Case 335: Linda Brown

AI agents are everywhere, automating tasks and making decisions at machine speed.

But agents make mistakes.

Just one rogue agent can do big damage before you even notice.

Rubrik Agent Cloud is the only platform that helps you monitor agents, set guardrails, and rewind mistakes.

So you can unleash agents, not risk.

Accelerate your AI transformation at rubric.com.

That's R-U-B-R-I-K.com.

We get it.

It's more important than ever to get the most out of your money.

Options are key.

Options like Lyft, where you get great rewards, especially with partners like Dash Pass by DoorDash.

If you're a Dash Pass member, just link your DoorDash account and you'll get 5% off on-demand rides, 10% off scheduled rides to the airport, plus two free priority pickup upgrades every month.

New to Dash Pass?

To sign up for a three-month free trial, check Lyft.

Terms apply.

Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents.

If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis center.

For suggested phone numbers for confidential support and for a more detailed list of content warnings, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website.

At around 2 a.m.

on Tuesday, March 19, 1985, 32-year-old David Brown got out of bed, put on some clothes and then headed outside to his Honda Prelude, which was parked in the driveway.

David got into the car and backed out into Ocean Breeze Drive, the wide residential street in Garden Grove, Southern California, where he lived with his family.

The mood at the Brown residence had been somewhat tense that evening.

David's parents had come over to have dinner with David and his 23-year-old wife, Linda.

David and Linda had argued about how best to parent their eight-month-old daughter, Ashley, not her real name, as she had been crying a lot lately.

David didn't think this was normal and he wanted Linda to rock Ashley to sleep to prevent her crying at bedtime.

Linda wanted Ashley to learn how to self-soothe and said it would be fine to let her cry herself to sleep.

This had resulted in a quarrel between the couple.

When David asked his parents whether Ashley's crying was normal, they reassured him that it was, and he subsequently apologised to Linda.

That hadn't been the only unpleasant aspect of the evening.

David had a 14-year-old daughter named Cinnamon from a previous relationship who lived with him and Linda.

Lately, Cinnamon had been butting heads with her stepmother, and she'd been in a particularly bad mood that night, squabbling with Linda and being disobedient.

Cinnamon was off school that week for spring break and spending more time at home, which only heightened the tense atmosphere.

To make matters even more difficult, Linda's 17-year-old sister, Patty Bailey, had also moved in with the young family.

Their three-bedroom ranch-style house didn't feel big enough to accommodate all the issues related to having a small infant and two teenagers living in the same space.

David, a successful man with his own computer business, was having trouble sleeping and decided to go for a late-night drive.

First, he headed to a convenience store for a snack.

He bought a single serve apple pie and a Dr.

Pepper soft drink as well as four comic books.

David then headed back to the highway and drove aimlessly for a while.

The roads were pleasantly quiet due to the lateness of the hour.

Eventually, he turned onto Newport Boulevard and made his way to a Denny's chain restaurant to use the bathroom

When he was done, David made his way back home.

He parked his car in the driveway, then quietly went inside.

As he walked into the living room, he was met by an alarming sight.

His sister-in-law Patty stood there holding eight-month-old Ashley, trembling violently and sobbing loudly.

While David had been out, something terrible had happened.

At 3:25 a.m., a call came through to a 911 dispatcher at the Garden Grove Police Department.

A caller identifying himself as David Brown blurted out, Either my daughter or my wife, or both, I don't know, are dead.

He explained that he'd just returned home to find his wife's sister in a state of distress.

David said that Patty had been sleeping when all of a sudden she was startled awake by the sound of a firearm going off.

14-year-old Cinnamon had been standing at the foot of Patty's bed holding a handgun.

She'd fired a single shot into the wall behind Patty's bed.

Cinnamon then left and Patty heard two more shots fired from the direction of the main bedroom.

Baby Ashley cried out from her nursery which sat between Patty's room and the main bedroom.

Terrified, Patty said she raced into the nursery and scooped Ashley up before barricading the two of them in her room until she heard David return home.

She and David then briefly tried looking for Cinnamon, but there was no sign of her.

David told the 911 dispatcher he was worried she might have harmed her stepmother and herself.

He'd glanced into his bedroom and noticed his wife lying in bed in an unnatural position.

He couldn't bring himself to go in and take a closer look, too scared of the grisly sight that might be waiting.

Within minutes, a patrol officer arrived at the Brown residence.

Ocean Breeze Drive was a pleasant, well-kept street in a nice part of town, home to professionals, middle-aged couples, and young families.

It was the last place anyone would expect a murder.

The officer was met at the front door by David, who was visibly distraught.

I'm afraid to go in there and look, officer, he said in a shaky voice.

The officer headed through the living room and den towards the main bedroom.

Its door was closed, so the officer pushed it open, shining his torch into the dark space ahead.

Its beam landed on the bed, casting light across Linda Brown, who was lying on her back.

Her lower half was covered by a blue blanket, but her torso was visible.

Both her t-shirt and the sheets beneath her were soaked with blood.

Her right arm was extended while her left hand was holding her left ear.

Lying on the gold shag carpet next to the bed was a Smith ⁇ Wesson.38 caliber snub-nosed revolver.

From the doorway, The police officer could hear Linda gurgling.

She was still alive.

Paramedics were urgently summoned.

They found that Linda still had a pulse, though it was weak.

She also drew a short, shallow breath.

Linda was transferred to the den where paramedics administered CPR, then rushed her to the Fountain Valley Community Hospital.

Meanwhile, More police officers arrived at the property.

Some began to secure the crime scene, while others inspected the house.

Overall, the place was a mess.

Clothes and other objects were strewn throughout the residence, all of the rooms were cluttered, and waste paper baskets were overflowing.

A dresser had three of its drawers open, revealing various women's clothes, prescription pill bottles, and an empty gun holster.

Beneath Linda and David Brown's bed was a box of 12-gauge shotgun shells.

There was a bathroom adjacent to the main bedroom.

Police checked to see if Cinnamon was in there, possibly injured as well.

But there was no sign of her.

Other officers began to search the property's exterior in case Cinnamon was out there.

The front yard was entirely empty.

In the backyard was a garage, a trailer and a secured kennel with two dog houses inside, home to the family's three dogs.

But there was no sign of cinnamon.

An officer radioed dispatch with the description of the missing girl.

Brown hair, brown eyes, short at a little over five feet tall and weighing about 120 pounds.

A police helicopter was sent to Ocean Breeze Drive to see if cinnamon could be spotted from above.

It hovered alow over the houses, shining a spotlight into their yards.

Police trawled the street on foot, using their flashlights to look for cinnamon and door-knocking neighbours to find out if they'd heard anything.

One man who lived directly across the street said he'd been woken by a loud thud at around 3.30am,

but heard nothing further.

No one else reported hearing or seeing anything.

Meanwhile, Linda Brown's sister, Patty Bailey, began filling in the gaps via a police interview carried out at the house.

Patty had moved in with Linda and David six years earlier when she was 11.

She'd been having some issues at home and the newlyweds had welcomed her in.

David's daughter Cinnamon had only just moved in with them six months earlier in September 1984.

Cinnamon hadn't been getting along with her mother, so moved in with her dad.

At first, everything seemed great.

Cinnamon adored her father, was content to share a bedroom with Patty, and appeared excited to be a big sister to baby Ashley.

She even helped Linda out with the baby where she could.

But Patty said that within a few months, cracks began to show.

Around Christmas, Cinnamon had become very moody and withdrawn.

She started arguing with her her father and stepmother about household rules and the chores she was expected to perform.

Cinnamon seemed resentful of how much attention her infant sister received in comparison to her and became increasingly rebellious and sarcastic.

Patty recalled that a few weeks earlier, Linda had finally lost her patience.

She requested that Cinnamon move out of the house and into a trailer they kept in the backyard.

Even though the trailer was properly furnished and had its own stereo and TV, this banishment only increased tensions.

Cinnamon started dividing her time between the Brown residence and her mother's place again, and she blamed Linda for her increasingly unsettled situation.

When the officers asked Patty for an account of that evening's events, She explained that David's parents had come over for dinner and to play cards, leaving at around 9.30pm.

After that, Linda had a shower and went to bed while David, Paddy and Cinnamon had watched television in the living room.

At one point, Linda got up for a drink and saw Cinnamon still up and sitting on the couch.

She reminded the 14-year-old to go to bed, but Cinnamon ignored her.

At about 11pm, David went to bed and Patty and Cinnamon went to Patty's room where there was a trundle bed that Cinnamon often slept on.

As Patty got ready to go to sleep, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with Cinnamon.

Patty didn't know what it was, but she could sense that Cinnamon wanted to tell her something.

Patty offered to stay up a bit longer and watch MTV.

an offer Cinnamon accepted.

As they sat together in front of the television, Patty said she tried to encourage Cinnamon to open up, to no avail.

Eventually, Patty decided to go to bed.

A few minutes after she went to her room, Cinnamon followed.

She asked Patty to explain something to her before going to sleep.

Cinnamon then revealed she was carrying a small handgun and asked,

How do you work this?

Patty asked why.

