Snapped: Women Who Murder - Patricia Brown

Episode Date: October 20, 2024

Robbery is assumed when a man is found dead until a letter reveals a more sinister possibility.Season 30 Episode 21Originally aired: Mar 6, 2022Watch full episodes of Snapped for FREE on the Oxygen app: https://oxygentv.app.link/WatchSnappedPodSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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by joining Wondery Plus. A cold blooded murder off a rural North Carolina highway sends shockwaves through the community. He was a truly nice guy. Everybody I know that I've met felt the same way about him. Though leads run slim, investigators believe this was no random act of violence. This was personal. There was a footprint on the back of his shirt.

Somebody stood over this guy and shot him in the head. Who could have pulled the trigger? And the big question was, why? Was he trapped there and led to a trap? Their break in the case comes from an unlikely source. He was bad. He had a record. He had an attitude.

The front of the envelope said, open only if I die. And the policeman said, we have a suspect. And she said, I felt you would be coming to see me soon. BOOM. For Guilford County's Sheriff's Major Tom Shepard, April 25, 1991 starts like any other spring morning in the town of High Point, North Carolina. It was just slightly after 8 o'clock. I'd just gotten to work and then the call came in and somebody told me that they had

found a body on the side of the road that they believed to be shot. Some workers were working in the area that morning. They found the body and called 911. And of course we responded. The occurrence is not a common one for the usually quiet town. It's a smaller community. During that time, I think people left their doors unlocked,

cars unlocked in driveways. Things have changed a lot since then. But in High Point, it was relatively safe. Everybody felt safe. But as Major Tom Sheppard flies down Highway 68 to the scene, things feel anything but safe. I went out there and there was already a couple of detectives there and of course four or five patrol officers.

Well, I saw a station wagon sitting there and I saw the body laying almost on a ditch just behind the station wagon. He was face down, and he had two shots to his head and a shot to his back. They didn't know who he was because there was no wallet. They ran the license tag on the vehicle, and it came back to Fred Brown. The identity of the 45-year-old victim catches Major Shepard off guard.

Well, strangely, I've known Fred about all my life. I went to church with him, went to high school with him. I did not recognize him. That's the strange thing about it. This whole case is a tragedy, to be honest with you. Something that should have never happened. Fred was a truly nice guy. Everybody I know that I've met felt the same way about him. Born and raised in nearby Siler City, North Carolina, Fred Brown was liked by everyone he met. Fred was just one of those guys. He was just a good guy. I mean, you know, he'd never, never gave anybody a problem.

He graduated a year before I did. And I knew he went to Guilford College, and I knew he went in the Army after Guilford College. When the tumultuous Vietnam War began, Fred bravely served his country. He talked about the military some and how he traveled with the military. Fred Brown had gone into the U.S. Army, and he went through officer training school at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. There, Fred met the stepdaughter of his commanding officer, 21-year-old Patricia DeRosa. They started dating and got serious pretty quickly. Pat, as she was known to friends and family, was raised in Oklahoma alongside her two

younger sisters. Pat never really knew her father. She was raised by a single mother and for most of her childhood they were poor and struggled to get by. Despite their eight-year age difference, Pat was especially close to her sister, Sheila. Sheila looked up to Patricia because she was her older sister. But they were extraordinarily different. Patricia was a no-nonsense straight shooter, and she was very much of an ethical person.

Sheila, well, she liked to party. She liked to have a good time. The family finally gained stability when Pat's mom married an army man and the family settled into life at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. When Edna married Pat's stepfather, he made good money. So everything in their life changed. They didn't have to worry anymore. Pat's life continued to blossom when she began dating one of her stepfather's soldiers, 24-year-old Fred Brown.

Fred was smart, steady, reliable, charming. Pat fell for him right away. After only six months of dating, Pat and Fred got married in 1969. Patricia Brown grew up poor. She saw Fred as her white knight that would take her out of Oklahoma, away from that world. Pat was a devoted army wife. She supported her husband through many different assignments to different countries, different states. Amid the travels, moves, and deployments, Pat and Fred had a son and a daughter, Sabra and Derek.

