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Man faces charges of killing girl in 1966
77-year-old accused of murder

KYTJA WEIR
Charlotteobserver
2/13/07

More than 40 years after a young girl was slain, Shelby police charged a 77-year-old man Monday with her murder.

Police said they arrested Thurman Andrew Price about 5:15 p.m. at his Shelby home.

They say he beat 11-year-old Brenda Sue Brown to death on July 27, 1966, when he was 37.

The girl's body was found naked among some weeds in a vacant lot near N.C. 18, after she had dropped off her younger sister at a neighborhood Head Start program. Investigators found a bloody rock and brick.

An autopsy at the time found that she had serious head injuries but had not been raped.

The case disturbed the Cleveland County city about 45 miles west of uptown Charlotte, with subsequent scares about men lurking around schoolyards.

"We'll solve it, or we'll be working on it when we retire," Shelby Police Chief Knox Hardin told the Observer in September 1966. "We're not going to give up."

The following year, another investigator pledged his commitment. "We'll never give up on that one," Detective E.W. Howell told the Observer. "I think eventually we'll have the answer."

But the case remained unsolved long after their retirements. Last year, The Shelby Star ran a 13-part series about the unsolved case in connection with the 40th anniversary of her killing.

Police did not comment Monday on what led them to Price. He does not show an N.C. criminal past, but most electronic records include only charges from the past 20 years.

He was being held without bond at the Cleveland County jail. He is scheduled to have a first appearance in court this morning via video.

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Shelby Police Arrest Man In 40-Year-Old Cold Case

WSOCTV.com
February 13, 2007

SHELBY, N.C. -- Shelby police arrested a Cleveland County man Monday in connection with a 40-year-old murder case, possibly bringing an end to one of the oldest murder mysteries in the county.

Thurman Andrew Price, 78, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 11-year-old Brenda Sue Brown.

Brown's naked body was found covered with branches near the corner of Lafayette and Dodd Streets in Shelby on July 27, 1966. She disappeared moments after walking her little sister to school.

Police said the girl was beaten to death with a rock.

The case went cold until Brown's sisters, Patricia Buff and Mary McSwain, began pressuring local police to reopen the investigation about two years ago. The Shelby Star published an extensive series about the murder last year that police said led to several tips.

Brown’s mother, Gladys Brown, held back tears Monday as she and her two sobbing daughters watched Price being escorted to jail.

"I don't know why God holds back my tears," Gladys Brown said. "But he does. This is a big day for us and Brenda."

Buff said her family has been waiting 40 years for this day.

"We're just so thankful for everything. It's just been hard, real hard. Forty years is a long time to wait," she said.

Police say Price lives only a block from where the victim's body was found, and add that he's lived there since 1973.

Police have so far declined to comment on what led to Price’s arrest.

Price told The Shelby Star he did not kill the child.

"He is totally innocent of these charges. He wants the whole community to know he has nothing to do with any of this," said Colin McWhirter, a friend and defense attorney who visited Price shortly after his arrest. "I have known Mr. Price for 30 years, I delivered his newspapers."

Price has offered in the past to talk with police with an attorney present, but investigators refused the offer. He even offered to take a polygraph test – an offer police also refused, McWhirter said.

But police seem sure in their arrest, and Brown’s family has hope their decades of questions will be answered with the arrest.

Gladys Brown said, "in His time all things will be answered, all prayers will be answered. I thank God I have lived for Him for many years and my determination is to see Him one day face to face and to see my little girl again. "

Price made his first court appearance Tuesday where prosecutors said they will not pursue capital punishment. Price is being held without bond.

Brown’s family attended the hearing. They say all they want is justice.

“I don’t believe there’s any punishment great enough for what he did to Brenda,” Buff said.

Price, a retired truck driver who also served in the Navy, is divorced and has two grown children.

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We've waited 40 years for this day, family says

Tuesday, February 13, 2007
By WCNC Staff
6NEWS


SHELBY, N.C. -- Over a dozen family members of Brenda Sue Brown waited in a courtroom Tuesday to see the man who allegedly killed the 11-year-old in 1966.

The family said they have been waiting for this day for 40 years.

On Monday, Shelby police arrested 77-year-old Thurman Price. They did not say what evidence they have against him, but he was indicted for first-degree murder.

That murder happened on July 27, 1966, the day the town of Shelby lost its innocence.

"I remember everything about that day, it never left me,” said Patricia Buff, the victim's sister.