Just in case, Cinnamon replied.

When Patty asked, in case of what, Cinnamon stated,

in case someone breaks in.

Patty tried to reassure the girl that their home's alarm system would prevent intruders, but Cinnamon was adamant that she wanted to know what to do in case of an emergency.

Patty eventually told her, I'm not positive, I've just seen this on TV.

You just cock it back and pull the trigger.

Cinnamon thanked Patty and left.

Then Patty went to sleep.

The next thing she knew, she was being woken up by Cinnamon firing a single shot into the wall of her bedroom.

David Brown gave a similar account of the evening's events, though he explained that he hadn't been home when the shooting unfolded.

After going to bed beside his already sleeping wife, he'd read a few comic books but struggled to doze off.

His mind troubled and racing due to the recent discord in his home, he'd decided to go for a drive to clear his head.

He described how when he returned home more than an hour later, he'd found a distraught Paddy holding his baby.

Paddy told him what had happened before going out to the backyard to look for cinnamon, checking in the trailer where she usually slept.

But cinnamon had vanished.

While Paddy looked for cinnamon, David called his parents in a state of shock.

They told him to call the police, and that's when he phoned 911.

David told officers that the family owned eight rifles as well as two handguns that were always loaded.

While some of the firearms were kept in a safe, he kept his blue steel revolver wrapped in a Kmart shopping bag in the bottom drawer of his nightstand.

The other handgun belonged to Linda, and David said he didn't know where she kept it.

Gunshot residue tests were carried out on Paddy and David to see if either of them could have fired the weapon.

Both tests came back negative.

David was visibly distraught, shaking and chain-smoking as he spoke with the police.

His parents soon arrived at the residence and took baby Ashley into their care.

At 4.26am, almost exactly an hour after David first called 911, a call came through from the hospital.

Linda Brown had died.

The case was now a murder investigation, and the suspect was still missing.

By 6 a.m., daylight was beginning to break.

During a search of Cinnamon's trailer, police officers had found a small Daxund puppy which belonged to the 14-year-old.

They decided to place it in the kennel in the backyard where the family's other dogs, two cocker spaniels and a Pomeranian, were kept.

Detective Fred MacLean and two other officers entered the kennel and set the puppy down.

As they did so, Detective McLean noticed something poking out of one of the two doghouses that sat at the back of the pen.

It was a white tennis shoe.

Detective McLean walked towards the doghouse and bent down.

Peering inside, he saw a small figure curled up in the fetal position.

It was a young girl whose long brown hair had fallen across her face.

Cinnamon, Detective McLean called.

The girl muttered unintelligibly in response.

The detective reached inside the doghouse and took Cinnamon's hand in his, pulling her up and out of the small space.

She wore a sweatshirt and pants, which were covered with what looked to be bright red vomit.

Vomit also coated the floor of the doghouse Cinnamon had been lying on, dotted with what looked to be pill capsules.

The smell of urine permeated the air.

Cinnamon's hair was disheveled, she was shaking and appeared barely conscious.

Clutched in one of her hands was a piece of pink cardboard paper wrapped with a red ribbon.

Detective MacLean took the paper from Cinnamon.

Written on it in messy, childlike handwriting were the words,

Dear God, please forgive me.

I didn't mean to hurt her.

Detective MacLean guided Cinnamon into a waiting police car to be driven to the station.

On the way, Cinnamon asked the two officers accompanying her if her father was alright.

They told her he was.

Is Paddy all right?

Cinnamon asked.

Yes, they answered.

How about Linda?

Cinnamon said.

How's Linda?

The two officers didn't reply.

When they reached the police station, Cinnamon was photographed, underwent a gunshot residue test, and was checked by paramedics.

Still as groggy as she'd appeared at home, Cinnamon drifted between lucidity and unconsciousness.

It appeared that she was either intoxicated or under the influence of a drug.

Her blood pressure was low, but she wasn't in any danger and could still answer questions.

At 8 a.m., Cinnamon Brown was interviewed by Detective MacLean.

Do you know why you're here?

Detective McLean asked.

Because I hurt Linda, Cinnamon replied.

How did you hurt Linda?

he asked.

I shot her, came the response.

Detective MacLean informed the teenager that Linda was dead and then read Cinnamon her rights.

While Cinnamon said that she felt sick, she agreed that she understood her rights and would proceed with questioning.

She told Detective MacLean that she'd moved out of her mother's home because her mother yelled too much and it made her nervous.

Cinnamon got along well with her father, so she'd thought living with him would be better, but she and Linda soon began to clash.

Cinnamon said she disapproved of Linda's parenting, especially her use of a self-soothing method for the baby, which Cinnamon saw as neglectful.

She also accused Linda of sometimes hitting her baby, which angered Cinnamon.

She said that Linda was tired of her and didn't like her, adding that Linda had said she no longer wanted Cinnamon in the house, so she'd moved out to the trailer in the backyard.

But that hadn't resolved matters.

Cinnamon said that the previous evening, she and Linda had had a big fight.

She told me that she hated my guts, and I go, I guess I hate you too, Cinnamon recalled.

Detective McLean asked if Linda had said why she hated her.

No, Cinnamon replied.

She wouldn't tell me.

Cinnamon believed Linda was jealous of her close bond with David, adding,

I'm my daddy's daughter.

Though she struggled at points to answer the questions, Cinnamon managed to continue.

She said that the previous night's argument had culminated in Linda threatening to kill Cinnamon if she hadn't left the house by the time Linda woke up the following morning.

Detective McLean asked Cinnamon whose gun she had used to shoot Linda.

Cinnamon said it was her father's and that she'd found it in an office drawer, explaining,

I shot three shots.

One of them was in my room with Patty and the other two were with Linda.

Cinnamon hadn't planned to shoot Patty.

That shot had only gone off due to Cinnamon trying to figure out how to operate the weapon.

She said that no one had shown her how to use the revolver, but she'd had some experience firing little guns before.

As the interview went on, Cinnamon became increasingly drowsy and her speech slowed with each answer.

At one point, she murmured under her breath,

Please don't let them get away with murder.

When Detective McLean reminded her that she had to answer his questions to ensure she didn't get away with it, Cinnamon replied in a dazed voice,

I'm trying to, but I can't keep my eyes open.

Realizing Cinnamon was on the verge of passing out, MacLean ended the interview after just 30 minutes.

By this stage, she could barely hold her head up.

Just as they were about to leave the interrogation room, Cinnamon explained why she was so tired.

Earlier that morning, she'd taken about 80 capsules of some kind of drug.

Testing revealed that she'd taken a massive overdose of Darvacet, a prescription painkiller, and diazide, a diuretic used to treat high blood pressure.

Cinnamon was admitted to the Garden Grove Medical Center for treatment.

After arriving at the hospital, Cinnamon told another police officer there how she'd shot Linda, before falling asleep.

She was subsequently transferred to the jail ward of another hospital where she confessed twice more to a physician and a psychiatrist.

Cinnamon was monitored carefully over the following days.

All up, she had consumed three bottles of prescription medication that had belonged to her father, and it was a miracle she had survived.

The dose she'd taken contained more than six times the fatal amount of propoxaphene, an opioid and a key ingredient in Darvoset.

During an interview with the police, Cinnamon's father, David Brown, said this was not the first time his daughter had self-harmed.

Just two weeks earlier, she had overdosed on aspirin.

David said he blamed himself for Linda's murder because he hadn't realized how deeply troubled Cinnamon was and he therefore hadn't encouraged her to seek therapy sooner.

He said he'd forgotten to set the house alarm before his late-night drive.

Had he done so, Cinnamon might have triggered it and Linda might still be alive.

Regardless of Cinnamon's actions, David vowed to stand by his daughter, insisting she needed him now more than ever.

I just love her to death, he said.

An autopsy confirmed that Linda Brown had died from two gunshots to the chest, one of which had pierced her superior vena cava, the large vein that carries blood from the upper body to the heart.

One shot had been made from 12 to 18 inches away, while the other had been closer at a distance of 3 to 6 inches.

Three days after the murder, a memorial service was held for Linda with a viewing of her body which was dressed in a blue lace dress, her head resting on a burgundy coloured pillow.

Mourners approached the casket in turn, each placing a red rose inside as they paid their respects.

Linda was subsequently cremated and her ashes were interred in the base of a fountain at Pacific View Memorial Park.

A plaque was added that read,

Your love, kindness, caring, and beauty will shine forever.

Love Ashley and David.

Meanwhile, Cinnamon Brown was formally charged with first-degree murder.

She was booked into Orange County Juvenile Hall in absentia while she remained hospitalized.

Cinnamon Brown's trial began less than six months after Linda's death.

Due to her age, California law dictated that she could not be prosecuted as an adult and that she would be tried by judge alone.

In a curious development, Cinnamon pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, claiming that she had no memory of the shooting.

A psychiatrist testifying on her behalf stated that she was suffering from psychogenic amnesia, disassociative disorder and recurrent depression, which prevented her from recalling any details of the crime.

As each new witness took the stand, from police investigators to the medical personnel who had treated her, Cinnamon insisted they were all strangers.

