How A Daughter Was Tricked Into Killing: The Shocking Story of Linda Bailey Brown

Although Orange County, California is typically known for its nearly year-round bright, sunny days, the early morning of March 19th, 1985, was a bitterly cold anomaly that was about to feel much colder for the residents of the Garden Grove community. From here, within a sleepy neighborhood where tragedies rarely happen, a call was placed to police at around 3 AM. It stated that a homicide had been committed at 12551 Ocean Breeze Drive.

As a night patrolman for the Garden Grove Police Department, Officer Darrow Halligan was accustomed to responding to late-night calls. Yet even during a time when violent crime was on the rise nationwide, homicide calls on his shift were rare. His stomach was in knots as he pulled onto Ocean Breeze Drive, expecting the worst. When he located the home, however, he was shocked to find that it appeared unremarkable and ominously peaceful from the outside.

Had he just been cruising through the neighborhood as part of his regular patrol, nothing would have seemed out of place in the slightest.

As Halligan pulled into the driveway, the home’s front door swung open, and a short, heavyset man in his mid-thirties stepped into the doorway. When Halligan approached the door, he could see the man’s face was streaked with tears and he was shaking. Behind him, a young girl stood in a similar state, sobbing uncontrollably. She held a crying infant to her chest for comfort, but the baby would not stop wailing.

The homeowner’s name was David Brown; the girl was David’s sister-in-law, Patti Bailey; and the child was David’s daughter, Krystal. David had been the one to call 911. He told Halligan:

“I think my wife’s been shot. She’s in the bedroom, but I’m afraid to look…”

Acting quickly, Halligan ordered David and Patti to have a seat on the living room sofa as he pulled out his flashlight and pistol and moved down the hallway toward the master bedroom. Inside, he found David’s wife, 23-year-old Linda Bailey Brown, lying on the bed in a pool of her own blood with two gunshot wounds in her chest and her eyes half open. The majority of that blood had come from the gunshot wounds, but some of it had seeped from between her lips. A .38 caliber Smith and Wesson revolver with a two-inch barrel lay on the carpet beneath Halligan’s feet.

Careful not to disturb the scene too much, Halligan leaned over the bed and touched Linda’s neck, feeling for her pulse, but he felt nothing. However, believing she may still be alive because her body was warm to the touch, he put his ear close to her mouth, listening for breathing as he watched her chest closely for signs of movement. He detected neither.

By this point, other officers had arrived at the scene, and the bedroom quickly began to fill. Five officers in total crowded inside the tiny room, but none of them felt qualified to attempt CPR. It was obvious to everyone that, if the woman was somehow alive, the injuries she had sustained were far beyond anything they were capable of treating. They would have to wait for paramedics. Plus, they didn’t want to touch anything out of fear of contaminating the crime scene while waiting for detectives to arrive.

When paramedics finally did enter the bedroom after several more tense minutes, they pushed past the officers and ran to Linda. Like Halligan, they were having trouble determining if Linda was still alive or not; however, when one of the paramedics heard what he thought sounded like shallow, raspy breath, they decided to err on the side of caution. Immediately, they began administering CPR and, as they did, loaded Linda into an ambulance and transported her to the nearby Fountain Valley Community Hospital, where doctors and nurses worked to save her.

However, nothing could be done. Linda Bailey Brown was pronounced dead on March 19th, 1985, at 4:26 AM.

While all of this was happening across town, Halligan and the other officers inside the home on Ocean Breeze Drive were interviewing David and Patti, who both said that the person responsible for Linda’s death was the home’s fifth and final occupant, David’s 14-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, Cinnamon Brown—who was, at that moment, missing. David hadn’t been home at the time of the murder, but according to Patti, Cinnamon had tried to kill her before killing Linda, but she had fled the home before police arrived. Cinnamon’s reason for doing this would be explained to the officers over the next few hours as they all tried to wrap their heads around how something like this could have happened.

As officers probed for information, they learned that the members of the Brown household and their relationship to one another was unique to say the least. David Brown, the family’s patriarch, was 36 years old, but his now-deceased wife was only 23 at the time of her death, which was a substantial age gap of 13 years. Krystal Brown, the baby, was David and Linda’s only child together.

Patti Bailey, Linda’s younger sister, was only seventeen, but she lived in David and Linda’s home also because her and Linda’s mother, Ethel Bailey, was an abusive alcoholic; she had lived with them for 7 years, since she was 10 years old. Cinnamon Brown was David’s daughter from a previous marriage who had been living with David full-time ever since Cinnamon and her mother, Brenda, had gotten into a heated argument months earlier. However, because Cinnamon’s relationship with David, Linda, and Patti was also strained, Cinnamon actually slept inside a trailer that was parked in David and Linda’s backyard, a trailer that other officers were searching as David relayed this information.

The reason for this arrangement, according to David, was that Cinnamon was the black sheep of the family who had anger issues, suffered from depression, and was unwilling to accept help from anybody, including professional help from a psychiatrist. For seemingly no reason, she would often throw tantrums, lash out at those who cared for her, and threaten to take her own life. This behavior had driven a wedge between her and almost everyone in their family, including those living inside the home on Ocean Breeze Drive.

Basically, David said, Cinnamon was always causing problems, and he was left playing referee more times than he could count. Cinnamon and Linda had never gotten along, but her behavior had become so bad recently that Linda began to worry for the rest of the family’s safety. David had felt forced to kick her out of their home at Linda’s request, which is why she slept inside the trailer most nights. She did come inside the main home for meals and to watch television and play card games with the family when everyone was on speaking terms, but that was becoming an increasingly rare occurrence.

Understanding this, the officers then asked both David and Patti, individually, what events had transpired within the home in the hours before the murder.

First, David said that he had not been home at the time of the murder and that Cinnamon had not been acting any differently than usual the past few days. The previous day had been difficult, albeit average. He said that their family had visited with David’s parents, Arthur and Manuela Brown, and that Manuela and Linda had gotten into an argument over how baby Krystal was being raised.

Unfortunately, Krystal cried whenever she wasn’t being held, and Linda was attempting to break this bad habit using the “cry it out” method, which meant that she would not go to Krystal when she cried so long as she was sure the child had been fed and did not need to be changed. Manuela did not agree with this style of parenting in the slightest, and she voiced her concerns often, including that night. David had agreed with his mother, which soured Linda’s mood by making her feel like everyone in the room was against her.

After this, David and the rest of his immediate family returned home, David apologized to Linda, and the pair made up. They had sex at around midnight, and all seemed fine. However, David said he still couldn’t sleep because of the slight lingering tension between them.

At around 2 AM, David said he had gotten up and left Linda asleep in their bed. He had driven down the street to the local Circle-K convenience store to buy himself a soda and an apple pie, hoping that the drive and food would clear his head. He had then driven to the beach to sit and listen to the waves and smell the ocean as he ate his food. This did the trick, and about half an hour later, he started back home, intending to get some sleep, but this had been when everything went horribly wrong.

David said that, when he arrived home just before 3AM, Patti was standing just inside the front door, waiting to greet him. She was distraught and already holding Krystal in her arms the way she would be when officer Halligan first arrived, trying in vain to comfort the child as they both cried. Urgently, she had revealed to David that Cinnamon had killed Linda and tried to kill her as well. David had then immediately picked up the phone and dialed 911.

At this point, the police turned their attention to Patti, who was still holding Krystal in her arms. She corroborated David’s story about the previous day, his and Linda’s argument, and how he had left home before the murder; however, she did not agree with David’s claim that Cinnamon had been acting normally. Patti said that Cinnamon’s behavior had been increasingly strange the prior few days, and the hours before the murder had been the strangest.

Although, as stated, Cinnamon normally slept in the backyard trailer, she had been sleeping on a cot in Patti’s room the past two nights, which Patti knew meant something was wrong. Cinnamon obviously needed to talk to her about something but hadn’t been able to bring herself to admit it. Patti said that she attempted to make herself available by approaching Cinnamon while she was watching MTV in the family’s living room at around midnight, but Cinnamon would not tell her what was wrong. So, she let it go.

Then, at around 11:45 PM, Patti said she had gotten up to go to bed. As she did, Cinnamon followed her down the hallway and asked if she could help her with something important. She sounded distressed, so Patti agreed. Cinnamon then pulled out the small revolver that had been found beside Linda’s bed, presented it to her, and asked if she could teach her how to use it.

Startled, Patti asked her why, but Cinnamon only said that she needed it for protection. She said she was concerned about the break-ins that had been happening in their neighborhood and wanted to be able to defend herself if something unexpected happened because her trailer did not have an alarm installed.

Somewhat satisfied by her response, Patti had shown Cinnamon how to use the gun, explaining that she needed to pull the hammer back until it clicked and then pull the trigger. Patti wasn’t concerned about where Cinnamon had gotten the gun because she knew it belonged to David; he had guns stashed all over the house, after all. She planned to tell him about it the following morning when everybody woke up, but she would never get the chance.

After Patti and Cinnamon parted ways to go to bed—Patti in her room, Cinnamon in her trailer—Patti said that she was awoken at around 2:30 AM by a loud bang right beside her head. When she opened her eyes, she saw Cinnamon standing over her with the revolver in hand, pointed directly at her. Cinnamon had shot at her—but she had missed.

Too terrified to move, Patti said she had laid perfectly still and watched as Cinnamon exited her bedroom, marched down the hall, and fired two more shots with a brief pause between them. After this, baby Krystal began crying loudly and did not stop. David had yet to return, so the rest of the home was deathly quiet.

After a tense minute of shock, Patti said she came to her senses, sat up, and threw off her covers. She then crept to her bedroom door and peered into the hallway. Seeing nobody, she ran to Krystal’s nursery, grabbed the child, and quickly returned to her own bedroom. She didn’t exit the room again until David returned home about 30 minutes later, so she had no idea where Cinnamon had gone—although, she thought that she might have seen her fleeing out the backdoor as she rescued Krystal.