Big sister Brenda Sue Brown walked little sister Patricia to school. The family was scared. A man exposed himself to another sister two days before. Brenda watched Patricia walk away.

"That was the last time I saw her alive, she waived goodbye to me,” she said.

Hours later Brenda was found naked in some brush near her home beaten to death with a rock. The murder changed the town.

"Everybody began to lock doors, it alarmed the entire community,” said neighbor Johnny Woods, Jr.

Now, 40 years later, there is an arrest. Thurman Price is now indicted for murder. Police aren't talking about their evidence. Price lived down the street from the Browns.

“It was a shock to know that this person watched us grow up as kids,” Buff said.

A lot of people around the Shelby area know Price.

"I've been in immediate contact with him many times," Woods said.

Shelby Police say Price is a retired truck driver. Neighbors say he’s quiet and keeps to himself. They never had any reason to be concerned.

“He (has) always been real friendly to me or my friendly. We're never had any reasons to be uncomfortable or afraid,” said Nathan Hester, who lives across the street from Price.

Tuesday morning, the family arrived at the Cleveland County Courthouse at 9 a.m. wearing buttons with Brenda Sue's picture on them and wanting answers.

“How could you do my little girl this way when she bothered nobody? How could you do this and why did you do this?” said Gladys Brown, the victim’s mother.

A judge appointed Price a defense attorney while Price assesses his financial situation to see if he can afford one on his own. District Attorney Rick Shaffer said he will not pursue the death penalty because of Price’s age. Price will be 78 next month.

Officials won’t comment on what led to Price’s arrest after all this time, but credit the victim’s family for keeping her story alive.

“It's a big weight lifted off us. Now I can say, ‘Brenda go rest in peace,’ because I know she hadn't,” said Mary McSwain, the victim’s sister.

"It's been a long time,” Buff said. “Been a lot of praying, but my prayers have been answered. I didn’t sleep much, but it's all right. I've had many, many nights like that, but what little sleep I did get it was good. It was good because I'm relieved; it was just such a relief.”

Investigators aren't saying whether or not Price is the man who exposed himself to one of the Brown girls two days before the murder. He is scheduled to go for a bond hearing next Monday.

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SHELBY FAMILY KEEPS HOPE
After 1966 slaying, sisters kept dream alive


MELISSA MANWARE AND DÁNICA COTO
charlotteobserver.com

SHELBY - Two years ago, sisters Mary McSwain and Patricia Buff say, they had the same dream.

It was about their sister, Brenda Sue Brown, who'd been beaten to death in 1966 at age 11.

"It was her spirit coming back to us, telling us not to give up," Buff told the Observer on Tuesday.

The sisters didn't give up. It was their persistence, Shelby police say, that led to this week's arrest more than 40 years after the crime.

Thurman Andrew Price, 77, was arrested Monday after a grand jury indicted him on a murder charge in Brenda's death.

Price, a Navy veteran and semiretired truck driver, lived near the Browns in the mid-1960s. Police said he'd never been arrested for any crime until now. He's in the Cleveland County jail with a bond hearing scheduled for next week.

Shelby police Capt. Mark Brooks won't say what led investigators to Price. Brown's family said it was a tip that came in early last year when The Shelby Star ran a series on Brenda's unsolved case.

After McSwain and Buff realized they'd had the same dream, they went to the police. Reopen the case, they pleaded. Then, they met with a Shelby Star reporter. Can you tell our sister's story? they asked.

When the fifth part of "Who Killed Brenda Sue?" ran in the newspaper, the family got a call that turned investigators' attention to Price. They didn't provide details Tuesday, for fear of hurting the case. But the family says they were surprised, because they'd always believed another man -- now serving life for a similar crime -- had killed Brenda.

Recalling the crime

Former Shelby police Officer Harold Smith, 76, remembers being on motorcycle patrol the day Brenda was reported missing. She'd walked her younger sister Patricia to a neighborhood head start program and never returned home."I didn't think anything was wrong," recalled Smith. "I thought maybe she was playing with the other girls."

A couple of hours later, Brenda's naked body was found under a bush. An autopsy showed she'd been beaten with a rock or brick, but not raped.

"We started questioning people," Smith said. "Who had the motives? Who had the opportunity?"

Smith said he focused on Robert Roseboro, a 13-year-old who lived near where Brenda was found. Police, he said, didn't have evidence to charge the teen.