The prosecution completely rejected the insanity plea, arguing that Linda's death was a cold-blooded murder carried out by a, quote, depressed and angry girl who had carefully planned the crime.

Their most damning evidence came from the testimony of their first witness, Patty Bailey.

Cinnamon appeared stunned, confused, and somewhat betrayed as Patty took the stand.

Patty detailed Cinnamon's behaviour leading up to the murder, including her moodiness, depression, and suicidal thoughts.

She described how Cinnamon's misunderstandings with with Linda escalated into full-blown arguments so intense that Patty would have to leave the room.

She also recounted her memories of the night of the shooting, including how Cinnamon had shown her the revolver and asked her how to use it.

Yet, Patty's testimony was not as critical of Cinnamon as many had anticipated.

She stated that she had never heard Cinnamon say she hated Linda, and she had even seen the pair hug on occasion.

Patty defended Cinnamon against claims of drug use and refused to state definitively that she was the figure she'd seen standing over her bed after the first gunshot or the one she later glimpsed slipping out the back door.

Patty was accused of trying to protect Cinnamon, which she denied.

Cinnamon watched the trial in a bleak state, her expression perplexed as she struggled to follow the police jargon, medical terms, forensic science and expert analysis.

All the while, she kept scanning the room for familiar and supportive faces.

Among them was her mother, Brenda.

But there was one very noticeable absence.

David Brown didn't attend the trial as either a witness or supporter, citing illness related to a liver disorder.

His testimony was presented via stipulations, agreements between the prosecution and the defense about certain facts or evidence, meaning neither side had to prove them with additional testimony.

Both sides stipulated that David Brown believed Cinnamon was guilty.

After hearing the closing arguments, the judge declared a 15-minute recess.

Upon returning, he announced that he had reached a verdict.

He concluded that Cinnamon Brown had killed Linda Brown with premeditation and deliberation, finding her guilty of murder.

Cinnamon shook her head faintly, her face downcast.

It was then up to the judge to determine Cinnamon's state of mind at the time of the killing.

a decision that would decide whether she ended up in a hospital or a prison cell.

Multiple witnesses were called to assess her mindset, specifically whether she was able to distinguish right from wrong during the shooting.

Psychiatrists found Cinnamon too grounded to be psychotic and too sincere, remorseful and upset to have an antisocial personality.

She showed no signs of psychosis or hallucinations and appeared to function intellectually in the average to above average range.

The only possible explanation they could find for her actions was intermittent explosive disorder, a condition characterized by impulsive aggression and regular verbal and physical outbursts.

However, this couldn't be definitively concluded as Cinnamon refused to fully cooperate with the doctors.

One psychiatrist who tried to examine Cinnamon said,

She wouldn't let me in.

I had the feeling that there is is a tremendous amount of chronic emotional turmoil in this young woman, and with the assumption that she indeed did what she is accused of, in my opinion, this represents severe interpersonal and emotional difficulties.

After reviewing reports from doctors, investigators and Cinnamon's friends and family, The judge concluded that she was sane at the time of Linda's murder.

Cinnamon was sentenced to 27 years to life in a juvenile correctional facility where she would receive psychiatric treatment.

Given her age at the time of the offence, she could be eligible for early release in as little as six years, provided she remained a model inmate and made progress in her treatment.

Before being led away, Cinnamon burst into tears.

Case Vile will be back shortly.

Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors.

You shouldn't have to put your life on hold to deal with hair loss.

That's why HIMS makes expert care easy and accessible, so you can focus on feeling like yourself again.

With 100% online access, you'll get a personalized treatment plan built around your goals.

Using doctor-trusted clinically proven ingredients like finasteride and monoxidol, HIMS can help stop further hair loss and even regrow hair in as little as three to six months.

No hidden fees, no surprises, just real personalized care on your terms.

For simple online access to personalized and affordable care for hair loss, ED, weight loss and more, visit hims.com slash casefile.

That's hims.com slash casefile for your free online visit.

HIMS.com slash casefile.

Individual results may vary based on studies of topical and oral monoxidil and finasteride.

Featured products include compounded drug products which the FDA does not approve or verify for safety, effectiveness or quality.

Prescription required.

See website for full details, restrictions and important safety information.

Kids are back in school and between drop-offs, homework and bath time, organizing dinner can feel like one task too many.

Home Chef helps take away that stress with fresh, pre-portioned meals that make weeknights easier and more enjoyable for the whole family.

Home Chef is rated number one by users of other meal kits for quality, convenience, value, taste and and recipe ease.

Whether it's classic recipes with fresh ingredients, 30-minute meals, oven-ready trays, or quick microwave options, there's something to fit any kind of day.

It's also budget-friendly, saving customers an average of $86 a month on groceries.

Olivia Lavois, host of Casefile Presents series The Bakersfield 3, loves HomeChef for its convenience and high-quality ingredients.

She She says it's also introduced her to new recipes she wouldn't have otherwise made.

For a limited time, Home Chef is offering my listeners 50% off and free shipping for your first box plus free dessert for life.

Go to homechef.com slash casefile.

That's homechef.com slash casefile for 50% off your first box and free dessert for life.

Homechef.com slash casefile.

Must be an active subscriber to receive free dessert.

AI agents are everywhere, automating tasks and making decisions at machine speed.

But agents make mistakes.

Just one rogue agent can do big damage before you even notice.

Rubrik Agent Cloud is the only platform that helps you monitor agents, set guardrails, and rewind mistakes so you can unleash agents, not risk.

Accelerate your AI transformation at rubric.com.

That's r-u-b-r-i-k.com.

Thank you for listening to this episode's ads.

By supporting our sponsors, you support CaseFile to continue to deliver quality content.

Following her trial, Cinnamon Brown settled into life at the California Youth Authority prison in Ventura, about two hours' drive north of where she'd lived with her family.

After missing Cinnamon's trial entirely, her father visited her regularly, telling her he was working hard to have her case reopened and secure her release.

David's visits always lifted Cinnamon's spirits.

He funded her commissary account, allowing her to buy food and personal care items and even letting her charge his business accounts to order items by mail.

Around his daughter, David remained his characteristically fun and upbeat self.

He was optimistic about Cinnamon's situation, reassuring her, you'll be out of here soon.

David also updated Cinnamon on life outside.

He spoke of major changes, notably his purchase of a new home in Anaheim Hills.

Though he admitted it wasn't ideal, calling the neighbourhood shoddy and a step down from Garden Grove, he said he couldn't bring himself to stay in the house where Linda had been killed.

David's parents moved in to help raise baby Ashley, while Patty Bailey was remaining temporarily until she could arrange a more permanent living situation.

David told Cinnamon that she wasn't missing out on much as the family spent most of their days at home.

Over time, David's visits grew less frequent.

He cited his declining health, which made the drive to the facility difficult.

David had a liver disorder and sometimes struggled with his breathing.

On phone calls, Cinnamon begged him to come up to visit, saying she missed him and feared she might never see him again.

It was difficult to get hold of David.

Most of the time when Cinnamon called the house, her grandparents answered and told her David wasn't around.

When he did visit, their meetings were brief and often ended before Cinnamon could voice her worries about her predicament.

If she managed to open up, David either ignored her concerns or offered vague assurances, like saying he was contacting lawyers to have her case reopened and working on securing her release.

He always wanted to know exactly what she was was telling those overseeing her care, instructing her not to disclose anything and to keep insisting that she didn't remember the night of the shooting.

Without David's visits, Cinnamon found other ways to pass the time.

Her behavior in detention was exemplary.

Though she mostly kept to herself, she was cooperative and friendly, and she adjusted well.

She attended high school classes and earned good grades while also working a part-time job to save money.

She got along with the other incarcerated teens and even sang in the facility's church choir.

She participated in nearly every program offered except counseling, which she consistently refused.

Despite undergoing numerous psychological examinations in an attempt to understand what drove her to kill, Cinnamon remained markedly guarded and unwilling to let anyone inside her mind.

Then one day in December 1986, 14 months into Cinnamon's sentence, she made a peculiar remark to her examiners.

Four weeks earlier, Cinnamon had been visited by her paternal grandfather, Arthur Brown.

Arthur was a devoted family man who loved Cinnamon deeply and was profoundly distressed to see her spending her youth incarcerated.

According to Cinnamon, Arthur had made a significant comment during his visit.

He'd claimed he knew who had really killed Linda, and that when the time was right, he would reveal it.

Word of Arthur Brown's peculiar remark reached Detectives Jay Newell and Fred MacLean, the investigators who had worked Linda Brown's case.

Although Linda's murder had technically been solved, Newell and MacLean had been unable to shake the unsettling feeling that the story was incomplete.

There were some curious aspects to the crime that had left them scratching their heads, despite its seemingly clear-cut nature.

For starters, David's actions in the wake of his wife's murder had been odd.

After returning home to find Patty Bailey distraught and talking about gunshots, David had refused to even enter the bedroom to check on Linda.

He'd called his father before calling 911 and told first responders he was too afraid to see Linda.

This behaviour was at odds with the way family members of victims typically responded, by rushing to check on their loved one and administer first aid.