She then stayed inside her bedroom until she heard David’s keys jingling at the front door.

After she told David what had happened, he had called 911, and the two of them had waited at the front door for the police to arrive because David could not bring himself to check on Linda himself. He had an intense phobia of blood and was terrified to see his wife’s body.

So, all in all, aside from the discrepancy about Cinnamon’s mood before the murder, which could be easily discounted for multiple reasons, David and Patti’s stories lined up perfectly: Cinnamon had killed Linda in her sleep and fled the home on foot.

Learning all this, the police quickly decided that they were dealing with a very unique 14-year-old girl. It wasn’t uncommon for teens to fight and argue with their family—especially a stepparent—however, the fact that Cinnamon had actually killed Linda was extraordinary. They needed to be on the lookout, put out a community safety alert, and begin canvassing the neighborhood at once before someone else got hurt. This type of situation rarely resolved itself without even more bloodshed, so they couldn’t afford to take any chances.

At the police’s request, David provided detectives with the address of Cinnamon’s mother’s house and the names of her closest friends. They contacted them, hoping that one of them might have heard from her. But they had not.

Soon, David’s parents, Arthur and Manuela Brown, arrived to pick up baby Krystal. David kissed his daughter goodbye and then began walking the police through the prior day’s events yet again. This would be far from the last time he would be forced to relive those critical hours before his wife’s death.

As this morbid scene was playing out inside the home, other officers were still examining the backyard trailer that Cinnamon lived in. Overall, it looked exactly as you might expect any teenage girl’s room to look—disorganized and messy—however, there was also a small dog running around that had defecated on the floor multiple times, causing the whole trailer to smell strongly of feces. As they began sifting through the trailer’s contents, one of the officers picked the dog up to take it outside. He placed it inside a large outdoor pen that housed several doghouses and the Brown family’s other dogs—and then he noticed something alongside those other dogs.

At 6 AM, mere hours after it began, the search for Cinnamon Brown was over as this officer discovered Cinnamon passed out inside one of the doghouses. She was curled up in the fetal position, covered in vomit and urine, and clutching a note that read:

“Dear God, please forgive me. I didn’t mean to hurt her.”

Seeing that the girl was still alive, Cinnamon was then taken into custody and transported downtown to the police station, where officers attempted to question her; however, it quickly became obvious that something was seriously wrong. Cinnamon could barely keep her head upright, her pupils would not focus, and she appeared to be having trouble breathing normally. When on-site paramedics examined her, they found that her blood pressure was so low it would not even register on the standard pressure cuff.

Cinnamon was then rushed to hospital that morning at around 9:30 AM, where doctors learned that she had ingested three full bottles of medication in an apparent suicide attempt. They had to give her Ipecac syrup to induce vomiting until she passed out from exhaustion. Dozens of half-digested capsules came up during this, but she had already digested so many. It was unclear if she would live.

Over the next three days, doctors worked tirelessly to stabilize her as she teetered in and out of consciousness. In truth, had Cinnamon not already vomited up the majority of the capsules inside the doghouse before police found her, she would have certainly died. It was pure luck that she had lived long enough to make it to the hospital for treatment in the first place. Thanks to the efforts of her doctors, she survived—but her troubles were far from over.

The Trial and Conviction

The following weeks came and went in a flash for Cinnamon and the rest of the Brown family:

On June 20th, 1985, Cinnamon was released from the hospital and placed into the custody of the California Youth Authority. She was housed inside Orange County’s Juvenile Hall, where she was to remain until her trial began—and that trial was quick.

You see, although Cinnamon claimed to not remember what she had done on the night her stepmother was killed, the evidence spoke for itself: the revolver beside Linda’s bed had Cinnamon’s fingerprints on it; the bullets recovered from Linda’s chest were matched to that revolver; the handwritten suicide note/confession had been penned by Cinnamon’s own hand. Forensically, the case was locked down, and David and Patti’s stories were corroborated when security footage from the Circle K convenience store proved that David was away from home at the time of the murder. A bullet hole discovered above Patti’s bed also showed that Cinnamon had, in fact, fired at Patti as she slept.

If this wasn’t concrete enough, Cinnamon had also rendered a confession to one of her nurses while barely lucid in the hospital. Testimony from this nurse at trial sealed Cinnamon’s fate.

On September 13th, 1985, when she was only 15 years old, Cinnamon Brown was convicted of murder in the first degree and sentenced to 27 years in prison. Her entire family was in the courtroom that day to hear the sentence read. Her mother, Brenda, was beyond consolation.

Several days later, Cinnamon was placed at the Ventura School, a youth corrections facility, where she was expected to remain for 9 years, until she turned 25. After this, she would spend the remainder of her sentence in a California adult women’s prison. She would be eligible for parole in 2012, at which time she would be 42 years old.

And just like that, everything was over. The remaining members of the Brown family were left to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives as they asked themselves time and time again how something like this could have happened. Cinnamon had issues, they all knew, but nobody could have ever imagined what those issues would ultimately lead to. Many people in the family blamed themselves, but there was ultimately nothing they could do to change the past.

It was a tough pill to swallow, but there was little doubt in most people’s minds that justice had been served.

However, as the days and weeks inside Ventura School dragged on, Cinnamon came to a realization that would change the way she—and everyone else—thought about her case, about her trial, and about the murder of Linda Bailey Brown itself. In 1988, two full years after being convicted, she placed a call to the Orange County DA’s office and told them a story that was so unbelievable it had to be true. The only question was, since her day in court had already passed, would anybody else believe it?

The Man Behind the Manipulation: David Arnold Brown

On today’s episode of the Casual Criminalist, we’ll be examining the life of a person who may be one of the most loathsome and manipulative people I have ever written about, despite his actions only leading the death of single person: Cinnamon’s father, David Brown.

An Ambitious Young Man

Introduced to the world on November 16th, 1952, in Phoenix, Arizona, David Arnold Brown was born into an exceptionally impoverished family, and although he would find great financial success during his later life, that fact would permanently color the lens through which he saw the world.

When David was a toddler, his parents, Arthur and Manuela Brown, worked hard to provide for their eight children, of whom David was the sixth, but they were never quite able to make ends meet. Arthur was a mechanic by trade, but he lacked ambition and business sense, so their family had to move often, living in whichever backwater town he could find employment. Manuela was primarily a stay-at-home mother—as was common in the 1950s—but she also worked whenever possible to supplement the family’s income. This, unfortunately, did little to help them obtain any amount of financial stability; it was simply never enough.

According to David, he and his sibling often went to bed hungry without dinner and wore hand-me-down clothes from relatives that were little more than rags. They all attended school regularly, but they rarely had the opportunity to make friends before packing their bags and saying their goodbyes because their family was always on the move. This lifestyle left David and his siblings lacking any real stability and caused him to feel like the only person he could rely on in life was himself. That feeling would also stay with him for the rest of his life.

Unwilling to sit idly by and watch his family struggle, however, David began performing odd jobs around his neighborhood when he was just 8 years old. He picked weeds, mowed lawns, painted fences, and did anything else his neighbors were willing to pay him to do, which helped him—and his siblings—afford school supplies and basic necessities. This was a major point of pride for young David, and when he turned 11, he secured his first real job as a dishwasher at a local café, working alongside two of his older brothers.

Here, he claims to have worked up to 8 hours per evening on school nights and up to 16 hours per day on the weekends. This ambition earned him quite a bit of money for the first time in his life, which helped him realize something very important about himself.

Even from an early age, David understood that money was the most important thing in his life. Money allowed him to buy things, which he considered to be the ultimate sign of success, but it also allowed him to gift things to other people, which he saw as the quickest way to win them over. In his mind, there were few things that money couldn’t do, so he dropped out of school when he was in the eighth grade to devote even more time to working. While some might have seen this as short-sighted, it worked out well for David—at least for a little while.

Thanks to all those extra hours, he was able to purchase a new wardrobe, a motorcycle, and a record player along with a collection of records. He also cleaned himself up, growing out and grooming a large pair of sideburns and a slicked-back pompadour hairstyle, effectively turning himself into The Fonz. He also started frequenting the stereotypical hangout spots of the 1950s and 1960s, like drive-in movie theaters and drive-in restaurants, where he would flash his cash while attempting to pick up women. And speaking of women, they were David’s other great passion.

David’s first girlfriend was his mother’s ex-husband’s daughter, Brenda Kurges. To answer your question before you even ask, no, their relationship was not incestuous because they were not biologically related. Although, it was still a bit strange because their families knew one another quite well, so it still triggers the “ewwww” factor for me personally.

According to Brenda, the thing that initially drew David to her was the fact that their situations were so similar. Like himself, she came from a large family and was remarkably poor because of it. As one of eleven siblings being supported by a single mother, she often went without basic necessities. She also had countless other half-siblings spread across California because her father apparently couldn’t understand the difficult concepts that were monogamy and condoms.

David felt intense pity for Brenda and desired to save her from the tragic life she was living in the same way he was trying to save himself.

As for why Brenda was attracted to David, that was a bit more complicated. In truth, the future short, pudgy, and balding man was already quite unattractive. His teenage face was marred and pocked by acne in a way that no sideburns could disguise.

Of course, Brenda liked the fact that he had money and the fact he used that money to buy things for her, but she also said she was attracted to his personality. According to people that knew him, David had the nice, charming smile of a politician that made his otherwise ugly face appear almost handsome. When he spoke through that smile, Brenda’s young heart swam, and when he laughed, she couldn’t help but laugh along with him.

His mood was infectious, and he always seemed to know exactly what to say to make her smile. Even when he was feeling down—which happened often because of how difficult their lives were—he was still hard to dislike. When he complained that no one in his family loved him, she wanted desperately to make him feel better because seeing him wallow in self-pity was heartbreaking.

She grew to truly care for him the way that David claims few people ever did. In short, he was her golden-hearted knight, her provider, and her lover—but we need to talk about that last thing a bit more.