Two years later, Roseboro was charged with killing a 35-year-old Shelby woman, also found naked but not raped.

Smith, along with many others in the community, would continue to believe Roseboro was responsible for Brenda's death. Roseboro, serving life in prison for the other killing, has maintained his innocence in both cases. He declined comment Tuesday.

Smith, who heard about the arrest after his wife saw it on television, said he still believes Roseboro was involved.

"I don't know what evidence they have (against Price)," he said. "I hope they have something good."

Andrew Sisk was 9 years old when Brenda was killed. He said he lived a couple of houses down from Price, and Brenda lived about three houses away.

After Brenda was killed, he said, parents locked their doors and kept their children from playing outside.

"It changed the whole town," Sisk said. "It was the crime of the century."

Price was well-known and well-liked by everyone in the neighborhood, Sisk said.

Dennis Hester, who lives across the street from Price now, said Price is divorced and lives alone. He has two grown children and sometimes works delivering cars for a dealership.

He said Price, whom friends call "Soupie," keeps a neat yard and is friendly -- he mows the grass at the house next to his and occasionally runs errands for another neighbor.

Danyelle Sullens, 31, said she and Price were good friends, living on the same street most of her life. She remembers sitting on his porch swing when The Shelby Star series ran last year.

"I remember him saying that they would never find who did it," Sullens said.

A nurturing child

Brenda's sisters and mother went to the child's grave Tuesday, after seeing Price's first court appearance.

"We're working for you," said Buff, kissing her fingertips and then touching a photo on Brenda's headstone.

Brenda was the oldest of nine children and a mothering type, Brown said. She'd clean the house and help prepare meals.

"She had clothes laid out ready to wash," Brown said. "But she never got back to do it."

The Brown family said they've talked to Shelby police and believe the right man is charged. They said they believe they'll see him face consequences in court.

"God didn't bring us this far to leave us out on a limb," McSwain said.

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Shelby Man Charged In 1966 Slaying Released From Jail

WSOCTV.com
February 16, 2007

SHELBY, N.C. -- The Shelby man facing murder charges for a slaying that happened in Cleveland County 40 years ago got out of jail Friday.

Investigators arrested Thurman Price on Monday; they believe he beat 11-year-old Brenda Sue Brown to death with a rock in 1966. Her naked body was found just a block from where Price now lives.

The 78-year-old has been released on a $50,000 secured bond. He was scheduled to have a bond hearing on Monday.

Brown’s family is upset by the development. They said they understood he would get bond because it is not a death penalty case, but they had hoped his bond would be high enough to keep him in jail a long time.

Through tears Brown’s mother said his release hurts her.

“It’s hard to take, but we keep our faith in God and we’ll be alright,” said the victim’s sister, Patricia Buff.

The district attorney said he agreed on the bond because of Price’s age and poor health, and because he doesn’t think Price would be a flight risk.

Price’s attorney said it is customary for the defense to meet with prosecutors to agree on bond before a bond hearing. He said his next step is to review the evidence in the 40-year-old cold case.

Price has a criminal history. He pled guilty to assaulting a girl more than 50 years ago. In 955 he admitted trying to rape a 12-year-old.

[tru]

MY FAMILY KNOWS A MUCH BETTER SUSPECT AND REPORTED IT TO THE NC AUTHORITIES YEARS AGO. FOR SOME REASON THEY SWEPT THE INFO UNDER THE RUG AND NEVER TOLD THE BROWN FAMILY.
WE LATER LEARN THAT BRENDA SUE'S CASE FILES WERE MISSING AT THE TIME OF THE REPORT. IS IT POSSIBLE THAT LAW ENFORCEMENT CHOSE NOT TO TRY THIS PERSON, AFTER AGREEING THAT HE WAS MORE THAN LIKELY THEIR MAN, BECAUSE THEY DID NOT WANT THE BROWN'S TO KNOW THAT THE FILES WERE MISSING?
IMO, MY RELATIVE FIT THE DETAILS OF THE CASE MUCH MORE THAN THE MAN THEY HAVE ON TRIAL. HE WAS A KNOWN PEDOPHILE. HE DISPLAYED VERY STRANGE AND SUSPICIOUS BEHAVIOR, THE DAY SHE WENT MISSING. HE MIGHT HAVE COMMITTED OTHER CRIMES THAT HE WAS VERY CONVENIENT TO. SUCH AS THE ASHA DEGREE CASE. BUT THE AUTHORITIES ARE NOT LISTENING!