When police had interviewed David in the aftermath of Linda's murder, he'd made some emotional outbursts and seemed more concerned with complaining to detectives about having a bad headache.

David had told detectives that earlier that night after going to bed, he and Linda had sex.

Yet, her autopsy revealed no evidence that she'd recently had intercourse.

David had also mentioned how he'd asked Patty to go out in the backyard to look for Cinnamon when he first arrived home.

This struck detectives as bizarre.

At the time, Cinnamon had been a potentially armed fugitive who'd just killed her stepmother and fired a shot into Paddy's bedroom.

Why would David ask a 17-year-old to look for his daughter outside in the middle of the night instead of looking for her himself?

Some strange things had happened at Linda's funeral too.

During the service, The minister presiding over the ceremony spoke about how David and Linda's marriage was sometimes rocky.

This prompted David to start hissing at the minister and gesturing for him to stop speaking.

The minister paused the memorial and went to speak to David, before returning to the pulpit and telling the audience that he'd been mistaken.

David and Linda's marriage had been almost perfect.

Despite outwardly supporting Cinnamon, David hadn't attended her trial except to hear the verdict.

At that time, he'd acted oddly, flirting with his ex-wife and Cinnamon's mother, Brenda, by playfully pulling her hair.

He hadn't looked somber or concerned about his daughter's fate at all.

All of these strange things left Detective Jay Newell wondering if there was more to the case than met the eye.

In his experience, a murder of this kind within a family was usually the result of a slow build-up of grievances over a long period of time.

But, according to Cinnamon and the other family members, Cinnamon's decision to shoot her stepmother had been impulsive, springing up almost out of nowhere.

Detectives had recovered diaries and other documents that Cinnamon had kept.

Nothing she had written expressed any animosity or resentment toward her stepmother.

They were breezy, light-hearted scribblings about pastimes and music she liked and activities she was doing with friends.

Arthur Brown's alleged comment to his granddaughter Cinnamon only reinforced the detective's belief that Linda Brown's murder was not the open and shut case the courts had been led to believe.

Detective Newell had spoken with Arthur during the initial investigation and found him to be skittish and nervous.

After reports surfaced that Arthur had told Cinnamon he knew who had really killed Linda, Detective Newell decided it was time to pay him another visit.

Arthur had recently moved in with David in his new home in Anaheim Hills.

While David had told Cinnamon their new neighbourhood was shoddy and a downgrade from their previous home, this couldn't be further from the truth.

The lavish blue-green stucco and fieldstone manor sat on a quiet tree-lined street in the county's most exclusive neighbourhood.

It featured a large manicured lawn, a triple garage, a balcony with picturesque views, and a swimming pool with a hot tub.

It was a massive upgrade from David's modest bungalow in Garden Grove.

Detective Newell discovered that the Anaheim Hills house had been paid for in cash thanks to several life insurance payouts that David had received following Linda's murder.

He had also used the payout to purchase multiple high-end cars and fund a lavish lifestyle that included gambling trips to Las Vegas.

The discovery of these payouts was of particular interest to Detective Newell.

Early in the investigation, David had told the authorities that Linda only had one small life insurance policy.

It turned out that he'd actually taken out three policies, with a fourth in progress at the time that Linda was killed.

In total, he'd collected more than $842,000 from his wife's death, the equivalent of more than $2.5 million in today's money.

Detective Newell discreetly watched the property, scanning for any sign of Arthur, and more importantly, for David.

He suspected the only way he could get Arthur to open up was to speak to him privately, away from the the prying ears of his son.

When Newell spotted Arthur in the yard and saw that David's car wasn't in the driveway, he seized the opportunity.

Arthur was immediately wary of the detective's unexpected presence, though agreed to speak briefly.

Newell explained that Cinnamon had been upset by something Arthur had recently told her.

Arthur immediately went on the defensive, insisting he didn't know what he could have said to cause concern.

Still, his affection for Cinnamon was evident as he referred to her as a darling little girl.

Arthur revealed that he had only ever visited Cinnamon when David was present, except for the one meeting four weeks earlier.

He had gone alone after Cinnamon called him, saying she wanted to talk.

Arthur claimed that Cinnamon had simply wanted to tell him how much she loved him and that she had managed to get six months off her sentence for the good work she'd been doing.

Arthur told Detective Newell that the juvenile correctional facility was no place for Cinnamon.

He then added nervously, I don't believe she had anything to do with it, and I still don't.

I never will.

The detective asked what he had said to Cinnamon.

Arthur replied,

I told her that I was sure I knew who planned the whole thing.

Newell advanced cautiously, sensing Arthur's apprehension to speak.

It was clear to him that the older man was genuinely frightened.

When Newell suggested that Cinnamon might not bear the full weight of guilt, Arthur nodded silently in agreement.

He then said,

I told Cine that I felt like I I knew who planned it, because I heard her say she was going to do something to save David.

Detective Newell pressed for clarification.

Heard who say?

Arthur went quiet and glanced anxiously over his shoulder before continuing.

Patty

Arthur claimed that two weeks before Linda's murder, he had been driving to a picnic with Linda, David and Linda's sister, Patty Bailey.

During the drive, Linda got out of the car to use the bathroom.

At this point in his recounting to Detective Newell, Arthur spat on the ground to emphasise his disgust as he described the then 17-year-old Paddy as a, quote, foul-mouthed bitch.

Arthur said that while Linda was away, he overheard Patty talking about wanting to get rid of Linda in order to save David.

Paddy allegedly claimed that Linda was plotting with her twin brother, Alan, to kill David and to take over his business.

Arthur said it took him more than five months after the murder to recall this conversation in the car due to the shock he was experiencing at the time.

He told Detective Newell he hadn't liked Paddy since and that he might have told Cinnamon what he'd heard, though he couldn't be certain.

Still, Arthur was adamant that Cinnamon wasn't fully responsible for Linda's murder, declaring,

I'd bet my life on that.

Detective Newell was left in a difficult position.

Arthur Brown's story would likely never hold up in court, and he'd only agreed to speak with Newell on the condition that his comments remain confidential.

But even if Newell Newell couldn't act on Arthur's allegations, he still wanted to know everything about them.

He asked Arthur if he was fabricating the story out of dislike for Paddy.

Arthur staunchly denied this, saying he simply hoped that by confiding in Newell about the incident, it might help Cinnamon.

At that moment, a car suddenly pulled into the driveway.

It was David Brown.

Panic flashed across Arthur's face as he muttered, If I stick my neck out too far, I'll lose my son, my granddaughter, and another granddaughter.

Newell quickly reassured him that wouldn't happen.

All he wanted was the truth.

As David approached, Newell stuck out his hand and, thinking on his feet, introduced himself as a real estate agent named Jerry Walker.

Arthur stood beside him, lips pressed shut, sweat dotting his forehead.

How you doing?

David asked casually, shaking Newell's hand.

It seemed that David didn't recognize Newell as one of the detectives who had investigated his wife's murder nearly two years earlier.

The three men shared a friendly conversation about property in the area before Newell quietly took his leave.

The allegation that Patty Bailey had wanted her older sister dead was startling.

Patty had never told the police that she'd felt any animosity toward Linda, speaking of her only with fondness.

When Patty had been 11 years old and having troubles at home, it was Linda who had suggested that she move in with her and David until things improved or until she turned 18.

Linda had told Patty,

I'd love to have you.

When Patty was formally interviewed for the first time after Linda's murder, she was asked point blank,

Did you kill your sister?

Without hesitation, she replied, No, I didn't.

After Cinnamon's sentencing hearing, Detective Fred MacLean ran into Cinnamon's paternal aunt, Susan, in the courthouse parking lot.

She revealed that the last time she spoke with Linda, it was clear she was miserable because she and David were fighting a lot.

However, according to Susan, Cinnamon wasn't the source of the family's troubles.

The problem was Patty.

Susan explained that Cinnamon's move into the trailer wasn't punishment to appease Linda, but done because Patty didn't want to share her room.

Despite Patty's claims, Susan said her relationship with Cinnamon was distant at best.

Patty had little sense of humor and became irritated whenever Cinnamon was having fun.

Linda had also noticed Patty's smug expression whenever Cinnamon was in trouble.

In the end, Patty got what she wanted and Cinnamon was sent to live in the trailer.

Patty always got her way with David, Susan told Detective MacLean.

Linda had allegedly confided in Susan that she felt Patty was dangerous, admitting she never let Patty care for her baby alone for fear she might cause harm.

Susan told Detective MacLean,

Linda was very worried about Patty's behavior.

She said Patty was acting strange.

There was another worrisome observation that Susan had made.

Ever since Linda's death, Patty and David had become inseparable.

Susan's revelations highlighted a major challenge for investigators.

During their initial inquiry, they had tried to uncover as much as possible about the Brown family, but they'd been hindered by David's fiercely guarded privacy.

David was especially protective of his family, a trait he had instilled in Cinnamon, Paddy and Linda.

The family spoke little, if at all, about their home life.

It wasn't until investigators revisited the case after Cinnamon's conviction that the most troubling stories emerged, and it became clear why they hadn't surfaced earlier.