According to Brenda, David’s sexual appetite was beyond insatiable when they were young. They had sex at least three times each day: once in the morning, again in the afternoon, and a final time at night. But Brenda said that this number would have been even higher if David could have had his way; he would have never left the bedroom if he could have afforded not to.

David took great pride in his sexual prowess and was reportedly never shy about discussing sex the way he was never shy about pulling out his wallet to impress everyone. He would often find ways to make normal conversations sexual and wasn’t embarrassed about that in the slightest. This was the first sign that he was a sex addict, but Brenda was unfortunately unable to recognize this fact. And there were other red flags about him as well that she either could not see or simply did not want to see.

First, David had a known jealous streak and would rarely let Brenda out of his sight when they were together. When she dressed for a date, he made sure to stay by her side the entire evening. If she had to use the restroom, he would follow her inside, stand beside the stall, and wait for her to finish. He would also insist that she do the same for him when he had to go.

David’s self-reported reason for this behavior was that the world was a dangerous place and Brenda needed to be protected. David also wouldn’t allow her to have a driver’s license or get a job for the same reason.

What exactly caused this type of behavior in David is heavily debated—as if something like that could ever actually be understood—but there are a few events that some people point to. Although it’s not clear when it happened, David claimed to have been molested by a man in a park when he was young, around the age of ten. This is also around the time that he reportedly walked into a room where a close family member of his was attempting suicide. This person was reportedly slicing their own wrists when David entered the room, and he had been too stunned to react.

He just stood there, watching.

Throughout his later life, David rarely gave specific details about either of these encounters, but those that knew him and knew the story said that both events had a profound effect on him. It’s not clear what this effect was, but they said it “changed him.” David also claimed that his mother regularly beat him with the handle of a vacuum cleaner, but this too is unconfirmed.

Brenda knew about these claims, but never truly believed them herself because, in addition to being extraordinarily controlling, David was also a known liar that exaggerated many aspects of his life. For instance, when looking for sympathy from those around him, he would fake illnesses and exaggerate his known medical conditions. When he needed something from someone, his slight asthma would suddenly turn debilitating in a flash.

Life with Brenda

In 1968, David and Brenda hit the road, leaving their families behind in search of a better life when they were both only 16 years old. For over a year, they stayed in various hotels in California free of charge by working for those hotels by day and sleeping in spare rooms by night. They both claimed to be relatively happy during this time, but it was still a hard life because David, who was no longer working 16-hour days, was beginning to feel very impoverished yet again.

In 1969, the couple packed their bags and headed east to Utah, to where Brenda’s grandmother lived in Salt Lake City. Just like his father had done his entire life, David was now following the money. He often worked in construction; however, this still did not earn him enough to live comfortably. Plus, he was about to need even more money because he and Brenda were about to incur an unexpected and very expensive surprise: at only 17 years old, Brenda was pregnant.

In early January of 1970, David and Brenda returned to California, to the town of Wilmington, and in May of that same year, they were legally married after receiving permission from their parents. Two months later, on July 3rd, 1970, they welcome their first and only daughter, Cinnamon Darlene Brown, the girl who would someday kill her stepmother in cold blood as she slept.

According to those that new the family, David absolutely loved Cinnamon to death. She was his pride and joy, his entire world, and he would do anything for her; however, he still needed to find a decent job to provide for her. Since returning to California, he had been working as a gas station attendant, but that wasn’t going to cut it; he needed to find a real career.

At this point, the people in David’s life already knew that he was naturally intelligent, but in April of 1971, he got his chance to prove it. That year, David took his General Equivalency Exam (GED), which is used in America as a replacement for a high school diploma. Despite never having attended a single day of high school, David passed with flying colors, achieving a score that was higher than the national average in every single category. He placed 82nd percentile in literature, 79th in social studies, and 62nd in mathematics.

After this, David used his GED to enroll in California’s Work Incentive Program, where he hoped to learn to work with computers. He then studied at the Control Data Institute in Los Angeles, where he was trained in data recovery techniques for hard drives.

Now, before we go any further, we need to remember what era we are talking about. This was the early 1970s, so computers were still a relatively new invention, and even the large companies that adopted them early rarely employed a full-time, dedicated IT department. If you were a small business, the likelihood was basically zero.

That meant that services like data recovery were in high demand, and the few shops that were able to provide that service raked in money hand over fist. They were also always in need of good technicians, so David was hired by a company called Century Data almost immediately after completing his course. David himself wouldn’t start making large amounts of money for several more years, but the seed was planted, and it was only a matter of time before he finally had all the money he needed.

But, while his business prospects were improving, his marriage to Brenda was headed in the opposite direction. You see, despite the fact that Brenda was still agreeing to have sex with him at least three times per day, David was still unsatisfied, and he soon asked his wife for permission to begin dating other women on the side. Because she feared losing her husband permanently, Brenda agreed—at first.

However, like the vast majority of spouses who try to save their marriage in this manner, she realized that the arrangement would not solve anything. The first time she spotted David holding hands with another woman at a café, ferocious jealousy ignited in her chest, which made her call the whole thing off immediately. After this, she told David that she had changed her mind and could no longer bring herself to allow it.

In response, David said he would stop seeing other women, but he did not.

In the book If You Really Loved Me by Ann Rule—the book from which most of the information about David’s childhood and marriage to Brenda comes from—Brenda describes David in the following way:

“He was oversexed. That’s the only way I can say it. He was always leaning out of the car or turning to look at women. He knew it made me mad, but he was obsessed. It didn’t matter if they were young or old, or whatever… I just couldn’t stand it.”

Soon after being forbidden to date other women, David began taking frequent “hunting trips” with his brother, but Brenda knew where he was really going.

For her own sake, she tried to convince herself that she could put up with the cheating. In her mind, so long as David was attempting to hide his affairs, she could pretend they weren’t happening, and they could continue presenting themselves to the world as a happy family. But this strategy ended up blowing up in her face when David arrived home one day with a woman named Lori Carpenter on his arm and divorce papers in his hand.

David told her that he wanted her out of his apartment immediately and that he planned to take full custody of Cinnamon. Lori would move in and raise the girl in Brenda’s place.

At first, Brenda was so furious she couldn’t see straight, but after calming herself down, she told David that she would never agree to a divorce. It was as simple as that. She hoped that, if she just refused long enough, David would change his mind and leave Lori when he realized that Lori wouldn’t make him any happier than she did. This didn’t happen.

Instead, David continued to date Lori while living with Brenda and attempting to force her into a divorce, which made the entire situation extraordinarily volatile.

Brenda stated that, around this time, she became deathly afraid of David. While he had only been physically abusive toward her once throughout their entire 5-year relationship, there was something about him that shifted after she refused to divorce him:

“I don’t know why, but I had this terrible fear that he was going to smother me to death with a pillow while I was asleep. He never tried to as far as I remember, but I used to wake up unable to breathe, dreaming, maybe, that he had covered my face with a pillow.”

Unsure if she was in real danger or just overreacting, Brenda decided to err on the side of caution.

One day while David was at work, Brenda packed up everything their family owned and enlisted help from her friends and family to move to a new smaller apartment across town. She then found work at a local shop and had family members babysit Cinnamon while she was away. Brenda lived like this for a while; however, when David discovered where she was working, he showed up at her job with a revolver and pressed it to her temple.

In front of her coworkers, he said:

“If I can’t have you, then nobody can.”

Why exactly David went from demanding a divorce to showing up at Brenda’s workplace with a gun is baffling to me, but Brenda later theorized that he didn’t like the fact that she had left him; he wanted to be the one to leave her.

According to Brenda, she wasn’t shocked when saw the gun because she had been expecting something like this to happen. She knew he wouldn’t just let her walk away with everything they owned and their daughter, but she also didn’t believe that he would go through with killing her. She bravely called his bluff:

“I just didn’t care. I told him to go ahead and shoot me, because he’d never get away with it. The police would lock him up forever. I was just so tired of fighting him. He finally dropped the gun and walked away.”

But that was by no means the last time she would see him.

Several weeks later, David showed up outside her apartment with that same revolver in his hand and demanded that she return the jewelry he had purchased for her throughout their marriage. He once again said he was going to give everything she loved to Lori and leave her with nothing.

Brenda protested at first, but David pointed the gun at her again, and this time, she believed that he would pull the trigger; he was waving it around the room like a madman, so she retrieved the jewelry for him as he demanded. But he still wasn’t satisfied; he wanted his old hunting rifle returned to him as well.

At this point, Brenda froze. That rifle was her only means of protection and having it by her bedside was the only way she could sleep soundly at night. She was terrified of allowing her obviously deranged husband to take her only means of protection. When David picked up the rifle, she took hold of the gun’s forestock and tried to wrestle it from him, but he easily overpowered her.

As David marched back to his car with the jewelry and rifle in his hands, Brenda followed closely behind him, grabbing desperately at the rifle as he held it high above his head and out of her reach. Being so much smaller than he was, she had little chance of overpowering him; however, as he slid into the driver’s seat, she saw an opportunity to wrap her fingers tightly around the gun’s forestock yet again. David then tried to push her away as he had done before, but he didn’t have enough room this time to effectively move while seated.

As they struggled, he cursed and screamed at her to let go. Then, unable to shake her off, he started the engine, threw the car into drive, and sped away, dragging Brenda down the street as she clung to the car’s sideview mirror. She was forced to let go and tumble onto the ground below when David veered off the road, intending to ram her into a telephone pole.

Life with Lori

David’s divorce from Brenda was finalized in 1974, and on October 4th of that same year, his marriage to Lori Carpenter began. Shortly after their union, they moved into a small rental home in Riverside, California, where they attempted to start fresh and put David’s messy divorce—and the rocky start to their own relationship—behind them. This was easier said than done.