And in 1988, when Fred retired from the Army, the family settled in High Point, North Carolina. When they settled down, Pat became a real estate agent, and Fred became a professor at the local community college. And then she went on to teach at another community college. In 1989, Pat and Fred celebrated 20 years of marriage, but the joyous occasion was marred by Pat's declining health. Pat had some health problems.

In 1990, she had some health problems. In 1990, she had open heart surgery. It was heart trouble, blood pressure. She smoked a lot. So just a combination of things, I think, brought that on. As she recovered, Pat went to stay with her mother, who was now living in Alabama, along with Pat's sister, Sheila.

Fred was working full-time, so she went to Alabama to recuperate from the heart surgery and be close to family, be close to her sister and her mother. Pat stayed in Alabama two or three months. During that time, it was just Fred looking after the kids. Though she was on the mend physically, when she returned home, her mental health went in the opposite direction. The heart surgery, I think, was a very big deal.

And not only was it a big deal, but it left her feeling, you know, like she was less healthy, that she was just not gonna be as healthy as she had been before that. Pat found comfort in a new, but slightly unconventional hobby. She had all kind of exotic birds in that house. That was the first thing I noticed when I walked in the living room was the big, big bird in a cage

that took up the whole side of the wall in the living room. She had all these exotic birds all over the house. It was 50, 60, something like that that she was keeping there. Pat just absolutely loved birds. She enjoyed caring for them. She enjoyed being around them. It was something that gave her comfort. It was something that gave her comfort.

It was something that helped her with some of her struggles. But Fred didn't really share her enthusiasm. Fred was definitely annoyed by the birds. I think the first few was okay, but as she continued to get birds, yes, it was quite annoying to him. Eager to keep the peace, Fred put up with the birds

and did whatever he could to help Pat recover. Fred Brown wanted to provide for Pat because she was recovering when she came back from Alabama in 1990. He hired housekeepers to keep the house clean as Pat was recovering. Fred just wanted her to be happy and to recover. So they started doing a renovation in the home so she could have a room just for her to be happy and to recover. So they started doing a renovation in the home

so she could have a room just for her birds. She wanted room for all of her birds. And then later on, she wanted to add a hot tub. And I think she wanted to add a privacy fence. But just as the couple began rebuilding their life together, it all comes crumbling down on April 25, 1991. Mr. Brown was found probably five to seven yards off the roadway itself.

The area was grassy with some woods around it. Some area workers, they found the body. Just as detectives identify Fred's body, they learn from dispatch that his wife, 43-year-old Pat Brown, has just filed a missing persons report. His wife and or daughter reported him missing around 10 a.m. to the High Point Police Department. When I got there, the car was there and the body had not been moved and the crime scene tech had gotten there and started their investigation. He was face down with the wounds to the head and in the back. It looked like a

robbery just because his wallet was missing. Most people, if it's a random crime, aren't gonna take the wallet. If they're mad at Fred about something, they're not gonna take the wallet. You know, just gonna shoot him and go on. Though on the surface, robbery seems like the potential motive, details at the scene raise a red flag to seasoned detectives.

There was a footprint on his back. Obviously, somebody stood over this guy and shot him with his foot on his back. Execution stopped. Somebody that's robbing somebody doesn't want to get close. They're going to shoot him a distance away, you know, maybe four or five feet. Instead, the close, precise nature of the injuries

suggests one thing to investigators. This looked like this was premeditated. This looked like it was planned. Coming up, the devastating news rocks Fred's loved ones. She could not understand why something like that could happen to such a loving, dutiful man like her husband. As the morning of April 25, 1991 unfolds, investigators in High Point, North Carolina

contemplate what led 45-year-old Fred Brown to be shot to death in a roadside ditch. What was Fred out there for? And why did he pull off the side of the road? Was he helping somebody? Was he trapped there and led to a trap? The homicide occurred outside the city limits of High Point in Guilford, you know, in rural Guilford County, given the location and with the wounds to the head and in the back. It kind of looks calculated. As investigators look closer, evidence is adding up to a far more personal crime.