The truth was, David's marriage to Linda hadn't been the almost perfect union that he had described.

and their relationship had some problematic origins.

The couple had met about a decade earlier when David was in his 20s and Linda was in her early teens.

Life hadn't been easy for Linda's family when she was growing up.

Her mother, Ethel, had been left to raise her 11 children by herself while struggling with alcohol addiction.

Ethel depended on welfare payments for support.

The family was close but dysfunctional at times and they always struggled to get by.

There were also allegations that some of the girls in the family were sexually abused by a relative.

The family's luck seemed to shift one day when they met David Brown, a young computer specialist who lived next door to their home in Riverside.

David explained that he'd heard about the family's dire financial situation and thought he might be able to help.

David was extremely ill with cancer and doctors doctors had only given him six months to live.

He could no longer perform basic household chores and wondered if the Bailey girls that he'd seen walking to and from school would be able to help.

David was happy to pay them in exchange for the housework.

Ethel Bailey agreed, later saying,

How do you say no to a dying man?

From then on, Linda and her teenage sisters had started spending time helping David out around the house.

His home became something of a fun hangout spot, with David inviting the girls to play games and chat with him.

He soon began dating Linda's older sister, Pam, who was then 15 or 16 years old.

The relationship didn't last long, and David turned his attention to Linda.

who was even younger at 14.

The two soon became a couple.

Linda seemed smitten with David, who was soft-spoken and romantic, penning love letters and sending Linda flowers.

Despite the fact that he was a divorced adult with a young child, Ethel Bailey wasn't concerned by David's interest in either Pam or Linda.

She saw David as a safe person and a successful businessman with means and opportunities that they didn't have.

As the months continued to pass, David shared some good news with the Bailey family.

His cancer had miraculously been cured.

In 1979, he proposed to the then 17-year-old Linda, who said yes.

Due to her age, she needed her mother's signature so the two could marry in Las Vegas.

Just one month later, they divorced and David married another woman.

He continued having an affair with Linda throughout this other marriage, which also ended quickly.

David then went back to Linda and the pair remarried.

Privately, many saw the relationship as highly inappropriate.

It was skewed in David's favour, with him being the much older, dominant and respected breadwinner.

Almost overnight, Linda went from being a regular regular teenager to a wife and a stepmother who was expected to be a homemaker.

She was also responsible for handling the administrative work at David's successful and thriving computer firm.

Early into her and David's second marriage, Linda's younger sister Patty moved in with them to escape the chaos of the Bailey family home.

Then Linda became pregnant with Ashley and David's daughter Cinnamon arrived as well.

Outside of the home, Linda was isolated.

She had no friends and no social life to speak of.

Neighbours said they only ever saw her when she was mowing the lawn.

Inside the home, she was juggling the difficult task of raising two teenage girls who weren't much younger than she was, in addition to being a new mother.

Moreover, Linda's mother-in-law was somewhat overbearing and David tended to side with her, which led to arguments between the couple.

Patty and Cinnamon often squabbled and competed for David's attention, further increasing tensions.

All things considered, Linda and David's marriage hadn't been the fairy tale he had tried to portray it as.

While the life insurance policies that David had neglected to mention, along with Arthur Brown's claims about Patty Bailey, were undoubtedly suspicious, Detective Jay Newell didn't have any evidence to tie either of them to Linda's murder.

Before Cinnamon had lawyered up and claimed to have no recollection of Linda's murder, she had been adamant that she had acted entirely alone in the killing.

Detective Newell knew that the only way the truth would ever come out was if Cinnamon revealed it herself.

Because she was still underage, the detective was not permitted to approach her for a conversation without permission from her guardian, David Brown.

Instead, Detective Newell bided his time.

For three years, he kept track of David Brown's business and personal affairs while also monitoring Cinnamon's activities at the youth prison.

As soon as she turned 18, he planned to tell her everything he'd discovered.

Although Arthur Brown was unwilling to talk to the authorities any further, he continued to speak with Cinnamon.

Sometimes he let small details slip, such as how nice David's new home was and how much more expensive it was than his previous one.

Arthur also mentioned that Patty Bailey was still living with David.

In early 1987, she became pregnant to a man named Doug who took off after finding out about the pregnancy.

Patty gave birth to a girl in September 1987 and the two continued to live with David.

Another year went by and on Sunday, July 3, 1988, Cinnamon celebrated her 18th birthday.

Investigators finally had their chance.

Now she was no longer a minor, they could approach her as an adult.

Detective Jay Newell called Cinnamon and laid out what they had discovered, her father's massive insurance payout and the life of luxury he was now living.

And that wasn't all.

During one surveillance visit to the Anaheim Hills home, Detective Newell had observed something that cemented his concerns.

David Brown locked in a passionate kiss with Patty.

At first, Cinnamon Brown refused to believe what the detective was telling her.

She loved her father deeply and believed he was fighting for her freedom.

But Detective Newell kept visiting, bringing proof that what he said was true.

He showed Cinnamon the four life insurance policies David had taken out against Linda, as well as photographs of David and Patty in an embrace.

He also had proof that the pills Cinnamon had taken after shooting Linda should have killed her.

Gradually, Cinnamon's perspective began to shift.

This information, combined with the details her grandfather had revealed, painted her father in a terrible light.

And the truth was, A few months before Linda's murder, Cinnamon had witnessed a kiss between David and Patty for herself.

This had left her incredibly upset and confused, but she tried to forget about it.

There was also the undeniable fact that David's visits had tapered off, and several years had gone by with no evidence that he was working to have her released.

On Wednesday, August 10, 1988, Cinnamon called Detective Newell and said she wanted to talk in person.

Sponsors

AI agents are everywhere, automating tasks and making decisions at machine speed.

But agents make mistakes.

Just one rogue agent can do big damage before you even notice.

Rubrik Agent Cloud is the only platform that helps you monitor agents, set guardrails, and rewind mistakes so you can unleash agents, not risk.

Accelerate your AI transformation at rubric.com.

That's r-u-b-r-i-k.com.

We get it.

It's more important than ever to get the most out of your money.

Options are key.

Options like Lyft, where you get great rewards, especially with partners like Dash Pass by DoorDash.

If you're a Dash Pass member, just link your DoorDash account and you'll get 5% off on-demand rides, 10% off scheduled rides to the airport, plus two free priority pickup upgrades every month.

New to Dash Pass?

To sign up for a three-month free trial, check Lyft.

Terms apply.

Thank you for listening to this episode's ads.

By supporting our sponsors, you support Casefile to continue to deliver quality content.

Cinnamon was the only child of David Brown and his first wife, Brenda.

The couple had met when they were teenagers and married when Brenda became pregnant.

They were both just shy of their 18th birthdays and barely scraping by when their healthy baby girl arrived.

They wanted to give her a name that was unique and memorable, one that would stand out if she ever became famous.

They chose Cinnamon Brown.

David was immediately smitten with Cinnamon, whom he affectionately called Cinny.

While Brenda took on the role of the steady parent, managing the daily routine and the discipline, David cast himself as the fun parent.

He showered Cinnamon with affection and indulgences, from trips to Disneyland to rides on his motorcycle.

In turn, Cinnamon grew to adore her father.

After David and Brenda divorced when Cinnamon was four, she began living with Brenda full-time while seeing her father on weekends.

Over the following years, Cinnamon went back and forth between her parents as they built new lives.

They both remarried, relocated and had other children.

David earned a technical degree and built a successful career in the computer industry, eventually founding his own data recovery business and amassing considerable wealth.

Cinnamon remained in the primary care of her mother, but as she got older, their relationship became strained.

As tensions with her mother grew, she increasingly saw her father as her hero.

Family members later said that Cinnamon had always seemed desperate for her father's affection.

David cultivated this devotion, competing with Brenda for Cinnamon's love.

When Brenda remarried and had another daughter, David used this to his advantage, encouraging the now teenaged Cinnamon to break the rules while in her mother's house.

And while David could be all fun and games in some ways, He also had a controlling side.

He forbade Cinnamon from having friends over or giving out their phone number.

As she grew older, he refused to allow her to date or even socialize with boys.

He wanted Cinnamon's life to revolve around him and the family he built.

Sometimes he tested Cinnamon's loyalty by seeing if she would shoplift for him, a tactic he had also used with the Bailey sisters.

Although Brenda considered Cinnamon a good kid and Cinnamon loved her mother, the two clashed over rules and boundaries.

After one particular argument escalated into violence, Brenda decided that Cinnamon might benefit from spending more time with her father.

In September 1984, 14-year-old Cinnamon moved in with David at his Garden Grove home, where he lived with his new wife Linda and Linda's younger sister, Patty.

One day after moving in, Cinnamon was sitting in the living room watching television with her father and Patty.

At one point, Patty got up to go to the kitchen.

Once she reached the door, she suddenly froze and appeared to be listening intently to something.

Patty told the others that she'd overheard a conversation Linda was having on the phone with her twin brother, Alan.

They were talking about killing David.

with Linda saying she needed to get him out of the way.

Cinnamon dismissed this as a joke Paddy was playing on them, but Paddy was adamant that it had really happened.