Unfortunately, against David’s wishes, the judge that finalized his and Brenda’s divorce had given her primary custody of Cinnamon while David was only permitted to see his daughter on weekends. David was bitterly angry about this because, although he and Lori welcomed Cinnamon into their home at every opportunity, David never felt like he was in control of his daughter’s life. He was just a part-time parent, and when Brenda eventually remarried, he felt that he would be replaced altogether.

As Cinnamon grew older, David attempted to win her affection by taking her on frequent trips to Disneyland, buying her anything she asked for, and allowing her to pig out on ice cream and other sweets when she stayed over. But this never felt like enough. While these actions certainly did endear him toward his daughter by making him seem like the cool parent while Brenda was the mean, responsible parent, he always felt embittered by the fact that, as he saw it, his ex-wife had beaten him by winning primary custody.

This all sent David spiraling into a deep, reoccurring depression that would come and go in waves. These waves, each time they arrived, killed his sex drive and, with it, his bravado. As stated, David had always taken great pride in his ability to seduce and sleep with women, so when he lost interest in doing one the things he loved most in his life, he had to be hospitalized several times after multiple failed suicide attempts. During this time, Lori stayed by his side, but like the rest of his life, their marriage was anything but perfect.

You see, while David didn’t yet know it, there was something about Lori that he did not like in the slightest. David preferred to be with women he could control, and, at first, Lori had fit the bill. They had started dating when she was only 18 years old and he was 21. This isn’t that big of an age gap, but remember that David had been living on his own since he was 15 while Lori was still living with her parents when they met.

He had infinitely more life and relationship experience than her, which he used to his advantage to manipulate her into doing what he wanted. However, unlike Brenda, who had put up with his domineering personality for years before rebelling, Lori was already growing stubborn after just a year together. This left David unsatisfied, and he quickly began seeing other women behind her back.

When Lori learned that she was also being cheated on, she left. She didn’t beat around the bush the way Brenda had, and on October 13, 1978, after 4 years together, her marriage to David formally ended.

After this, David’s mental health took blow after blow as he continued to struggle with various things in life. His love life was in ruins, but he was about to develop a new strategy that would take him far:

While manipulation can take many forms, David was a textbook sympathetic manipulator, which means that he preferred to control people primarily by pulling at their heartstrings as opposed to something like threatening them with violence—although he did occasionally do this as well when all else failed. Sympathetic manipulation is one of the most dangerous forms of manipulation because, when done well by someone skilled in deception, there’s nothing obvious or “in your face” about it. Oftentimes, the person being manipulated doesn’t even realize it until years after the manipulation ends, until they remove themselves from the relationship.

But, sometimes, they never realize it at all. This is because the person deceiving them doesn’t seem dangerous because they purposefully present themselves as weak or vulnerable to elicit compassion. During David’s relationship with Brenda, he had used his family’s poverty to garner sympathy, but now that he had finally achieved moderate financial success through his new job as a data recovery technician, he couldn’t rely on that anymore.

It was difficult to manipulate Lori for this reason, so after their marriage ended, he realized that he needed to alter his strategy.

Starting sometime around the mid-1970s, David began claiming that his health was rapidly declining and often told people that he didn’t have long to live. To some, he claimed to have cancer while, to others, he reported a brain tumor. However, one commonality amongst all of these stories was the claim that he was gravely ill, in pain, and in need of much sympathy. Because David had always relied on his health problems to some extent to garner sympathy, his family and those closest to him rarely questioned if his self-reported illnesses were real.

Poor David, they thought, why must the good die young?

But, while David was perfecting his manipulation techniques, he was also selecting a new type of target, a target that would be extremely susceptible to his charm and growing persuasiveness: children.

Life with the Bailey Family

Unbeknownst to Lori, David’s interest in children and teenagers began while they were still living together in a house on Randolph Street in Riverside, California. It started when he noticed a large family living two doors down from them: the Bailey family.

The Bailey household consisted of a single mother, Ethel Bailey, and her 11 children: Sheri, Rick, Jeff, Tom, Pam, Linda, Alan, Randy, Larry, Ralph, and Patti. If a few of those names sound familiar to anyone, that’s because several of them were mentioned in the intro. One of the children, Linda, is David’s future wife, the one who would eventually be murdered by his daughter, Cinnamon. Linda was only 13 years old when she met David, who was 24.

According to David, when he first saw the Bailey Family, it felt like déjà vu. The Bailey children, who ranged in age from single digits to grown adults, were all living in poverty, and the children’s father was completely absent. This was the exact same situation that Brenda had been living in when they first met, so he knew exactly how to win everyone over.

David introduced himself to the Bailey family by bringing Ethel and her children a large turkey for Christmas one year. This was the first time the children had ever experienced a proper Christmas dinner because Ethel was typically too poor to afford anything fancier than rice and noodles. It was an extravagant gift for them, and the family was beyond overjoyed.

Such a grand entrance was remembered for years, and after David and Lori divorced, David became a regular visitor to the Bailey home, during which time he would continue to shower everyone with gifts. On normal days, he would bring snacks and toys to distribute among the children and cigarettes for Ethel and the teenagers—but that’s not all. On each of the children’s birthdays, he would buy them clothes, and on nights when it was obvious that the family had nothing to eat, he would pick up a stack of pizzas or a sack-full of McDonald’s hamburgers on his way home from work. Nobody suspected that David was a budding predator on the hunt for a victim.

As David would brag to Ethel and her children many times throughout their lives, he was able to afford all of these gifts because, after 6 years of working for other companies, he had finally launched his own data recovery business, Data Recovery inc., and that business had taken off like wildfire. David bragged that his phones were ringing off the hook from the time his shop opened until well after it closed and—if he had the desire—he could have easily found enough work to stay open 24/7. Instead, he played it smart by being selective about his clients and raising his prices to astronomical rates, which many large companies were forced to pay because there were so few options in those days.

Plus, companies saw the price as somewhat reasonable because David had developed a technique that allowed him to reliably recover nearly all lost data from a faulty hard drive. As a result, his name spread quickly, earning him even more high-paying, big-name clients, such as the US Air Force, Rockwell International, and Northrop. This allowed him to work less while still raking in the big bucks.

Unlike Arthur Brown, who was never able to find success in life, David had found his niche and capitalized on it well, and his bank account was swelling. However, David said, there was another reason for his generosity:

As David explained to the Bailey family, he was a dying man who had been diagnosed with late-stage colon cancer, and his doctor had given him less than a year to live. Their family was in need, and he was in a position to help. So, why wouldn’t he?

This was a lie, but they all believed him because—well, why wouldn’t they?

The longer David knew the Baileys, the more grandiose his displays of wealth became. One year, he took the entire bunch on their first ever trip to Disneyland, letting them ride rollercoasters and purchase souvenirs all at his expense. This was the first time any of them had ever been visited somewhere so expensive, and they were all eternally grateful. In many ways, these acts made them see David as a father figure as opposed to a neighbor, which makes what he did next even more disturbing:

Starting sometime around 1979, David requested help from two of the Bailey girls, 15-year-old Pamela and 13-year-old Linda. He said his cancer had progressed and he was having trouble keeping his house organized. He offered to pay the girls in cash to help him clean a few days each week. Pam and Linda, who were in no position to turn down easy money, were more than willing to help him.

Because the girls were always stopping by David’s home after school, they then began hanging out with him as if he were a friend their age instead of a neighbor in his mid-twenties. After they were done cleaning, the girls would watch television as David cooked for them. But some evenings, they would instead go into town to eat dinner and cause mischief.

On these days, David would drive the three of them around in his pickup truck searching for people to steal from. Although he didn’t need the money, David would often pull up beside random unlocked cars and trucks to have the girls jump out so they could grab everything from inside. They would take purses, electronics, cameras, tools, and anything else they could get their hands on.

David would then allow Pamela and Linda to either keep these items for themselves or sell them at shady pawnshops for quick cash. Why David did this is a mystery, but it’s possible that he was teaching the girls to keep secrets from their mother so they would be ready to keep a much bigger secret for him—which is known as grooming.

Pamela was the first Bailey girl that David chose to pursue sexually, but their time together was short because the younger girl, Linda, quickly caught his attention. She was Ethel’s seventh oldest child, and she had a twin brother named Alan. She was only 14 years old when she first requested birth control from her older sister.

To win Linda over and make their relationship seem more appropriate, David had told Linda that she was special, that she was more mature than the other girls her age, and that she was smarter and prettier than the rest of her sisters. He told her that they were meant to be together and that, if he lived long enough, he would someday ask her to marry him. Linda believed him, and that’s how the abuse began.

Not long after this, David announced that his cancer had miraculously gone into remission, making his promises and the prospect of marriage seem like more than just a fantasy. They would marry soon, David told Linda in secret, and then they would run away together and live in happiness forever. Linda, who was still only 15, once again believed him. However, their marriage would have to wait just a bit longer.

Despite David’s attempts to keep their relationship a secret, Ethel eventually learned what was happening inside David’s home in the evenings and confronted him, ordering him to stay away from her daughters. She also forbade Linda from seeing David alone anymore, but this didn’t go over well. Her hardline stance against the relationship caused a rift to form between her and Linda.

Linda soon packed her bags and left home, moving in with one of her older brothers, Rick, and his wife. She wanted to move in with David but knew that Ethel would call the police if she did. She stayed with Rick for over two years while secretly meeting with David whenever possible.

Naïvely, Ethel hoped that Linda’s infatuation with David would blow over when she inevitably met someone her own age, but she had no idea how far David had sunk his hooks into the young girl. No matter how often the people in Linda’s life tried to dissuade her, she didn’t want anyone but David. Out of fear of driving her daughter away permanently, Ethel eventually relented and made peace with the situation.

On June 21st, 1979, when her daughter was 17 years old, Ethel rode with David, Linda, and Linda’s twin brother, Alan, to Las Vegas for an impromptu wedding. She gave the couple her blessing and signed the paperwork to make the marriage legal.