With little more to go on from the crime scene, Fred's body is sent to the coroner for a thorough autopsy. They were looking everywhere for clues, for something, to figure out how this happened. As they wrap up the scene, detectives begin to question neighbors to see if anyone saw anything suspicious the night before. There weren't a lot of neighbors out in that area at that time, but there was a witness that came forward that was driving on south on 68, Highway 68,

and she said that she saw the two vehicles over there pulled up front bumper to front bumper. This woman, she saw these two cars, one with the hood popped up, and she saw a pair of headlights, and she saw two people. When she told that to authorities, that got authorities thinking,

like, what was Fred out there for? Why did he stop? Also, there was one woman that lived, I guess, east of 68 that said she heard some gunshots. There was one shot, and then there was a pause, and then sounded like maybe one or two shots right after that. And she said it was between 11 and 1130 during the evening. and then sounded like maybe one or two shots right after that. And she said it was, you know, between 11 and 1130 during the evening.

I thought, OK, that kind of narrows down the timeline a little bit. With a timeline starting to develop, investigators head to Fred's house to break the news of his death to his wife Pat and teenage daughter Sabra. That's just basic law enforcement in a homicide. You start with the family. As they speak to Fred's loved ones, investigators pay close attention to their reactions. Are they tearful? Are they not tearful?

Is it forced? Is it not forced? You just get a good sense. When you talk to somebody like this and it's their husband of 20 years, you're going to get a visceral reaction from them. When the detectives talked to Patricia, she did not act like she was too concerned with Fred's death. And that kind of put up a red flag. Though seemingly in shock, Pat goes on to explain that the previous evening was no different than most weeknights. The night of the murder, Pat was home.

And then Fred got home from work around five or so, and then Pat had to go teach a class, I guess, around six-ish. Pat was teaching her real estate classes down at Randolph Community College, which is 30 minutes south of High Point. Sabra had gone to see friends, and she was out that night as well.

It was around 10 or 10 1030 when they came home. Upon their return, mother and daughter were surprised to find Fred wasn't home. Fred, a lot of times would go to the grocery store and just walk around and buy a few things and come home. And originally, that's what they thought he was at the grocery store.

Still, Pat says it was unusual for him to be out that late. They immediately felt that there was something wrong because that was not like Fred to just not come home. He might stay at the grocery store longer than they would want, but he would never stay out, you know, that long. She stays up four hours trying to find her husband, hoping he'd come home, hoping for an answer,

hoping for something. She gets nothing. So she calls High Point Police Department. ... Investigators asked Pat if there was anyone, including her, who might want to see Fred harmed. Law enforcement wants to know the circumstances surrounding the person's disappearance.

Mental state, had there been any fights in the family? Had the person been depressed? Illnesses? Had there been any threats made to anybody? Pat told them that they had a wonderful marriage, an excellent marriage. They didn't have financial difficulties. They had two wonderful children. Everything was great between them.

And she could not understand why something like that could happen to such a loving, dutiful man like her husband, Fred Brown. Despite Pat's lack of emotion, to detectives, it seems unlikely that anyone in Fred's immediate family killed him. Talking to the daughter and the wife, we knew where both of them were. And they had solid alibis of where

they were most of the evening. Investigators also rule out Fred's oldest son, Derek. Derek was away at school that night. He wasn't anywhere near High Point. If you don't have any idea which direction to go in and there's no real evidence of the crime scene, you got a lot of work in front of you. We didn't have any idea what could have happened to Fred

and why he was laying out there beside that road. With no leads from Fred's family, investigators turned to his co-workers at the community college where he taught economics. Everybody on campus was shocked and everybody was trying to figure out, you know, is this family, is it student, is it somebody he didn't know? Detectives sit down with Kenneth Vaughn, Fred's friend and fellow teacher. All the faculty, including myself, the students loved him. He was just a nice guy. He used to get along with, he loved to talk, he didn't know a stranger.

But Kenneth says outside of work, Fred was going through a rough patch. Fred was trying to appease Pat in making the renovations to their house, even though it was creating a lot more debt than he wanted. They argued consistently about that, and I think Pat wanted to spend more money than Fred did. They had done a lot of home renovations. They were living in an upscale high point neighborhood. They were stretched thin.