In the days and weeks that followed, David seemed to become paranoid.

He repeatedly approached his 14-year-old daughter, saying, Linda is going to try to kill me.

When Cinnamon asked why he thought that, David replied, Don't worry about it, I just know she is.

He said that Linda and Alan wanted him gone so they could seize control of his company and the multiple properties he owned.

Cinnamon gradually began to believe there was some truth to what her father was saying, and she suggested that David get a divorce.

David refused this idea, stating that even if he divorced Linda, she would still come after him.

He also said that Linda knew too much about his computer business and understood their proprietary methods.

If they divorced, she would just set up a competing business and steal his clients.

David told Cinnamon, I'll just leave you guys.

I'll leave you guys with everything and take off and start over again.

Upset by this suggestion, Cinnamon repeatedly begged her father not to leave.

David replied, I have to.

Either that or we have to get rid of Linda.

Convinced that her father was in mortal danger and facing a kill or be killed situation, Cinnamon began to talk seriously with David about what to do next.

Over the next few months, what started as seemingly hypothetical discussions about getting rid of Linda turned darker.

David encouraged Cinnamon and Patty to compete for his approval by coming up with the different ways they could kill Linda.

They discussed various scenarios, running her over with their van, pushing her out of it, or hitting her over the head.

They even joked about electrocuting her in the bath until someone remembered that Linda only took showers.

On Monday, March 18, 1985, the day before Linda was killed, the family intended to drive out to the desert to go target shooting, but the trip was called off on account of rain.

Had they made it out there, the plan was for someone to take a running charge at Linda and shove her off a cliff.

Whenever Cinnamon expressed a doubt or faltered in these conversations, David asked her, Do you love me?

Would you do anything for me?

Other times, he talked wistfully about how he was thinking of leaving.

The prospect of her father abandoning her was always enough to bring Cinnamon back to the plan.

She told David she would do anything for him.

There was only one way to prove just how much she loved him.

She had to kill his wife.

David explained to Cinnamon that she was the perfect person to carry out the murder because at 14 14 years old she couldn't be charged as an adult.

He insisted that if she staged a suicide attempt afterwards the juvenile justice system would simply send her to a psychiatrist for evaluation before releasing her home.

He had Cinnamon practice writing a suicide note.

On the evening of Monday, March 18, David invited his parents over for dinner.

After the meal, Cinnamon helped Linda with chores while the others played cards and watched TV.

When David's parents left, Linda went to take a shower, leaving David alone with the two teenagers.

He told Cinnamon that she had to kill Linda that night.

He explained that the situation had become urgent as Linda was planning on killing him any day.

Cinnamon began to cry as she grappled with the idea.

Linda and David soon went to bed.

As the house's alarm system had been activated, Cinnamon couldn't go outside to her trailer without setting it off, so she and Patty both went to Patty's room.

They dozed off, only to be abruptly woken by David, telling them to, get up, get up.

We have to do it now.

He'd turned the alarm system off so they could move freely through the property, then took Cinnamon to the back of the house where he had prepared a cocktail of pills for her to take.

Cinnamon was somewhat concerned by how many there were, two or three bottles worth.

David reassured her it was just enough to make her sick and to make it look like a genuine suicide attempt.

Putting her trust in him completely, Cinnamon swallowed them.

The previously complicated plans had been replaced by one to simply shoot Linda.

David handed Cinnamon a small brown pillow and showed her how to use it to muffle the sound of his handgun.

He told Cinnamon to shoot Linda twice in case the first shot didn't work, warning that Linda would separate the family if she survived.

He also suggested that Cinnamon shoot herself in the head afterwards.

Not anything fatal, just a small injury to add further weight to the staged suicide attempt.

David then left the home, telling Cinnamon and Paddy,

You girls take care of business while I'm gone.

Paddy handed Cinnamon the loaded gun and Cinnamon headed to the main bedroom where Linda was fast asleep.

She held up the gun and fired it through the pillow just like David had instructed.

But the gun's hammer became caught in the pillow.

Cinnamon panicked.

She raced back into Paddy's room where the two of them managed to free the weapon, but it discharged in the process.

From the main bedroom, they heard Linda moaning.

Patty told Cinnamon to go in there again.

Cinnamon returned and fired a third time before dropping the gun on the floor.

By this point, the pills were kicking in, and she started to feel dizzy and nauseated.

She went outside and laid down in the doghouse with a pre-prepared suicide note gripped in her hand, just like David had told her to.

She had no idea that the dose of pills he'd prepared was potentially lethal.

Only her body's rejection of the drugs through repeated vomiting had saved her life.

Detectives Jay Newell and Fred MacLean sat horrified as they listened to Cinnamon Brown tell her story.

While they had always suspected something more had been at play, the gravity of David's deception and callousness towards his own daughter was staggering.

They knew they had to expose David for the manipulative predator that he was.

They just had to figure out how.

After giving it some thought, they presented Cinnamon with a plan.

Cinnamon agreed to help.

When David failed to visit her on her 18th birthday, she called him and asked him to come and see her, saying she had something urgent to discuss.

David was reluctant, claiming that on top of his many ailments, he was now prone to panic attacks and simply wasn't well enough to make the trip.

He pressed her to explain over the phone, but she refused.

In the end, he agreed to visit that coming weekend.

On Saturday, August 13, 1988, David drove up to the Youth Authority Prison in Ventura.

The father and daughter headed out to a small yard and sat across from each other at a picnic table beneath a pine tree.

Other inmates and visitors milled about nearby while guards kept a close watch on the scene.

The two made small talk for a while before Cinnamon revealed the reason she'd requested the visit.

She wanted to tell authorities the truth about Linda's murder.

David desperately tried to calm his daughter.

When Cinnamon asked, what was the purpose of it all?

David offered a scattered, unsubstantiated story about Linda being deep into drugs and owing money to dangerous people.

He said that if Cinnamon Cinnamon really wanted to leave prison, Patty would confess to the crime and take her place instead.

At the mention of Paddy's name, Cinnamon asked if David was really the father of Patty's baby, which was a possibility the detectives had suggested.

David evaded the question with awkward jokes before Cinnamon returned to the subject of Linda's murder.

David cast all of the blame on Patty, saying she was the one one who'd believed Linda was plotting with her twin brother to kill him and that murdering Linda had been her idea.

Patty's the one, David said.

You and I didn't plan anything.

Patty's the one who heard it.

Patty's the one who did it.

Isn't it logical that if Patty did it, then Patty should be punished for it?

I didn't want it to happen.

You should remember that.

Cinnamon started crying, saying,

But before that you wanted it.

No, I didn't, David replied.

I wanted to live.

He claimed he was now living in fear that Patty was going to kill him, just like she'd done to Linda.

Cinnamon then brought up the pills that David had given her that night.

What kind of pills were those?

she asked.

Those things really had me knocked out.

David replied, I have no idea.

Cinnamon reminded her father that he had handed her pills to take, but he deflected, stating,

Patty said you didn't take what I mixed because it was too gross.

Without denying that he'd provided the drug cocktail, He urged Cinnamon to maintain that she couldn't remember what happened on the night of Linda's murder.

David warned,

You can't tell the true story because everyone who knew beforehand would be imprisoned.

David promised Cinnamon that he would convince Patty to take the blame so that Cinnamon could be released.

But he himself could never go to jail.

I can't survive in prison, he whined.

I would kill myself before I'd let myself die a slow and painful death in a cell.

What David didn't realize was that his meeting with Cinnamon was being closely monitored by detectives and was entirely recorded via a wire that Cinnamon wore beneath her blouse.

While David had made some incriminating comments, the detectives wanted more.

Two weeks later, Cinnamon phoned her father and requested that he and Patty both visit that day.

David agreed and he and Paddy made the trip to Ventura.

This time, it was two against one as Cinnamon repeatedly asked them about Linda's murder.

The pair denied any knowledge of it.

Paddy and David also claimed not to remember many of the events Cinnamon described from the night of the crime.

Cinnamon asked David why he told her to write a fake suicide note if he didn't want her to harm Linda.

David said he had no memory of this, and neither did Patty.

The more David and Patty tried to manipulate Cinnamon into thinking she was crazy or confused about what had happened, the more she stood firm in her convictions.

Finally, towards the end of the visit, Patty offered to take the blame.

She told Cinnamon,

If you didn't do it and they've stuck you in here for what you didn't do, the least I can do is the same thing for you.

If you're in here for nothing, I'll go back in for nothing.

Because I love you to death.

Although the pair didn't outwardly admit to planning Linda's murder, they did make some incriminating statements.

Of particular interest were David's comments about the pills he gave to Cinnamon.

and his imploring of her to pretend she couldn't remember the night in question.

Detectives spoke to Linda's twin brother Alan about the allegations made against him.

Alan was surprised by the claim and insisted he had never threatened David's life, not even in jest.

He recalled that Cinnamon had once considered him her favorite uncle, but after her personality shifted around Christmas of 1984, she grew to dislike him.

He'd had no idea why and was unaware of just how unstable she had become.