Life with Linda

With a ring on her finger, Linda moved into David’s home to finally begin living the life she had been promised for years; however, her dream quickly turned into a nightmare when the marriage ended in less than two months. Yes, that’s right, David kicked Linda out of his home on August 14th, 1979. He sent her back to Ethel in tears, and by September, their divorce was finalized.

David’s self-reported reason for doing this was that Linda had developed a drug and alcohol addiction while living with her older brother and that she was simply too immature to be a housewife and raise children of her own. Whether or not the part about the drug problem was true is unknown; however, I can certainly believe the part about her not being ready to be a housewife and mother at 17.

As stated, Linda was crushed by this, but David seemingly had no issue moving on. Less than a year after their divorce, David married his 4th wife, Cindy, on May 24th, 1980. Their relationship didn’t even last until Christmas, and David filed for divorce on January 28th, 1981, 8 months after the marriage began. It was so short that David couldn’t even recall Cindy’s last name. I, myself, was also unable to find it either.

The reason for this, David claimed, was that Cindy was a “gold digger” who had only married him for his money, and his wallet simply wasn’t big enough to keep her happy, despite the fact that he was doing well for himself. Although there could have been another reason as well: David’s constant, self-admitted infidelity.

All throughout David and Cindy’s short marriage, David continued to sleep with other women, including his second wife, Lori, and his third wife, Linda. He was also still involved with his first wife, Brenda, to some extent for Cinnamon’s sake. This presented a problem for Cindy—when she eventually learned about it. So, she kicked him out.

After this, David invited Linda to move back in with him, saying that their separation had been a massive mistake and telling her that, this time, they really would be together forever. Linda believed him. Before David’s divorce from Cindy was finalized, Linda moved back into David’s home.

The Bailey family, particularly Linda’s older sister, Mary, who Linda had been living with during her separation from David, was extraordinarily upset with this decision. She said:

“We didn’t want her to go back. But she wouldn’t listen to anyone… David could make women feel important. Just the way he talked. His voice could convince you or persuade you. He could turn it on.”

While all of that was true, there was also much more at play. David was able to convince Linda that it was her fault their first marriage had failed. He placed all the blame on her and made her feel that she was lucky to be given a second chance. Moreover, he had convinced her that he was always right and that she was always wrong.

There was no reason for her to think for herself anymore because he could think for her. She just needed to stay quiet, be a good housewife, and submit to him sexually whenever and wherever he demanded. Then, he said, their marriage would succeed.

David and Linda remarried at another ceremony in Las Vegas. This time, Linda was old enough to not need Ethel’s permission. Soon after, the couple moved into a new home in Victoriaville, California, a town 50 miles north of Riverside, on the edge of the Mojavi Desert. Here, they attempted to start over, and David began working to make amends with the rest of the Bailey family, most of whom actively disliked him for what he had put Linda through.

He began purchasing everyone gifts again, and a few of Linda’s siblings, including Linda’s twin brother, Alan, were even given jobs at his company. Linda herself became David’s informal secretary.

While this was happening, David and Linda invited Cinnamon, who was now 10 years old, into their home often, where David continued to present himself as the fun parent on weekends, showering her with praise and gifts. For a while, things were good, but David’s constant wandering eye was about to send the entire Brown family spiraling toward disaster.

Patti Bailey

While David and Linda’s messy life together was playing out, there has been someone lurking in the background of this entire story who is about to become a major player. If you recall from the intro, there was another person inside the home when Linda was murdered: Linda’s younger sister, Patti.

Patti Bailey was Ethel’s youngest child, and she was about 11 years old when Linda married David for the first time. She had grown up idolizing David and couldn’t understand why his and Linda’s relationship had been inappropriate because the most abusive parts of their relationship had been purposefully hidden from her due to her age. In Patti’s eyes, David was a good man, so she was quite jealous when he decided to marry Linda instead of her. She often lamented how, if she had only been a bit older when David moved in next door, he might have chosen to pursue her instead of Linda.

In truth, Patti Bailey had been groomed just as Linda had. Even without sexually abusing her, David had been encouraging Patti for years to keep secrets from her mother, to see him as a provider and a protector, and to trust him wholeheartedly. Patti, who the whole family regarded as extremely suggestible, fell into David’s trap even harder than Linda.

Wanting to be closer to David, Patti begged him and Linda to allow her to move in with them. She said that, with most of her and Linda’s siblings now grown and living on their own, she was lonely at home and that Ethel had become angry and abusive toward her. Linda was hesitant, but David ran the house. He told Patti she was more than welcome to move in with them, and in December of 1981, Patti did just that. She was 13 years old at the time, and David began molesting her within days of her arrival.

From this point on, the small family—David, Linda, Patti, and occasionally Cinnamon—moved often, always staying around Los Angelas for the sake of David’s business, but they also kept to themselves. Most of their neighbors believed them to be a very close-nit bunch because they rarely—if ever—interacted with anyone besides themselves. David’s parents visited often, but they were their only visitors. This seclusion was intentional.

David needed to keep his family isolated to control them more effectively. He even went as far as to unenroll Patti from public school and hire her a private tutor to keep her locked inside the house as much as possible.

From the outside looking in, the Brown family appeared relatively normal and successful, but David’s abuse of Patti continued unabated the entire time. By day, David, Linda, and Alan would repair hard drives inside David’s workshop, but at night, long after Linda had gone to bed, he would slip down the hall to Patti’s room. Here, he would tell her the same things he had once told her older sister: they were meant to be together. But, he said, being together would take time, at least until she was 18.

Until then, their relationship needed to remain a secret.

It took Linda until the summer of 1983 to suspect that something was going on between David and Patti. She wasn’t fully aware of the extent of the abuse or how long it had been happening, but she did know that something about their relationship wasn’t proper. By then, she was pregnant with her and David’s future daughter, but David seemed to prioritize spending time with Patti over caring for her.

He took Patti on trips to the desert to practice her marksmanship, cruised around town with her in the passenger seat of his car, and purchased her extravagant gifts, which were all things that he had once done for Linda herself. As this was happening, Linda had gained significant weight from the pregnancy and felt completely unattractive. She saw that David no longer looked at her the way he used to—but he did look at Patti that way.

She confronted her husband about her suspicions outright:

“Is there anything funny going on between you and Patti?”

David denied it, and that was the end of the conversation—for a while.

Later that same year, the family moved into a larger rental home on Ocean Breeze Drive to make room for the baby, but eventually, after several more months of watching David and Patti spend time together while she was cooped up inside their home, Linda had a breakdown. She ordered David to pack up Patti’s belongings and drive her back to her mother’s home. She made it clear that there was only room for one Bailey girl inside David’s home and said that he needed to choose who it would be: herself or Patti.

At first, it seemed like David was going to choose her. He packed up Patti’s things as Linda had ordered, climbed into his truck with Patti beside him, and set off toward Riverside; however, he had a change of heart on his way there. Somewhere along the way to Ethel’s home, he pulled over to use a payphone, dialed his home’s phone number, and turned the ultimatum around on Linda. He made it abundantly clear to her that either both he and Patti would return home or neither of them would return:

“I’m not coming back without her. That’s the way it’s going to be.”

Linda knew immediately that David was serious, that he had made his decision clear, but she couldn’t bring herself to let him leave. He would choose Patti over her if forced to, and they would drive off into the night, across the country to the east coast, and never be seen again. She would be stuck raising their child all on her own. She couldn’t do that, so she instead allowed them both to return home and stopped protesting Patti’s occupancy. David greeted her with a kiss at the door.

After that tense night, for some unknown reason, Linda soon became horribly depressed. She lost weight when she should have been gaining weight for the pregnancy and started closing herself off from the rest of her family, including her twin brother, whom she loved dearly. When they tried to reach out to her, she was cold, and their conversations were shallow.

According to most sources, it was obvious to the rest of the Bailey family that something was going on between David and Patti, but David assured everyone that Patti simply had an adolescent crush on her older sister’s husband, something that he considered to be quite common. He claimed to be innocently taking her under his wing to keep her out of trouble. It’s unlikely that any of them knew for certain the extent of what was going on, but they all had their suspicions.

For now, David had managed to get everything and everyone back under control; however, he knew that his hold over Linda was slipping and that it was only a matter of time before, like Brenda, she would leave him. He wasn’t ready to go through another divorce—especially with a newborn on the way—so he began looking for another way out.

The Cinnamon Solution

Linda Bailey Brown gave birth to Krystal Marie Brown on July 20th, 1984, and David began planning her murder almost immediately after. For this, he turned to Cinnamon.

Around this point in her life, Cinnamon had become an angsty teenager and, thanks to her father’s lifelong manipulation, she preferred him over her mother in nearly every way. So, in 1984, she moved into David’s home on Ocean Breeze Drive with him, Linda, Patti, and Krystal permanently after a massive argument with her mother. Because the spare bedroom Cinnamon normally slept in had been converted into a nursery, she instead shared a room with Patti, who was only 3 years older than her at the time. This is when David put his plan into action.

One night, David told Cinnamon in private that Linda and her twin brother, Alan, were plotting to kill him to steal his business and his money. He said that Linda had fallen out of love with him—which was likely true, but not for the reasons David asserted—and that, if he died, she would steal everything, leaving her and Patti with nothing. She would then send Cinnamon back to live with Brenda, send Patti back to live with Ethel, and then run the business herself and pocket all the profits.

Cinnamon was startled by this revelation and didn’t take her father seriously at first. However, David made it clear that he wasn’t joking around. His life was in danger, he said, and he desperately needed her help.

Cinnamon then asked David why he didn’t simply call the police or divorce Linda or run away to somewhere safe, but David said that he couldn’t do that. Even if he did everything exactly as Cinnamon suggested, Linda would find a way to kill him; she was simply that determined.

As a 15-year-old girl who had been conditioned to see her father as nearly infallible, Cinnamon believed everything David told her, but she still didn’t understand what she could do to help. David made it simple for her: Linda needed to die first.