According to Fred's close friend and coworker, Kenneth Vaughn, the renovations weren't the only thing Pat was dumping money into. I said there was tension, and the major bone of contention between Fred and Pat was the birds. We saw their life savings going out the window. But according to Kenneth,

the birds were the least of Fred's worries. There was a situation where he came to my office and talked about what he was afraid may happen. And he just said to me point blank, I would not be surprised if Pat didn't get a contract out on me. Coming up, a haunting statement from their victim leaves investigators on edge. I looked in his eyes and he said, they would be better off with me dead.

And a cryptic message turns the investigation on its head. He was writing letters that are rolling to be opened when he was going to die. I'm Tristan Redmond and as a journalist, I've never believed in ghosts. But when I discovered that my wife's great grandmother was murdered in the house next door to where I grew up, I started wondering about the inexplicable things that happened in my childhood bedroom. When I tried to find out more, I discovered that someone who slept in my room after me, someone I'd never met, was visited by the ghost of a faceless woman.

So I started digging into the murder in my wife's family. And I unearthed family secrets nobody could have imagined. Ghost Story won best documentary podcast at the 2024 Ambys and is a best true crime nominee at the British Podcast Awards 2024. Ghost Story is now the first ever Apple Podcast series essential. Each month, Apple Podcast editors spotlight one series

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or somebody doesn't testify correctly? In order to win at all costs. If Paul asked you to do something, it wasn't a request. It was an order. I'm your host, Brandon James Jenkins. Follow Criminal Attorney on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Criminal Attorney early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Detectives in High Point, North Carolina have just learned startling details

about Fred Brown's deepest fears in the months leading up to his death. Fred believed that Patricia wanted him killed. I looked in his eyes and I said, tell me that you don't believe that. He said, no, I do believe that. And I said, why? He said, because they would be better off with me dead.

He told investigators Fred's wife, Patricia, was very volatile towards Fred. And that throws flags up to you. In spite of his fears, Kenneth tells investigators Fred wouldn't consider a divorce. I felt like it was best maybe if he could just walk away for a while, but he wouldn't do it. He said, my religion will not allow me to do that.

I don't believe in divorce. I'm going to stay with it. Kenneth's portrayal of the brown marriage is in stark contrast to what Pat told investigators. Patricia said we only spend money that we've actually got, you know, that kind of thing. But apparently, that's a lie. Before confronting Pat with these discrepancies,

detectives continue to reach out to those who knew the couple, including their former housekeeper. After the surgery, we hired our housekeeper at GTCC to come in and help look after Pat and clean the house, take care of things. My understanding was she left because of the way Pat was cursing Fred a lot. Everybody said that when Patricia would really get mad at him and yell and scream, Fred never argued back. That's when we started really focusing in on Patricia.

After speaking to the housekeeper, investigators begin formulating a new theory about what happened to Fred. We knew Patricia didn't kill Fred because she had an alibi. In my experience, they work in these homicides. We've had several where the wife had the husband kill. You know, every time they paid somebody

or promised money to somebody, we just didn't have any idea who. But no matter how much they dig, investigators cannot prove that Patricia was somehow behind her husband's murder. You try your best to keep it going, but unfortunately the resources aren't there. The medical examiner's autopsy findings offer little help. There was absolutely no indication of who was actually out there with a gun on 68 that night. And so once you just don't have a lead, then it just stops.

It did go cold because of that after about six months, something like that. It did go cold because of that after about six months, something like that. As the investigation fizzles, Pat Brown moves forward with her life. The HR director said that Pat Brown got really angry about how much money that the life insurance for GTCC that she would receive. She got some insurance. Of course, she got the last year's pay from the state of North Carolina.

And there was some land that belonged to the family that she sold. So she ended up with quite a bit. With her children now grown up and out of the house, Pat decides it's time for a change of scenery herself. After the estate was settled, she took all the money and went back to Alabama. A couple hundred thousand, probably. She had one move closer to her mom.

She ended up buying a double-wide trailer and two single-wide trailers. In her new home, Pat's passion for exotic birds hatches into a whole new lifestyle. She started a business that she called Sassy's Pets, where she sold kittens and exotic birds. It seemed like Pat was really living her dream and putting the murder investigation behind her. As time ticks by, Fred's friends and family are exasperated by the lack of justice.