On Thursday, September 22, 1988, Detective Jay Newell led a team to David's luxurious Anaheim Hills home and arrested both David and Patty, taking them to the police station for questioning.

For two hours, David maintained his ignorance about Linda's murder.

He denied ever discussing the crime with Patty or Cinnamon and said he never gave his daughter drugs.

He also continued to deny having any romantic relationship with Paddy.

But David's web of lies began to unravel when detectives revealed they had photos of him and Patty in an embrace as well as recordings of his conversations with Cinnamon at the prison.

His demeanor shifted instantly.

and he immediately began spinning a new tale.

David said he was terrified of Paddy and that that he'd always believed she was the one who really killed Linda.

He claimed the only reason he told Cinnamon to take the blame was because he was afraid of Patty and her family.

While David admitted that Cinnamon and Patty were convinced that Linda and her twin brother were conspiring to kill him, He insisted he never believed the two young women would really kill Linda.

Meanwhile, 20-year-old Patty Bailey was being questioned in another room.

The investigators laid out the evidence piece by piece, showing her how David had used both her and cinnamon as pawns.

They told her what David was saying in his interview and how he was throwing her under the bus.

For the first time, Patty began to see clearly how David had manipulated her for over a decade.

David had entered Patty's life when she was just eight years old, when he lived next door to the Bailey family and ingratiated himself by offering to pay the girls to clean his house.

David would have Patty sit on his lap while telling her how pretty and intelligent she was.

Given the troubles in the Bailey home, Patty was in a vulnerable position.

She had also been sexually abused by a close relative.

The positive attention from David made Patty feel special.

What started as inappropriate touching by David escalated to sexual abuse.

When Patty moved into the Brown household at the age of 11, David had complete access to groom and manipulate her.

He convinced her that if she wanted to develop into a woman one day, she needed to perform oral sex on him.

He said it was the only way she would grow up and assured her that it was entirely natural.

When Patty's chast later started developing, she thought to herself, hey, this guy is God.

By the time Patty was 15, David started raping her.

These assaults happened during drives to school or whenever Linda was out, sleeping or in the shower.

If Patty ever resisted, David told her a million other girls would love to take your place.

When she outright refused, David threatened to send her back to her mother's house.

He undermined Patty's sense of self by telling her, no one's gonna like you for you.

If she did as he said and behaved the way he told her to, then people would like her.

With nothing else to compare his behavior to, the young girl gradually came to believe this was the way things went in every home.

David promised Patty he would marry her when she was old enough, despite the fact he was already married to her older sister.

He had started planting seeds about killing Linda shortly after Paddy had moved in with them.

The first instance was when the family was driving home from a shooting expedition in the desert and a gun was laying in Paddy's lap.

They had stopped at a fast food restaurant and Linda went went inside to get a drink.

It was then that David said,

wouldn't it be funny if the gun in your lap went off and shot Linda?

Paddy assumed he was joking, but over the years he made other similar comments, such as suggesting Paddy shove Linda off a cliff.

After Cinnamon moved into the home, David started pitting Linda, Paddy and Cinnamon against each other.

He encouraged them to vie for his attention and to turn against one another.

While Cinnamon and Paddy had initially shared a room, the real reason that Cinnamon had been forced to move from the house into a trailer wasn't because of Linda.

It was so that David could sneak into Paddy's bedroom at night.

Over time, David succeeded in convincing both Paddy and Cinnamon that Linda was plotting to murder him.

Given that David was everything to Patty, this possibility left her distraught.

Initially, David attempted to convince Paddy to kill Linda before Cinnamon had even moved in with them.

One night, he woke Paddy, handed her a gun, and told her to shoot a sleeping Linda at close range through a pillow.

Patty went to Linda's room, but as she stood in the doorway with the gun, looking at her sleeping sister, she realized she loved her and couldn't pull the trigger.

Regardless, David convinced her to go along with other parts of his plan, roping her into manipulating cinnamon instead.

Patty admitted to the detectives that in July 1986, just 16 months after Linda was killed, she and David had secretly married in Las Vegas.

At the time, he was 34 and she was 18.

It was David's sixth marriage.

They kept the true nature of their relationship a secret, not even telling David's parents who lived in the same house.

When Patty became pregnant, David concocted an elaborate lie that she had met a man named Doug who had abandoned her.

This allowed David to play the role of kind benefactor, generously allowing the pregnant teenager to continue living in his home.

After their daughter was born, David refused to be named as the father on the birth certificate.

He convinced Patty to go along with his ruse, telling her that if people knew they were together, they might judge them, or worse, suspect they played a hand in Linda's death.

For Patty, The realization that she'd gone along with so much, only for David to sacrifice her as readily as he'd sacrificed Cinnamon and Linda, shattered the last remnants of her loyalty.

In October 1988, just a month after her arrest, Patty Bailey made the crucial decision to confess and cooperate with authorities.

Her choice was influenced by multiple factors.

David's betrayal in trying to blame her entirely for the murder, her growing understanding of how he had manipulated her throughout her life, and the crushing weight of guilt over her role in her sister's death.

The details she provided about events leading up to the murder and the night in question matched those Cinnamon had shared.

The police were elated.

Patty's decision to break her silence was crucial in exposing the full scope of David Brown's murder plot.

and both she and David were charged with first-degree murder.

Because Patty had been a minor when Linda was killed, she would face juvenile court, but David was looking at serving hard time.

In January 1989, nearly four years after Linda Brown's murder, the preliminary hearing for David Brown began in the Orange County Municipal Court.

Not only would the hearing determine whether there was sufficient evidence to proceed to trial, it would also be the first time that both Cinnamon Brown and Paddy Bailey publicly testified against him.

Deputy District Attorney Jeffrey Robinson painted a picture of David Brown as a master manipulator who orchestrated his wife's murder to collect her life insurance money.

The hard work of detectives Newell and MacLean had revealed that David's reputation as a devoted family man was far from the truth.

In reality, he was intimidating, charming, and adept at twisting situations to his advantage.

He also used his wealth and status to gain favour.

David had told others that he was the black sheep of his family and that he had endured corporal punishment from a young age.

As a teenager, he'd developed a fixation on his health and told others that he suffered from numerous ailments.

His bedside drawers were full of various medications and vitamins.

He spoke of enduring everything from high blood pressure and serious gastrointestinal issues to mental health afflictions and suicidal ideation.

Throughout his life, he repeatedly claimed to have terminal cancer, from which he somehow always managed to recover.

In addition to Linda and Patty, David had been married to three other women, with his previous partners recounting episodes of controlling behavior, violent clashes, psychological abuse, sex addiction, and extramarital affairs.

Of particular concern was his reported proclivity for underage girls.

David sat emotionless as Deputy District Attorney Jeffrey Robinson described how he had twisted the loyalty and love of the young girls in his family to do his bidding.

In contrast, David's defense attorney suggested Cinnamon and Patty were setting David up as a fall guy, attempting to shift blame for their own actions onto an innocent man.

Cinnamon Brown was the first witness to take the stand.

Now 18, she testified about how her father had convinced her that Linda and her brother were plotting to kill him.

He had assured her that because of her age, she would face no real consequences if she was the one who ended Linda's life.

She described her desperate need for her father's love and approval and how he had used that need to manipulate her into murder.

Patty Bailey testified despite not being offered immunity and knowing she could face serious consequences.

The 20-year-old described how David had sexually abused her since she was 11.

grooming her with attention and gifts while isolating her from others.

Her testimony corroborated Cinnamon's account of how David had convinced them both that Linda needed to die.

She revealed the careful planning that had gone into the murder, David's specific instructions, and how he had orchestrated the cover-up afterward.

Despite the defense's attempts to paint Cinnamon and Patty as unreliable witnesses seeking revenge, The judge found there was more than sufficient probable cause to believe David Brown had masterminded Linda's murder.

The judge ordered David bound over for trial.

As he was led from the courtroom, David maintained the same emotionless expression he had worn throughout the hearing.

While in jail awaiting trial, David Brown met a fellow inmate named Richard Steinhardt.

Steinhardt was a former member of an outlaw motorcycle gang who was in custody on a parole violation related to a previous cocaine conviction.

The two men quickly developed a rapport when David discovered that Steinhardt was a martial arts expert with a long criminal history and ties to the underworld.

He was also due to be released shortly.

These factors were appealing to David as he was putting together a new plan.

Rather than face court for Linda's murder, he had decided to simply eliminate those who were trying to put him behind bars.

The three people David saw as the greatest threats to his freedom were Paddy Bailey, Detective Jay Newell and Deputy District Attorney Jeffrey Robinson.

He reasoned that if Newell and Robinson were out of the picture, new personnel would have to be assigned to the case.

If David argued his right to a speedy trial, This would put the prosecution at a disadvantage, while getting rid of Paddy meant the prosecution would lose their star witness.

He wasn't too worried about Cinnamon, believing that she could be discredited as unreliable and willing to do anything to get herself out of prison.

David told Richard Steinhardt that he had $500,000 buried in the desert.

and offered to pay him $10,000 per victim as well as $200,000 for expenses if he'd carry out these three murders.

David also wanted his own house and motorhome burned down to make it appear like he too was being targeted.