Cinnamon was hesitant at first, but David worked for several weeks to make the issue appear urgent. He told her that he couldn’t sleep anymore out of fear and that he was constantly looking over his shoulder, expecting Linda to stick a knife in his back or for Alan to wrap a rope around his neck. His hair was falling out, he told her, because he thought Linda might be poisoning him.

How could Cinnamon not agree to help save her father’s life?

To plan the murder, David brought Patti in on the scheme. Together, the three of them sat in private whenever possible to discuss potential plans. They talked about hitting Linda over the head with a heavy object, electrocuting her by dropping a hairdryer into the bathtub as she bathed, pushing her in front of a moving car, and much more. However, each of these proved to be either too complicated, too unreliable, or too obvious.

Eventually, David declared that the only surefire way to get the job done was to shoot Linda; however, he said he couldn’t be the one to do it because the police would suspect him first and foremost. They would send him to prison forever, even if he explained that killing Linda had been a form of “get her before she gets me” self-defense. Instead, David suggested, Cinnamon would be the best person to get the job done because, according to him, she wouldn’t be arrested because of her age. The police would merely take her to a hospital for a psych evaluation and then she would be sent home.

It would be so easy, David assured her, and Cinnamon believed him; however, she still couldn’t imagine pulling the trigger herself.

To apply even more pressure, David told her:

“If you really loved me, you would do this for me.”

And:

“Daughters who love their daddies do things like this for them, to protect them.”

Although most adults can recognize these statements as little more than juvenile manipulation tactics, they worked wonders on Cinnamon.

As this planning was occurring in secret, Cinnamon became cold and distant toward Linda, which is why she moved into the backyard trailer that the family typically only used for camping. She needed space to think, space away from Linda, away from David, away from Patti, and away from everyone else in her life.

Eventually, she told her father that she would do it—if she had to. David assured her she absolutely did, and a plan was quickly formulated:

One night, while Linda slept, David would leave the house to establish an alibi while Cinnamon and Patti stayed behind. Patti would be responsible for making sure baby Krystal was safe while Cinnamon carried out the murder. Cinnamon would use one of David’s revolvers—the one he had used to threaten Brenda with years earlier—to shoot Linda in the chest as she slept. Then, after Cinnamon and Patti were sure Linda was dead, Cinnamon would ingest enough pills to knock herself out, exit the home through the backdoor, and crawl into the family’s doghouse to hide.

With a fake suicide note in her hand, Cinnamon would then turn the revolver on herself. She would fire a single shot at the side of her head, just close enough to graze her scalp and make the suicide attempt appear more realistic. When David returned home, he would then call the police himself.

After this, once Cinnamon was discovered, she would be taken to a psychiatric hospital for treatment, where she would tell her counselors that she had killed Linda because Linda was abusive toward her. David and Patti would confirm her story, and Cinnamon would then quickly be released.

And just like that, the plan was finished. Cinnamon was still hesitant, but David and Patti assured her that it would work. She had no idea that she was being lied to, or that those lies went even deeper.

Unbeknownst to Cinnamon, David had another plan that he was keeping from her. You see, David knew that Cinnamon would not simply be released after killing her stepmother, and he couldn’t take the risk of her revealing their plan once she was arrested. For this reason, he fully intended for Cinnamon to die as well. Instead of giving her just enough pills to knock her out, he planned to give her a lethal dose to ensure she died long before being discovered.

Telling her to “graze the side of her own head with a bullet” was a backup plan. He believed that Cinnamon would accidentally shoot herself square in the head by mistake.

In short, the real plan was for both Linda and Cinnamon to die so that David and Patti could take Krystal and run away together. Whether or not Patti was fully aware of this part of the plan or if, like Cinnamon, she legitimately believed Linda intended to kill David is unknown.

In preparation, David took out a $100,000 life-insurance policy on Linda with National Life, which included a double indemnity clause, meaning that the policy would pay out double if the death was the result of an accident. The term “accident” included murder, so long as the murderer was not the beneficiary or in collusion with the beneficiary. He then immediately did the same with another insurance company, New York Life, for the same amount with the same stipulation.

Then he took out a third policy with Capitol Life for $200,000, along with a $150,000 accidental death clause. This totaled $750,000, and David was in the process of taking out a fourth policy with Liberty Life for an additional $200,000, but he would never get the chance to sign the paperwork; Linda, he feared, was very close to leaving him. The timeline of the plan needed to be accelerated.

On the night of March 18th, 1985, David crept into Cinnamon’s trailer while she was sound asleep and jostled her awake. He told her it was time and presented her with a revolver, a glass of water, and a large handful of pills. He coached her on how to write her suicide note.

Inside the home, Patti was standing by to assist Cinnamon when she was ready.

As David was leaving, he reiterated one last desperate plea. He used the same phrase that he often used:

“You don’t have to do it… you don’t have to do it, but if you love me, you will do it…”

After this, David headed to the Circle-K convenience store to establish his alibi. He wasn’t sure if Cinnamon would go through with it, but he stayed long enough to give her plenty of time.

Back inside the home, Cinnamon and Patti entered Linda’s bedroom. Patti held Krystal in her arms as Cinnamon grabbed a pillow to use as a makeshift silencer. She pressed the gun to Linda’s chest and pulled the trigger. Then, she pulled it again. The second shot was the one that killed her.

Cinnamon dropped the revolver on the ground where she stood, forgetting entirely that she was supposed to shoot herself in the side of the head. She exited the home with the note in her hand, hid inside the doghouse, and swallowed the pills.

David returned home shortly after to find that his plan had worked. Linda was dead and Patti was standing by with Krystal safely in her arms. All he needed to do was call the police, play the part of the grieving husband, and wait for Cinnamon’s body to be found.

The only problem was, as we all know, Cinnamon survived.

Life with Patti

When David learned that Cinnamon was recovering in hospital, he assumed that she would tell the police everything once she was able; however, she did not. Despite being taken into custody, Cinnamon refused to tell the police anything. She feigned amnesia and said that she simply couldn’t remember anything about the night her stepmother died.

After she was stabilized, David requested to meet with Cinnamon as soon as possible. Since she was a minor and he was her father, he had the legal right. While alone, David urged Cinnamon to keep doing exactly what she was doing. He said that, even though the police had decided to charge her, the judge would be lenient if she continued to assert that she couldn’t remember what she had done.

He said that she would be given a slap on the wrist and sent home. However, David knew this wasn’t true either. His new plan was to have Cinnamon sent away for life so that she would never be able to tell her story. He believed that, even if she did eventually reveal the truth about Linda’s murder, nobody would believe her after she was convicted.

At her trial, which began on August 7th, 1985, inside the Orange County Juvenile Courthouse in Santa Ana, California, Cinnamon was brought before Judge Robert Fitzgerald. There was no jury because, per the law, judges decided all juvenile cases in California. Cinnamon’s attorney, which David paid for himself out of his own pocket, assisted her in entering a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. Cinnamon did not testify in her own defense and instead chose to continue to feign amnesia as David had suggested.

The trial lasted only five days, and David was not present for any of them. He claimed to once again be on death’s doorstep and was allowed to have his testimony be entered into the record via a proxy. Patti did testify; however, both hers and David’s written statements worked against Cinnamon. They both stuck to their story that she had acted alone.

Judge Fitzgerald read his verdict on August 12th, 1985: guilty.

David was in the courtroom for Cinnamon’s sentencing, but he barely acknowledged her as she was given a 27-year sentence. Cinnamon was led away in tears, unable to believe what she had just heard. David and Patti returned home together—to their brand-new home.