They came back out and interviewed my colleagues again just to see if there's any other information or help. Because it was a cold case, none of us could offer anything other than what we had offered initially. It was frustrating. I mean, it had been three years, and we were waiting for something to happen, some type of information or whatever that would bring this to fruition. We wanted closure. Three or four years after the homicide, I wouldn't say that is a cold, cold case, but it's not in the forefront. During that period, we didn't have anybody looking at cold cases on a regular basis. What happens is, on a homicide, if anybody calls with the information, they start working on it again. But nobody ever called in this case

until the Redding Police Department called. On July 13, 1994, three years since Fred's brutal murder, Detective Jonathan Jacobs gets an unusual call from an investigator in Redding, Pennsylvania that heats up the case once more. from an investigator in Redding, Pennsylvania, that heats up the case once more. I remember getting a call in the morning, an officer from Pennsylvania, wanting to know about if we had had a homicide in High Point three or four years ago on Highway 68.

According to the Redding Police Department, a woman had recently found two letters left behind by her father, Leroy Wetzel. On the outside of the envelopes, it said, to be open only when I die. Overcome with curiosity, the woman opened the letter and was shocked by its contents. It bothered her horribly. So she called the Redding, Pennsylvania Police Department. They read it, and they find a really dark confession. Leroy basically confessed to killing Fred Brown,

told how he did it. Coming up, investigators learn the chilling tale of Fred's final moments from the killer himself. He pulled the gun out and said, you and I need to take a walk. And a deadly plan takes shape. He took responsibility for the killer, but also said she's the one behind it all.

This was all about her wanting him dead. If you're going to hire somebody to kill somebody, you probably ought to pay them what you promised. July 1994. Almost three years after Fred Brown was gunned down on a North Carolina roadside, police in Pennsylvania receive a written confession to his murder penned by a man named Leroy Wetzel. It's a confession in his own handwriting. From a detective standpoint, you got gold in your hands.

Pennsylvania authorities immediately contact investigators in High Point to relay this information. They told me that they had somebody that was in custody. He was laying claim that he had killed somebody down here in Guilford County. I said, okay, and took down the information, made a few phone calls, flew up to Redding, Pennsylvania, and we went and visited Leroy in the jail and interviewed him. They picked him up on some child support warrants and had him in a jail. Leroy is, you know, he's not a big man at all. You know, he's short.

And got this long white beard. Leroy stood five foot three, 145 pounds. He was covered with tattoos and his nickname was Short Circuit because he had a temper. He was bad. He had a record. He had an attitude. Despite his rap sheet, Leroy is cooperative with investigators and quickly reveals a stunning

connection to Fred's case. Leroy Wetzel had been married seven times. He was the ex-husband of Sheila Wetzel, and Sheila was the younger sister of Pat Brown, the wife of Fred Brown. Leroy explains that back in 1990, Pat had moved to Alabama to stay with her mother to recover from open-heart surgery.

And he and Sheila were still married at the time, and they lived nearby. Pat would talk about Fred, how she was angry at Fred, and how Fred was such a tight rod. According to Leroy, one evening about a year before the murder, a phone call between the two sisters set a plan in motion. She had asked Sheila if Sheila knew somebody to kill Fred,

and then that Sheila talked to Leroy, and Leroy said, well, I'll do it. Fred and Leroy, they had met only just a few times. Patricia said she would give him $30,000 to kill for him. Pat suggested the payment would come after the murder, once she collected what she thought would be a big payday. She thought she was going to get a $250,000 life insurance policy. She thought she was going to get a $250,000 life insurance policy.

Sheila hangs up the phone, turns to her husband, who she believes had murdered a man in the past, and said, hey, Leroy, Pat, my sister will pay you $30,000 if you knock off rent. You up to that? And of course, Leroy, he said yes. He said yes. According to Leroy, the three revisited the idea for almost a year. Then, in April of 1991, Pat was back in North Carolina and ready to follow through. Leroy got a call from Pat again and said, Hey listen, April 24th, 1991 is a great time. I'm gonna be teaching class.