Steinhardt agreed.

He later said,

The idea of killing somebody or hiring someone else to do the killing didn't matter to me.

I just wanted the money for drugs.

To prove he was serious, David arranged for $600 to be placed in the glove compartment of his car so that Steinhardt could purchase guns after he was released.

Steinhardt agreed that after the killings were complete, he would also help David escape from jail.

Richard Steinhardt was released in early February 1989.

David authorized his attorney to pay his brother Tom Brown large instalments of money which would be passed on to Steinhardt as he carried out different parts of the plot.

David didn't tell Tom what the payments were for, he simply said that he needed a favour.

On Monday, February 13, David phoned Steinhardt from prison.

Steinhardt told him that he had killed both the Jeffrey Robinson and Detective Jay Newell, stating,

bang, bang, right in the back of their head.

David's response was simply, all right.

David had his brother deliver $11,000 in cash to Steinhardt within the hour.

Soon after, Steinhardt told David that he had arranged for a hit woman to be arrested so that she would be placed in the same prison as Paddy.

She had agreed to kill Paddy in exchange for $10,000.

David was elated, telling Steinhardt, Wonderful, you're a good man.

You did great.

To further cement his plan, David contacted another inmate from Patty's prison named Sally Jacobs.

In the wake of Paddy's death, he offered to pay Sally if she told the authorities that Patty had admitted to lying in her story against David.

What David didn't know was that one of his earliest conversations with Steinhardt had been overheard by a fellow prisoner who had gone straight to authorities with the details of the plot.

When they confronted Steinhardt with the information, he quickly agreed to turn informant.

Police set up recording equipment capturing every detail of David's murderous scheme.

Between early January and early February 1989, investigators taped 25 to 30 phone calls between David Brown and Richard Steinhardt.

The recordings revealed David discussing the planned murders of his wife and two law enforcement officials as casually as one might discuss the weather.

Just as damning was David's use of his own brother as an unwitting accomplice.

Tom Brown had no idea that he was facilitating a murder-for-hire plot when David asked him to deliver $11,000 in cash to Steinhardt.

He was simply doing a favor for his incarcerated brother.

Upon learning the true purpose of the money he'd delivered, Tom was devastated.

As far as I'm concerned, I don't have a brother anymore, he told investigators.

Anyone who could screw his family like this isn't part of the family.

We trusted him.

Sally Jacobs was also an undercover police officer.

The fact that David had tried to have her claim Patty was lying only strengthened the case against him.

Prosecutors subsequently filed several new charges against David, conspiracy to commit murder, arson and perjury.

When Patty was told about the charges, she said,

I expected something like this from him.

I don't put anything past him now.

As David Brown faced these new charges, attention turned to the fate of the now 21-year-old Patty Bailey.

Her position was unique and troubling.

She was both a victim and a perpetrator, a child who had been sexually abused, groomed and manipulated.

Yet she had also been an active participant in the plot that led to Linda's death, even attempting to kill her sister herself before losing her nerve.

Because Patty was 17 at the time of Linda's murder and cooperated fully with prosecutors, testifying against David without any any promise of immunity, she was allowed to proceed in juvenile court.

On May 11, 1989, Paddy pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to four years in prison.

Despite her age at sentencing, she would serve her time in the California Youth Authority, the same facility as Cinnamon.

It was a stark contrast to the 27-year sentence that had been handed to Cinnamon Brown four years earlier.

The difference lay not just in their relative culpability, but in timing.

Patty's testimony had helped to break the case that would finally bring David Brown to justice.

For Patty, the sentence marked both an end and a beginning.

Although she would remain in custody until she was 25, she had broken free from David Brown's influence.

Patty would have four years to come to terms with everything that had happened, to understand how thoroughly David had twisted her perception of normal family life, and to prepare for whatever life might hold when she emerged.

While incarcerated, Patty truly began to grapple with what had happened to Linda and the role she played in her death.

As described in the book, A Killing in the Family by Stephen Singular and Tim and Danielle Hill, Patty spoke to visitors about her deep regret and pain and her desire to somehow go back in time and change what had happened.

If I'd have said something, none of this would have happened, she said.

I could have told a teacher at school or told Linda even before I moved in that David was doing funny things.

If I talk about Linda in therapy and to deal with her death, I'll start to forget about her.

I don't want to do that, so I won't.

I just don't want to forget her.

I took my sister's life.

I'm out here on this pretty day, and she's not.

David Brown's trial began in the Orange County Superior Court in spring of 1990.

The prosecution's case was built on the recorded conversations between David and Cinnamon, testimony from Cinnamon and Paddy, and recordings and testimony by Richard Steinhardt about David's subsequent attempt to have witnesses killed.

They painted a picture of a man driven by greed and control.

The defense called very few witnesses, and David didn't testify at all.

Throughout the trial, he maintained the same emotionless demeanor that had characterized his behavior since Linda's death.

During closing arguments, Deputy District Attorney Jeffrey Jeffrey Robertson heaped scorn on David, calling him a classical sociopathic personality and a poor excuse for a human being.

On June 15, 1990, after less than seven hours of deliberation, the jury returned with their verdict.

David Brown was found guilty of first-degree murder with special circumstances for financial gain and conspiracy to commit murder.

At his sentencing hearing the following month, the judge told David,

Mr.

Brown, you're a scary person.

Look what you did to your own children, to your sister-in-law.

It's scary to think you can manipulate people and to do all this and to not bat an eye.

He sentenced David to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Cinnamon and Patty both heard the verdict while incarcerated at California Youth Authority.

After learning of David's fate, they found each other, sat down together, and cried.

Linda Brown was just 23 years old when she died.

The tragedy of her murder rippled through multiple lives.

A young woman dead, her infant daughter left without a mother, a 14-year-old girl manipulated into killing her stepmother, and an 11-year-old child groomed and sexually abused before being drawn into her own sister's murder.

The case inspired two books, both published in 1991.

As well as a killing in the family, there was true crime author Ian Rule's If You Really Loved Me.

NBC aired a four-hour miniseries titled Love, Lies and Murder based on Rule's book.

The dramatization of the tragic story brought national attention to the case and in 1992, after serving seven years of her 27-year sentence, Cinnamon Brown was paroled at the age of 21.

After her release, Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey Robinson remarked,

The real story is the courage of this kid who was abandoned by her family.

A 14-year-old kid who was completely brainwashed for a number of years by her father, who herself has been the victim of terrible crimes and has now paid her debt to society, maybe even more of a debt than she should have.

Robinson acknowledged the challenges that lay ahead for Cinnamon.

Her battle will be a very, very tough one because her case is of such a high profile.

a girl who has been earmarked as a killer for the rest of her life.

Cinnamon's first ever television interview was on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

Sitting across from Oprah, Cinnamon looked like a deer in the headlights as she struggled to answer questions and describe how her father had manipulated her into killing Linda.

The power that David still held over her emotions was evident.

He's always going to be my father, and I love him, she said.

David Brown unsuccessfully appealed his conviction, and on March 22, 2014, after more than two decades in prison, he died of natural causes at the age of 61.

He passed away without ever expressing remorse for his crimes.

David and Linda's infant daughter Ashley was raised by her paternal grandmother and has no memory of ever meeting her father, despite seeing him regularly until the age of five.

As a young child, Ashley was told that her mother was killed in a car accident, only to later learn that Linda had actually been murdered.

Initially, Ashley was told that her father had been framed by her older half-sister Cinnamon, until some friends helped her uncover the truth by finding a book about the case at a library.

Today, Ashley is married with children of her own.

She has spoken about how hard it was growing up without a mother and how her kids can't have the quintessential grandmother who loves and spoils them the way other children do.

After Patty Bailey was released at the age of 25, she changed her name and eventually remarried, fighting for and winning custody of the daughter she shared with David.

She attempted to reconnect with Cinnamon after their releases, but Cinnamon declined, saying she wasn't ready and needed to focus on re-entering society.

Cinnamon found work in the travel industry and married in 1994.

She expressed a deep remorse for Linda's murder.

Despite Linda's young age, she had cared for Cinnamon like a mother, even standing up for her and defending her when David put her down.

Speaking to Anne Ruhl for her book If You Really Loved Me, Cinnamon said,

I feel very ashamed of what I did to Linda.

It's very painful knowing I took her life and she'll never have a chance again.

I cry and pray for her often because I loved her.

That's what hurts more than anything.

I loved her and still believed my father's lies, and I killed her.

If there was one wish given to me and it could be anything, I'd wish Linda her life back.

AI agents are everywhere, automating tasks and making decisions at machine speed.

But agents make mistakes.

Just one rogue agent can do big damage before you even notice.

Rubrik Agent Cloud is the only platform that helps you monitor agents, set guardrails, and rewind mistakes so you can unleash agents, not risk.

Accelerate your AI transformation at rubric.com.

That's r-u-b-r-i-k.com.

You check your feed and your account.

You check the score and the restaurant reviews.

You check your hair and reflective surfaces and the world around you for recession indicators.

So you check all that, but you don't check to see what your ride options are.

In this economy, next time, check Lyft.