Yes, although Cinnamon was completely unaware of what her father haddone, David had collected on Linda’s many life-insurance payouts just days after her death, and he had used those funds to purchase a new home for himself in Anaheim Hills for $330,000 cash. He also purchased several other residential properties in California to rent out and collect an easy passive income. He was also still performing hard drive repair, only now he had a new partner—in more ways than one. In record time, Patti began to fill Linda’s shoes, literally. Just weeks after the murder, Patti started handling the housework in Linda’s absence, caring for baby Krystal’s needs in Linda’s place, answering calls for David’s business the way Linda used to, and—yes—even wearing Linda’s clothes. Patti took over every aspect of her deceased sister’s life; she even went as far as to cut out or remove all the pictures of Linda from the picture frames in their home, replacing them with her own photo… like a psycho. When David visited Cinnamon after her conviction, he did not tell her about his and Patti’s relationship. Instead, he apologized to her, claiming that he never imagined she would be given such and lengthy sentence and assuring her that he was doing everything in his power to appeal her conviction. In reality, he wasn’t doing anything. He also promised Cinnamon that he would visit her often, but this turned out to be a lie as well. Slowly, as the months dragged on, David’s visits became fewer and fewer until they stopped entirely. He explained his absence away by claiming that he was once again gravely ill. After this, he stopped answering her calls as well. In 1987, David and Patti welcomed their first child, a baby girl named Heather. Although, to keep hiding their relationship, David instructed Patti to tell Cinnamon that she wasn’t sure who the father was. Patti even put a random name on Heather’s birth certificate, claiming that the child’s father was a stranger she had met for a one-night stand. Both David and Patti intended to keep this charade up indefinitely, hoping that Cinnamon would eventually settle into prison life and stop reaching out to them; however, Cinnamon’s time behind bars had given her a harsh dose of reality, and her once naive mind had been forced to mature quickly. Sitting alone inside her jail cell with nothing but time on her hands, Cinnamon began to piece together that she had been tricked. And when she turned 18 years old, she received a call that had the potential to change everything. The Sting Simon, on the off chance you’ve been eagerly waiting for a hero in our story to emerge, wait no longer because he has officially arrived. In 1988, Cinnamon received a call from a man named Jay Newell, an investigator for the Orange County DA’s office. Newell had been involved in the investigation into Linda Bailey Brown’s murder from the very beginning. He had interviewed David and Patti himself, spoken with countless other members of both the Brown and Bailey families, and even been in court during Cinnamon’s trial. His work had played a key role in putting her behind bars; however, he had long suspected that something about the case was off. Yet he could never imagine how deep the rabbit hole went. To start with, while interviewing David directly after the murder, Newell had found David’s recollection of Linda’s murder to be suspicious because David seemed to remember everything about that night, right down to the tiniest details that most people would never remember. And, even when repeating his story days or weeks after the fact, he easily recalled almost all of those same details, oftentimes reciting them in the same order while sometimes placing inflection on the same words—as if he were telling a well-rehearsed story. Also, while looking into the family’s phone records, Newell had realized that David had called his father directly before dialing 911 on the night of the murder, which is obviously not something he would do if he believed his wife may still be alive and in need of assistance. What he and Arthur discussed on this call is unknown, but it still stood out as massively suspicious. Furthermore, when speaking to the rest of Cinnamon’s family, friends, and schoolteachers, Newell discovered that David had been manipulating other people’s witness statements by instructing members of his family—including Cinnamon’s mother, Brenda, and one of his sisters, Susan—to describe Cinnamon as dangerous and suicidal. He wanted their recollections of Cinnamon’s behavioral issues to match his and Patti’s; he wanted the police to believe that she was a violent delinquent that was on the verge of a breakdown. However, Cinnamon’s school counselor had told Newell that Cinnamon was a good girl who had only ever been sent to the principal’s office twice: once for minor truancy and again for getting into “antics” during class on Halloween. Her home economics teacher even went as far as to say that she was a “sweet girl” because she had taken the time to befriend a blind girl who had transferred into her class during the middle of the school year. Newell had found all of this highly concerning, but the evidence again Cinnamon had seemed so airtight that he started to believe he was grasping at straws. Because Cinnamon was also refusing to aid in her own defense at trial, there was nothing he could do to help her. However, even after the trial was over, Newell had continued to watch her and her family closely from afar. This is when he had learned about Linda’s multiple insurance policies, which encouraged him to keep digging. When he then discovered what David had done with the money from those payouts—purchasing a home for himself and his deceased wife’s underage sister just a few months after the murder—alarm bells started blaring inside his head. This knowledge had weighed heavily on Newell’s mind ever since the murder, but there was something else about David that gave him an eerie feeling. Early in his career, Newell had been in charge of guarding Charles Manson inside the Hall of Justice Jail in Los Angeles, California. Seeing how the former cult leader behaved when incarcerated had given him keen insight into the mind of a manipulator and allowed him to see firsthand how people like Manson interacted with and effectively controlled those around them. Manson had never killed anyone with his own hands because he didn’t need to. In that way, Newell thought that David and Manson were the same. Both were charismatic, insightful, and fully capable of bending those around him to their will. As we know, Newell’s instincts were spot on. Because of this, Newell had wanted to contact Cinnamon for years, but he felt that doing so would be inappropriate because she was still a minor and her case was closed; however, as soon as she turned 18, he began making regular calls to her. When he told Cinnamon about David and Patti’s marriage and child, about the insurance payments, and about how David was pretending to be ill to avoid her, she broke down into tears and hung up the phone. That night, Cinnamon recalled how, years ago, long before the murder, she had once stumbled upon David and Patti kissing one another passionately in the aisle of a grocery store when they both believed they were alone. When David realized they had been spotted, he assured Cinnamon that this kiss was just an innocent, friendly kiss, and Cinnamon had made herself believe him at the time. But now… now she couldn’t deny what she had seen. Once she came to terms with the fact that Newell was telling her the truth, she called him back. They then began working together to formulate a plan of their own. On August 13, 1988, Cinnamon called David and convinced him to sit down with her for a visitation by claiming that she planned to tell the police everything. She wore a wire for this visit and attempted to make David speak plainly about the details of the murder. She asked him: “Why can’t you just tell the truth?” To this, David replied: “You could tell [the police] the truth, if you don’t tell them the whole truth… okay? Because then we all go to jail.” After this, the wire captured audio of David speaking about the medicine he had given Cinnamon for her supposed “fake” suicide attempt. At the end of the day, this recording wasn’t a full confession, but Newell was thrilled to hear it because the things David had implied during the conversation were more than enough to formally reopen the case. When combined with the rest of the evidence and statements Newell had collected throughout the years, prosecutors believed they had enough to bring forth new charges. At 6 AM, on September 22nd, 1988, three weeks after David and Cinnamon’s recorded meeting, David and Patti Brown were both arrested inside their Anaheim Hills home and charged with orchestrating the murder of Linda Bailey Brown. One Final, Desperate Plan Now, while it should be time for me to begin wrapping up this episode, we’re not finished yet and that’s because David himself was not quite ready to throw in the towel, even after the details of his manipulation were made public. While imprisoned, David approached one of his fellow inmates, a man named Richard Steinhart, who was about to be released after serving a lengthy sentence for distribution of narcotics. As David had been informed, Richard was a military veteran and hand-to-hand martial arts specialist who had been a prisoner of war during the Vietnam war. More recently, however, Steinhart had also been an enforcer for a notorious west-coast motorcycle gang that was known for “breaking legs.” He was also the type of person that criminals went to when they needed to make people disappear—people like the DA in charge of David’s case, Jeffrey Robinson, and the pesky investigator who had helped Cinnamon expose his crimes, Jay Newell. David believed that, with these men dead, the case against him would be much harder to prove and other Orange County DAs would be less inclined to pursue the case after seeing that David had developed gang connections. Going after these two important men was bold, but David’s boldness did not stop there. When he learned that Patti, who was then imprisoned nearby in a separate women’s-only facility, planned to testify against him for a reduced sentence, he added her name to the list of targets as well, partially to silence her but also for revenge. David approached Steinhart with a very simple plan: Upon being released from prison, Steinhart and his gang would kidnap Jeffrey Robinson and Jay Newell, drive them out into the desert, and then kill them both execution style. Then, they would arrange to have Patti killed by another hitman, Doreen Pietro, who Steinhart said would be willing to allow herself to be arrested to gain access to Patti. After this, Steinhart would help David escape from prison, which David assured him could be done quite easily because he already had a plan worked out for this as well: You see, David was scheduled to have some major dental work done to alleviate pain he had been having in his jaw; however, since the prison he was housed in relied on outside dentists to perform all major surgeries, David knew that he would have to be transported to a nearby dental office for the work to be performed. This is when he planned to have Steinhart follow his prison transport van, enter the dental office alongside him while wearing a disguise, ambush the officers escorting him, and then free him so they could flee to a safe-house that David had on standby. As compensation, David offered to pay Steinhart $30,000 for all three hits, $10,000 each, but he also said he could sweeten the deal by leading Steinhart to a $500,000 money stash he had buried in the desert for emergencies after the escape was completed. David said that Steinhart could take $200,000 of it for himself once everything was over; David would then use the rest of the money to flee to Mexico and start a new life. It was a complicated plan with many, many moving parts and countless unknowns, such as when David would be leaving for the dentist’s office, how many guards would be transporting him, who else would be inside the office with him, and much more. But David was confident, nonetheless, that they could pull it off. Steinhart agreed. Once the biker was released from prison, David contacted him dozens of times over the prison’s telephone to work out the finer details. They spoke in coded language to hide the true nature of their calls. To get the whole process started, David authorized his attorney to withdraw money from his bank account to give to his brother, Tom. Tom then funneled this cash to Steinhart so that he could get started. Neither of the men knew what the cash was for, only that it was important. On February 13, 1988, Steinhart called David to inform him that their plan had been a success. He said: “Bang, Bang. Right in the back of the head!” David, pulling the handset close to his mouth and speaking quietly as to not be overheard, replied: “Wonderful! You’re a good man… You did great.” Giddy as a schoolgirl, David then hung up the phone and called his brother, Tom, to have the remainder of the funds handed over. Then he returned to his cell to put his feet up and relax, assured for the first time since his arrest that he would be fine. He had just orchestrated the perfect hit, after all. However, his peace was short-lived because not everything was as it seemed. First, not only had all the calls between him and Steinhart been recorded because, of course, all prison calls are recorded, but neither Jeffrey Robinson nor Jay Newell were actually dead because, unbeknownst to David, Steinhart had been working with the police since the very beginning. All of their conversations had been recorded, the money David had funneled to Steinhart was in the Police’s hands, and Steinhart was willing to testify against David at trial. Steinhart’s reason for backing out of the deal—other than the fact that David’s plan was ludicrous—was that he had learned how David had targeted both Linda and Patti when they were both underage, and he had no love for “Chomos.” Needless to say, David wasn’t getting busted out anytime soon. A short time later, new charges for conspiracy to commit murder and perjury were added to David’s already lengthy list of charges. When David’s lawyer learned what he had unwillingly been tricked into participating in, he declared a conflict of interest and was replaced. David’s phone privileges were also revoked. Justice In 1992, David Arnold Brown was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for his role in Linda Bailey Brown’s murder. He was also given an additional 6 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to have Jeffrey Robinson, Jay Newell, and Patti Brown murdered. Patti Brown pled guilty, but because she had testified against David at his trial and because she was a minor herself at the time of the murder, she was given a reduced sentence. She was released after spending only a few years in prison, at which time she changed her name, remarried, and has reportedly gone on to live a relatively normal life. In early 1992, after 7 full years in prison, Cinnamon Brown was released when the California Youth Authority voted to grant her early parole in a 2-1 vote. Considering the circumstances, they said it was time that she be given a second chance. Jay Newell picked her up from prison himself and used his own money to help her get back on her feet. As of September 2023, she still lives in Orange County, California. David Brown died alone in prison in March of 2014 after serving 26 years behind bars. Dismembered Appendices Author Ann Rule, who I mentioned earlier in the episode, was instrumental in spreading Cinnamon’s story in order to help her obtain early release. Her book, If You Really Loved Me, was published directly after David’s conviction and detailed Cinnamon and Jay Newell’s fight for justice, stirring up much support for her in the media. Ann herself even went on numerous talk shows, including the Oprah Winfrey Show, to drum up even more support. In 1991, a movie based on Linda’s death titled Love, Lies, and Murder was released. It received middling praise, but I have been told that it is actually quite entertaining, in a cheesy, made-for-tv sort of way. Check it out if you’d like to. Lastly, I’d like to offer a special thanks to Twitter user Klaatu82 for suggesting this incredible story. I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into when I agreed to take a look at this case. Cheers! Key Takeaways David Brown manipulated his 14-year-old daughter Cinnamon into murdering his wife Linda in 1985, then framed her as the sole perpetrator. Cinnamon was convicted and sentenced to 27 years, while David collected $750,000 in life insurance and began a relationship with Linda’s teenage sister Patti. Investigator Jay Newell, who had guarded Charles Manson, recognized David’s manipulative patterns and reopened the case after Cinnamon turned 18. Cinnamon wore a wire to extract incriminating statements from David, leading to his and Patti’s arrest for orchestrating Linda’s murder. While imprisoned, David attempted to hire a hitman to kill the prosecutor, investigator, and Patti, but the hitman was secretly working with police. Frequently Asked Questions Who was initially believed to have murdered Linda Bailey Brown?Cinnamon Brown, David Brown’s 14-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, was initially believed to have murdered Linda Bailey Brown. David and Patti both told police that Cinnamon had killed Linda and tried to kill Patti as well before fleeing the home. What was Cinnamon Brown’s sentence for Linda’s murder?On September 13, 1985, Cinnamon Brown was convicted of murder in the first degree and sentenced to 27 years in prison. She was 15 years old at the time of sentencing. How did David Brown manipulate Cinnamon into killing Linda?David told Cinnamon that Linda and her twin brother Alan were plotting to kill him to steal his business and money. He claimed that if he died, Linda would send Cinnamon back to live with her mother Brenda and send Patti back to live with Ethel. He pressured Cinnamon by saying ‘If you really loved me, you would do this for me’ and ‘Daughters who love their daddies do things like this for them, to protect them.’ He also involved Patti in the planning and convinced Cinnamon that she wouldn’t be arrested because of her age. What was David Brown’s actual plan regarding Cinnamon after the murder?David’s actual plan was for both Linda and Cinnamon to die. Instead of giving Cinnamon just enough pills to knock her out as he claimed, he planned to give her a lethal dose to ensure she died before being discovered. The instruction to ‘graze the side of her own head with a bullet’ was a backup plan, as he believed Cinnamon would accidentally shoot herself in the head. David intended to collect life insurance on Linda and run away with Patti and Krystal. How much life insurance did David Brown take out on Linda?David took out three life insurance policies on Linda totaling $750,000: $100,000 with National Life (with double indemnity), $100,000 with New York Life (with double indemnity), and $200,000 with Capitol Life (with a $150,000 accidental death clause). He was in the process of taking out a fourth policy with Liberty Life for an additional $200,000 but never signed the paperwork. Who was Jay Newell and what role did he play in exposing the truth?Jay Newell was an investigator for the Orange County DA’s office who had been involved in the investigation from the beginning. He had long suspected something was off about the case and continued watching the family after Cinnamon’s trial. He discovered Linda’s multiple insurance policies and that David had purchased a new home with Patti using the insurance money. Once Cinnamon turned 18, Newell began calling her regularly, informed her about David and Patti’s relationship and child, and worked with her to plan a sting operation where Cinnamon wore a wire to record David. What happened during the sting operation with Cinnamon and David?On August 13, 1988, Cinnamon called David and convinced him to visit her by claiming she planned to tell the police everything. She wore a wire and asked David ‘Why can’t you just tell the truth?’ David replied ‘You could tell [the police] the truth, if you don’t tell them the whole truth… okay? Because then we all go to jail.’ The wire also captured David speaking about the medicine he had given Cinnamon for her supposed ‘fake’ suicide attempt. What was David Brown’s plan while imprisoned to avoid conviction?While imprisoned, David approached fellow inmate Richard Steinhart, a martial arts specialist and former motorcycle gang enforcer, to carry out hits on DA Jeffrey Robinson, investigator Jay Newell, and Patti (who planned to testify against him). David also planned to have Steinhart help him escape during a dental appointment by ambushing prison transport officers. He offered Steinhart $30,000 for the three hits plus $200,000 from a $500,000 buried money stash. However, Steinhart was working with police the entire time, and all calls were recorded. What were David Brown’s final legal outcomes?In 1992, David Arnold Brown was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for his role in Linda Bailey Brown’s murder. He received an additional 6 years after pleading guilty to conspiring to have Jeffrey Robinson, Jay Newell, and Patti Brown murdered. He died alone in prison in March 2014 after serving 26 years. What happened to Cinnamon Brown after she was released from prison?In early 1992, after 7 full years in prison, Cinnamon Brown was released when the California Youth Authority voted to grant her early parole in a 2-1 vote. Jay Newell picked her up from prison himself and used his own money to help her get back on her feet. As of September 2023, she still lives in Orange County, California.

