 1 murder in Washington State. However, Browne was very vague on the details – sometimes claiming murders while the person was known to be alive – and most could not be corroborated by police. He never led police to any bodies.
Details on various confessed murders not corroborated and therefore not included here, can be found in an El Paso County Sheriff’s Office affidavit.
Authorities would not charge Browne because they had only his claims and no other evidence. If Browne was incorrectly charged, it would provide an excellent defense for the real killer, they said.
Authorities reportedly believed it was possible that Browne murdered the following people, but charges have never been laid: Katherine Jean Hayes, Faye Aline Self, Wanda Faye Hudson, Nidia Mendoza, Melody Ann Bush, Lisa Marie Lowe and Timothy Lee Warren.
Faye Self’s daughter has told the press she doubts Browne killed her mother. “His story was too clean, too pat” she reportedly said. All three of her now-adult children believe the real killer was in the Wagon W heel restaurant the night she disappeared (from that same restaurant).
Robert Charles Browne remains in custody as of April 7, 2022.
BOOKS
Books about or including The Killer
The Devil’s Right-Hand Man: The True Story of Serial Killer Robert Charles Browne by Stephen G. Michaud, Debbie M. Price
Publisher : Berkley; Reprint edition (September 2, 2008)
Language : English
Mass Market Paperback : 304 pages
ISBN-10 : 0425223213
ISBN-13 : 978-0425223215
The case of Robert Charles Browne, who may be one of America’s most prolific serial killers, was supposed to be a cold one. But that was before three retired buddies took it on.
“The score is you one, the other team 48,” wrote Robert Charles Browne in March 2000, from his prison cell in Colorado, where he was serving a life sentence for a girl’s murder. “Seven sacred virgins entombed side by side, those less worthy are scattered wide.”
No one in local law enforcement knew what to make of this message. Then three friends, volunteer members of the El Paso Sheriff’s Department cold case squad, decided to write back to Browne.
Browne boasted about having killed as many as forty-eight people in a cross-country murder spree spanning twenty-five years. As the old friends parsed the riddles, investigators followed clues leading to a confession and the closure of another heartbreaking case. This is their story.
Includes photographs.
Hello Charlie: Letters from a Serial Killer by Charlie Hess, Davin Seay
Publisher : Atria Books (April 2 2011)
Language : English
Paperback : 339 pages
ISBN-10 : 1416544860
ISBN-13 : 978-1416544869
The 1991 abduction and murder of thirteen-year-old Heather Dawn Church baffled police for three agonizing years, and became one of the most infamous murders the quiet and scenic city of Colorado Springs had ever seen. It was legendary homicide detective Lou Smit who finally broke the case, sending Robert Charles Browne, a forty-three-year-old Louisiana drifter and career criminal, to prison for life.
But the savage saga of Robert Browne did not end there. In 2000, Smit, now retired, joined forces with Charlie Hess, an ex-FBI agent and former CIA operative, to reexamine the cold-case murder files of the local Sheriff’s Department. With the addition of amateur forensics buff Scott Fischer, the Apple Dumpling Gang was born.
As their volunteer work continued, Smit, Hess, and Fischer came upon a taunting letter written by Browne, hinting that the death of Heather Church was only the tip of the iceberg. What other law enforcement officials had simply ignored, the Apple Dumpling Gang took on with single-minded determination. Charlie Hess began a correspondence with Browne in which, over the course of dozens of letters, the killer teasingly spun out the details of a horrific killing spree spread over thirty years and nine states. The tally, according to Browne: forty-nine deaths, making him one of the most prolific serial murderers in the annals of American crime.
Hess’s unique insight into criminal psychology, honed over his years developing informants and working as a polygraph operator, made him uniquely suited to match wits with the cagey and canny killer. But Browne was every bit the retired cop’s equal: quickwitted, mercurial, and charismatic, with a penchant for riddles and a lifetime full of grisly secrets.
A riveting account of the complex and chilling cat-and-mouse game Hess and Browne played over five years, Hello Charlie details Browne’s bloody swath of murder — by strangulation, poisoning, and dismemberment — even as it explores the special bond forged between the cop and the killer, allowing Hess unprecedented access into the mind of a remorseless psychopath.
As compulsively readable as any crime novel, Hello Charlie picks up where The Silence of the Lambs left off, with the incredible true story of one man’s search for justice with a murderer as his guide.
