Colorado man says he killed 49 times
Published 9:00 pm Thursday, July 27, 2006
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – A man serving a life sentence in Colorado for murdering a teenage girl has claimed responsibility for as many as 48 slayings across the U.S., and one overseas, dating back more than three decades, authorities said Thursday.
Robert Charles Browne, 53, told authorities the slayings occurred from 1970 until his arrest in 1995. He was in court Thursday to plead guilty to one of those killings – the death of another girl in Colorado in 1987.
Authorities so far have been able to corroborate his detailed claims in six slayings – three in Louisiana, two in Texas and one in Arkansas, El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa said.
Browne claims his chain of killings began with a soldier in South Korea in 1970, which Maketa said has not been verified.
The other claims include one in Washington state, 17 murders in Louisiana, nine in Colorado, seven in Texas, five in Arkansas, three in Mississippi, two each in California, New Mexico and Oklahoma – 49 in all, the sheriff said.
He said Browne’s claim of 49 murders could be credible.
“It’s possible he’s exaggerating, but I don’t think you can conduct business assuming he’s exaggerating,” Maketa said. “We’ll continue to pursue leads.”
If Browne’s claims prove true, he would be one of the most prolific killers in U.S. history.
Browne’s confession came after several years of correspondence and discussion between the killer and cold-case volunteer investigators, authorities said. Browne himself sent the first letter in “cryptic and poetic prose” in March 2000 to El Paso County prosecutors, officials said.
“Seven sacred virgins, entombed side by side, those less worthy, are scattered wide,” the letter says. “The score is you 1, the other team 48. If you were to drive to the end zone in a white Trans Am, the score could be 9 to 48. That would complete your home court sphere.”
Browne pleaded guilty in 1995 to kidnapping and murder in the 1991 death of Heather Dawn Church, 13, of Black Forest, a town north of Colorado Springs. He was sentenced to life without parole. On Thursday, he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the death of Rocio Sperry, a girl who was about 15 at the time of her death 19 years ago.