Key Takeaways

• David Brown manipulated his 14-year-old daughter Cinnamon into murdering his wife Linda in 1985, then framed her as the sole perpetrator.
• Cinnamon was convicted and sentenced to 27 years, while David collected $750,000 in life insurance and began a relationship with Linda’s teenage sister Patti.
• Investigator Jay Newell, who had guarded Charles Manson, recognized David’s manipulative patterns and reopened the case after Cinnamon turned 18.
• Cinnamon wore a wire to extract incriminating statements from David, leading to his and Patti’s arrest for orchestrating Linda’s murder.
• While imprisoned, David attempted to hire a hitman to kill the prosecutor, investigator, and Patti, but the hitman was secretly working with police.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was initially believed to have murdered Linda Bailey Brown?

Cinnamon Brown, David Brown’s 14-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, was initially believed to have murdered Linda Bailey Brown. David and Patti both told police that Cinnamon had killed Linda and tried to kill Patti as well before fleeing the home.

What was Cinnamon Brown’s sentence for Linda’s murder?

On September 13, 1985, Cinnamon Brown was convicted of murder in the first degree and sentenced to 27 years in prison. She was 15 years old at the time of sentencing.

How did David Brown manipulate Cinnamon into killing Linda?

David told Cinnamon that Linda and her twin brother Alan were plotting to kill him to steal his business and money. He claimed that if he died, Linda would send Cinnamon back to live with her mother Brenda and send Patti back to live with Ethel. He pressured Cinnamon by saying ‘If you really loved me, you would do this for me’ and ‘Daughters who love their daddies do things like this for them, to protect them.’ He also involved Patti in the planning and convinced Cinnamon that she wouldn’t be arrested because of her age.

What was David Brown’s actual plan regarding Cinnamon after the murder?

David’s actual plan was for both Linda and Cinnamon to die. Instead of giving Cinnamon just enough pills to knock her out as he claimed, he planned to give her a lethal dose to ensure she died before being discovered. The instruction to ‘graze the side of her own head with a bullet’ was a backup plan, as he believed Cinnamon would accidentally shoot herself in the head. David intended to collect life insurance on Linda and run away with Patti and Krystal.

How much life insurance did David Brown take out on Linda?

David took out three life insurance policies on Linda totaling $750,000: $100,000 with National Life (with double indemnity), $100,000 with New York Life (with double indemnity), and $200,000 with Capitol Life (with a $150,000 accidental death clause). He was in the process of taking out a fourth policy with Liberty Life for an additional $200,000 but never signed the paperwork.

Who was Jay Newell and what role did he play in exposing the truth?

Jay Newell was an investigator for the Orange County DA’s office who had been involved in the investigation from the beginning. He had long suspected something was off about the case and continued watching the family after Cinnamon’s trial. He discovered Linda’s multiple insurance policies and that David had purchased a new home with Patti using the insurance money. Once Cinnamon turned 18, Newell began calling her regularly, informed her about David and Patti’s relationship and child, and worked with her to plan a sting operation where Cinnamon wore a wire to record David.

What happened during the sting operation with Cinnamon and David?

On August 13, 1988, Cinnamon called David and convinced him to visit her by claiming she planned to tell the police everything. She wore a wire and asked David ‘Why can’t you just tell the truth?’ David replied ‘You could tell [the police] the truth, if you don’t tell them the whole truth… okay? Because then we all go to jail.’ The wire also captured David speaking about the medicine he had given Cinnamon for her supposed ‘fake’ suicide attempt.

What was David Brown’s plan while imprisoned to avoid conviction?

While imprisoned, David approached fellow inmate Richard Steinhart, a martial arts specialist and former motorcycle gang enforcer, to carry out hits on DA Jeffrey Robinson, investigator Jay Newell, and Patti (who planned to testify against him). David also planned to have Steinhart help him escape during a dental appointment by ambushing prison transport officers. He offered Steinhart $30,000 for the three hits plus $200,000 from a $500,000 buried money stash. However, Steinhart was working with police the entire time, and all calls were recorded.

What were David Brown’s final legal outcomes?

In 1992, David Arnold Brown was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for his role in Linda Bailey Brown’s murder. He received an additional 6 years after pleading guilty to conspiring to have Jeffrey Robinson, Jay Newell, and Patti Brown murdered. He died alone in prison in March 2014 after serving 26 years.

What happened to Cinnamon Brown after she was released from prison?

In early 1992, after 7 full years in prison, Cinnamon Brown was released when the California Youth Authority voted to grant her early parole in a 2-1 vote. Jay Newell picked her up from prison himself and used his own money to help her get back on her feet. As of September 2023, she still lives in Orange County, California.

Sources

• Original Casual Criminalist video: How A Daughter Was Tricked Into Killing: The Shocking Story of Linda Bailey Brown
• Hero image source by IAEA Imagebank / openverse, by.

Related Coverage