The Serial Killer Compendium by RJ Parker
Publisher : Createspace Independent Pub (March 25 2012)
Language : English
Paperback : 396 pages
ISBN-10 : 1475017820
ISBN-13 : 978-1475017823
This book is an astounding compilation of 50 of the world’s most notorious and ruthless Serial Killers, including: Serial Killers who were captured, Serial Killings that were never solved, Female Serial Killers, and Doctors who killed their patients. Some of the more infamous cases are: Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Son of Sam, Karla Homolka, Christine Fallings, the Green River Killer, Dr. H.H. Holmes and the Zodiac. This book also includes: the Black Widows, Cannibals, Unsolved Serial Killings, and the various categories of Serial Killers as defined by the FBI. At any given time in the United States alone, there are thirty to fifty unidentified active serial killers at work constantly changing their targets and methods; however, some authorities think that number is even much higher.
VIDEOS & PODCASTS
Docs and Pods on serial killer Robert “Charlie” Browne
THE STATS
Statistical table for Robert Charles Browne
| Killer Name | BROWNE, Robert Charles |
| Gender | M |
| Arrest Date | March 28, 1995 |
| Conviction Date | May 25, 1995 |
| Sentence | Life term without parole in 1995 and life with parole in 2006 |
| Birth Location | Coushatta Louisiana USA |
| Birth Date | October 31, 1952 |
| Status | Alive or Unknown |
| Height | 188 |
| Physical Issue | No |
| Speech Issues | No |
| Head Injury | No |
| Suffer Physical Abuse | yes by mother |
| Suffer Physical Abuse | yes by mother |
| Psychological Abuse | yes by siblings |
| School Grade | Dropped out |
| School Degree | Some high school but no diploma |
| Caused Problems in School | Hot temper but smart |
| Teased | Yes |
| Military Service | Yes |
| Military Service | US Army 1969-1976 |
| Applied for Police Job | No |
| Fired | Yes |
| Job Types | Maintenance man, store clerk, assembly plant employee. |
| Labour Type | Blue |
| Employment Status | Employed as store clerk |
| Sexual Preference | Straight |
| Marital Status | Remarried 6 wives, all living |
| Number of Children | 1 |
| Killer Type | Thrill killer, Disorganized, Wanderer |
| Drug Abuse | No |
| Alcohol Abuse | No |
| Psychology | No |
| Institutionalized | No |
| Animal Torture | Yes |
| Fire Setting | Yes |
| Bed Wetting | No |
| comment1 | Claimed 49 murders, through letters and poetry - most of which were dismissed by police |
| comment2 | 2 teenage girls confirmed and found guilty of their murders, 6 others police can corroborate claims of slayings - 3 in Louisiana 2 in Texas 1 in Arkansas; |
| comment3 | Claimed between 48 on a map provided to authorities plus 1 in South Korea - 17 in Louisiana, 9 in Colorado, 7 in Texas, 5 in Arkansas, 3 in Mississippi, 2 on California, 2 in New Mexico, 2 in Oklahoma, 1 in Washington State |
| Total Dead Victims | 8 |
| Victims (Suspected) | 6 |
| Victims (Convicted) | 2 |
| Victims (Claimed) | 48 |
| Victim Gender | F |
| Victim Race | Black, White, Unknown |
| Victim Age | 16, 20, 17, 15, 13, 26 |
| Victim Type | strangers |
| Method of Killing | Shoot, Stab, Strangle, poison |
| Weapon | Gun, ice pick, shoe string, screw driver, ant killer |
| Gun Type | handgun |
| Abduction | Yes |
| Robbery | Yes |
| Sex Assault | Yes |
| Efficient | Yes |
| Binding | Yes |
| Sex Assault on Minor | Yes |
| Washing/Water | Yes |
| Body - Dismembered | Yes |
| Body - Left, Not Hidden | Yes |
| Body - Moved, Hidden | Yes |
| Previous Crimes | Car theft, other drivers |
| Previous Prison Time | Yes |
Killer Rating
RESOURCES
- The Times (Nov 1, 1980)
- The Shreveport Journal (May 31, 1983)
- The Times (Jun 2, 1983)
- The Shreveport Journal Pt. 1 (Nov 10, 1984)
- The Shreveport Journal Pt. 2 (Nov 10, 1984)
- The Daily Sentinel (Sep 22, 1991)
- Tulsa Police Cold Case (Mar 12. 1992)
- The Daily Oklahoman (Mar 13, 1992)
- The Daily Sentinel (Sep 19, 1993)
- The Daily Sentinel (Mar 29, 1995)
- The Daily Sentinel (May 25, 1995)
- Fort Collins Coloradoan Pt. 1 (Jul 28, 2006)
- Fort Collins Coloradoan Pt. 2 (Jul 28, 2006)
- The Denver Post (Jul 31, 2006)
- New York Times (Apr 29, 2007)
- The Times Pt. 1 (Jul 30, 2007)
- The Times Pt. 1 (Jul 30, 2007)
- The Charley Project
- El Paso County Sheriff's Office