Why don't you come up to North Carolina then and like your car breaks down and that you call Fred for help and that he comes and then you kill him there. He drove up here to High Point Leroy brought with him the 22. Pat had to go teach a class around 6-ish, and Sabre had to go somewhere, too. And so for a few hours of the evening, Fred was the only one that would have been home, and Sabre and Pat were both gone. At 9.30 p.m., Leroy says he phoned the Brown residence. He said, I've broken down on the highway not far from you.

And of course, Fred said, well, I'll come out there and help you. Leroy pulls on Gallimore Dairy Road, and he waits on Fred. We removed the coil from his car. Fred and Leroy went to the front of Leroy's car. Looked under the hood. Leroy went to the back seat of the car, got the gun, and pulled the gun out and said, you and I need to take a walk.

Basically tells Fred that your wife wants you dead. Fred begged for his life. And Fred turned and started running and Leroy shot him in the back. He went down face first. Leroy said he'd went up to him and shot him twice more in the head. God, it was compelling. It was cold. Leroy got back in his car, fixed the coil, put the hood down, and drove up just a little ways and forgot that he was supposed to make it look like a robbery. He walked back, got the wallet out of Fred's pants, got back in his car, and drove off

down to Alabama, throwing the wallet out on the way. Leroy had stopped at a service station or some pay phone to call Pat to tell her that he had shot Fred Brown on Gallimore Dairy Road and left him for dead. Then when they looked at Pat Brown's phone records, she'd received a call from somewhere in Alabama

in the middle of the night. Some later point, a couple of days later, he threw the.22 into the Couser River. His description of the crime scene was exactly the way it was. Leroy had already told two people. He'd written the two letters. That's what was in the letters.

He'd written the two letters, that's what was in the letters. While Leroy owns up to his role in the plot, he doubles down on the crime's true mastermind. He took responsibility for the killing, but also said that Trisha, she's the one behind it all. This was all about her wanting him dead and kept hounding them to do it. Fred was killed for no reason other than somebody was greedy and wanted some money.

Without the money and with Fred still in the picture, Pat couldn't keep her exotic birds, and she couldn't have the lifestyle that she had envisioned for herself. Of course, Leroy confesses he had a similar motive. He was gonna get 30,000 bucks. Of course, he never got that, anywhere close to that. And they kept asking, and she kept saying,

I don't have it, I don't have it, I don't have it. That's another reason this came to light, because Patricia never paid him. If you're gonna hire somebody to kill somebody, you probably ought to pay them what you promised. Leroy's story is compelling for sure, but investigators have to figure out if he's telling the truth

or if he's trying to get revenge on his ex-wife and maybe even Pat. He hated Sheila and he hated Pat. Why not take out the two people that you're mad at? They asked him, why'd you write that letter? One, because he had a conscience that he felt bad. He wrote the letter because he didn't get paid. After speaking with Leroy, detectives

break down his story looking for proof that he's telling the truth. There were phone records, and it did show correspondence between Patricia and Sheila on the dates and times that Leroy said. We also found that Leroy Wetzel had indeed been there for the simple reason that he got caught for a traffic ticket.

These were all pieces to a jigsaw puzzle that started to come together. On July 21st, 1994, investigators finally have enough evidence to obtain arrest warrants for Sheila and Pat. In 1991, 1994, investigators finally have enough evidence to obtain arrest warrants for Sheila and Pat. Pat got a phone call and the policeman said, we have a suspect, the murder of your husband, Fred,

and it's Leroy Wenzel. And then later on they knocked on her door and she said, I felt you would be coming to see me soon. Coming up, while one sister stays quiet, the other sings like a bird. But she told the detectives that yes, she was involved. I always thought that she had a hand in it somewhere. And Leroy brings a courtroom to its knees. He held out his hands like this and they were shaking. You could drop a pen in that courtroom.

By the summer of 1994, sisters Pat Brown and Sheila Wetzel are in custody, both accused of conspiring with Sheila's ex-husband Leroy Wetzel to murder Pat's husband Fred Brown in 1991. I felt a lot of relief when they arrested Pat because deep down I always thought that she had a hand in it somewhere or another. Now in custody, Pat maintains her innocence and refuses to give a statement. But her sister Sheila doesn't follow suit. She knew everything. She knew everything. And readily admitted it. Sheila was gonna testify for the prosecution to say that her sister had killed her husband for money.

When Pat's trial begins in May of 1995, both Sheila and Leroy take the stand against her. But it's Leroy who becomes an unlikely courtroom celebrity. Leroy Wetzel walks in the courtroom. This is Short Circuit, a man who stood 5 foot 3, 145 pounds, soaking wet. He came in with a beard down to here, hair down to the middle of his back.

He had tattoos on both arms. I remember when he walked in, there was like a gasp in the courtroom just because of what he looked like. The judge orders Leroy to reenact the shooting using a stapler as a gun. He held out his hands like this and they were shaking. You could drop a pen in that courtroom and it was quiet. Was just so emotionally charged in the courtroom. While Leroy holds the courtroom's attention,

it's Pat's story that everyone is eager to hear. Her attorneys argued that Sheila and Leroy are the ones who are looking for a payday, not Pat. Leroy got a sense from when Pat was visiting her mom that Pat and Fred had money, that they were well off. And so Leroy saw them as a target. The defense claims the husband and wife intended to extort money from Fred by accusing him of having an affair.

Our defense was that Leroy was trying to blackmail Fred. And our position was that the blackmail was accusing Fred of having an affair and that he would disclose it. They wanted hush money. They said, if you don't give us so much money, you know, we're gonna tell Pat about your affair and you better pay up Leroy tries to get Fred to pay him money and instead Fred says no and Turns and runs and Leroy maybe not even thinking he's gonna kill Fred but just reacts and he kills Fred

The rumor that Fred was having an affair with another lady is something we heard. It was based on the fact that when Pat was in the hospital with heart surgery, that a female came up and stayed with Fred, and we looked into, and we located her, and there was nothing to it. That woman didn't have anything to do with Fred, other than just a friend of the family.

That was stuff that Pat's defense attorneys were trying to throw out there, but it just wasn't true. In closing arguments, the prosecution urges the jury to see through the lies and convict the true mastermind of this murder, Patricia Brown. The defense did a really good job. You never know what a panel of 12 people are gonna do. For two long days, the jury deliberates over the evidence.

When a jury is out a long time, that's more likely to be a not guilty verdict, but not in this case. Patricia was found guilty of first degree murder. And of course they came back and gave her life in prison. In 2002, less than seven years into her sentence, 53-year-old Patricia Brown dies in prison. Her health was such that we knew she probably wasn't gonna last long in jail.

She did actually pass away not terribly long after the conviction. Meanwhile, both Leroy and Sheila pay the price for their roles in the murder. Both Sheila Wetzel and Leroy Retzel, they pled guilty. They pled guilty to second-degree murder. Leroy got life with 50 years. Sheila, his ex-wife, got 50 years.

The death penalty was off the table for Leroy, and that Sheila got a sentence where she had some hope of getting out before she died. And so those were the two things that they got a sentence where she had some hope of getting out before she died. And so those were the two things that they got. The tragedy of this case is we destroyed two families over nothing, and over a bunch of birds and some real estate debt. While Pat may have never admitted her guilt, it's clear that in the end, she clipped her

own wings. Maybe that was the time when she snapped. Maybe that was a time that she came from a loving mother to a murderer. Fred should be remembered as a good, decent man. I mean, he was living a good, honest life with his wife and his kids. Just going through life like we all do. His legacy was the type of person he was that he would do anything in the world for you. He loved what he was doing. He loved his students. He loved his family.

Fred was a great guy. easy going, well liked. It's just a terrible shame to lose somebody like that in that manner. After serving 11 years in prison, Sheila Wetzel was paroled in 2011. Leroy Wetzel was paroled in December of 2022. Out of nowhere, there it was. Sudden, shocking, terrifying. I have never in my life felt fear like that. Was this someone's idea of a sick prank or was it a horror movie come horribly alive?

I'm thinking he killed him. I need to film the murder. I'm Keith Morrison and this is Dateline's newest podcast, The Man in the Black Mask. Listen for free each week or unlock new episodes early and enjoy ad-free listening by subscribing to Dateline Premium on Apple podcasts, Spotify or datelinepremium.com.