FOXINBOX
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ON EUGENE FREDERICK BROWN [19]
Born Bennington, Vermont, 15 July 1942
Description:-
5’ 8” tall, weight 138 lbs, blond hair, presumed blue eyes
Residences:-
Beale AFB
Previously with parents @ Culver City, LA.
Graduated Culver City High 1960
Occupation: Airman 3/c @ Beale AFB, California. Enlisted @ the LA Recruiting Station in Jan 1961. Had been stationed @ Beale for nearly a year with Detachment 20 of the 9th Weather Squadron, completing his basic training @ Lackland AFB in Texas, he made near-perfect scores in all areas in which he was tested.
Engaged to Georgia Vaszary [19]. She told police he left her home @ approx. 11.30 p.m. to hitch hike back to base. Declared AWOL from base Sun. 13 May 1962. If this is correct, then he was declared AWOL about the time he supposedly left the Vaszary residence.
On 18th May 1962, a Pastor and his son spied Eugene’s body in an isolated area as they were driving along California State Highway 24 [Garden Highway]. It lay in tall grass about 17 ft from the pavement, down an embankment. Because the nearest dwellings were some way away, they drove to a home on Route 3 to telephone the Sheriff’s Office.
The site was obviously a Secondary [i.e. Deposition] Crime Scene “Dumped gangland-style off the Garden Highway, about 4 miles north of Jibboom Street Bridge, near KVIE, Channel 6 television studios.” – The Sacramento Bee Fri. 18 May 1962
When found, the body was dressed in the air force summer uniform of slacks, blue belt and tan, short-sleeved shirt e.g. , minus hat / [Blue Overseas] cap and black Oxford shoes. He had in his possession his fiancee's Class Ring, which she had gifted him, but all his other belongings inc. a small brown suitcase containing six long-playing records, were missing.
Inquiries were made in the three neighbouring counties of Sutter, Yuba & Yolo.
A serviceman’s hat was handed in. It was found beside the Garden Highway, ¾ mile towards Sacramento from Dutch’s Dingville service station. The hat turned out to be Army issue.
An empty wallet [billfold] was place in a mail box somewhere in the Sacramento postal area. It was subsequently taken to the main post office where the AFB address was obtained from papers in the billfold. It was then placed in a plain brown manilla envelope and mailed to the base. Inquiries failed to turn up any trace of where it was found or how it came into the hands of the post office. It is not known whether this was the item belonging to the victim.
Cause of Death
The Coroner ruled the death as “Undetermined, possibly [manual?] strangulation” or asphyxiation. Superficial identification not possible as decomposition was too advanced. No serious injury to body. Slight bruising to arms, legs and hands. He was later officially identified by personnel from Beale AFB.
Detectives stated that...”Brown may have been picked up as a hitch hiker by a motorist who attempted to assault him sexually, and strangled him when he resisted.” They pursued this theory for some while despite a complete lack of evidence to support it.
Suspects:-
1) Two men in Visalia, Tulare Co, were questioned after they had been arrested in Los Angeles on a similar case in which a US Marine had been beaten up. There were no charges brought against them in the case of Eugene Brown.
2) Robert Charles Wagner [30] was charged with assault, robbery and sex perversion, after a deadly attack on a Placer College student. The victim who survived the attack, had his neck slashed down to his spine.
A search of Wagner’s residence yielded clippings of other crimes but nothing relating to Eugene Brown’s death, and as far as I can make out Wagner was never charged, let alone brought to trial on anything relating to the airman’s death
Notes
The Jibboom Street Bridge is a 1931 metal truss swing bridge located on Jibboom Street in Sacramento, California, crossing the American River in Sacramento County.
KVIE TV
The public media station was incorporated in 1955 as Central California Educational Television (CCET) and first signed on the air on February 23, 1959. The letters "VI" in the KVIE call letters represent the Roman numerals for the station's then-channel number, "6", and the "E" stands for "education". During its early years, it only ran daily programming during the afternoon and evening hours (during the school year) and nearly all day on weekends.
Comments
Did they ever look for witnesses
a) As Gene left his fiancee's house?
b) Vehicles in the area of the dump site?
What were the songs & artists on the missing long-playing records?
Born Bennington, Vermont, 15 July 1942
Description:-
5’ 8” tall, weight 138 lbs, blond hair, presumed blue eyes
Residences:-
Beale AFB
Previously with parents @ Culver City, LA.
Graduated Culver City High 1960
Occupation: Airman 3/c @ Beale AFB, California. Enlisted @ the LA Recruiting Station in Jan 1961. Had been stationed @ Beale for nearly a year with Detachment 20 of the 9th Weather Squadron, completing his basic training @ Lackland AFB in Texas, he made near-perfect scores in all areas in which he was tested.
Engaged to Georgia Vaszary [19]. She told police he left her home @ approx. 11.30 p.m. to hitch hike back to base. Declared AWOL from base Sun. 13 May 1962. If this is correct, then he was declared AWOL about the time he supposedly left the Vaszary residence.
On 18th May 1962, a Pastor and his son spied Eugene’s body in an isolated area as they were driving along California State Highway 24 [Garden Highway]. It lay in tall grass about 17 ft from the pavement, down an embankment. Because the nearest dwellings were some way away, they drove to a home on Route 3 to telephone the Sheriff’s Office.
The site was obviously a Secondary [i.e. Deposition] Crime Scene “Dumped gangland-style off the Garden Highway, about 4 miles north of Jibboom Street Bridge, near KVIE, Channel 6 television studios.” – The Sacramento Bee Fri. 18 May 1962
When found, the body was dressed in the air force summer uniform of slacks, blue belt and tan, short-sleeved shirt e.g. , minus hat / [Blue Overseas] cap and black Oxford shoes. He had in his possession his fiancee's Class Ring, which she had gifted him, but all his other belongings inc. a small brown suitcase containing six long-playing records, were missing.
Inquiries were made in the three neighbouring counties of Sutter, Yuba & Yolo.
A serviceman’s hat was handed in. It was found beside the Garden Highway, ¾ mile towards Sacramento from Dutch’s Dingville service station. The hat turned out to be Army issue.
An empty wallet [billfold] was place in a mail box somewhere in the Sacramento postal area. It was subsequently taken to the main post office where the AFB address was obtained from papers in the billfold. It was then placed in a plain brown manilla envelope and mailed to the base. Inquiries failed to turn up any trace of where it was found or how it came into the hands of the post office. It is not known whether this was the item belonging to the victim.
Cause of Death
The Coroner ruled the death as “Undetermined, possibly [manual?] strangulation” or asphyxiation. Superficial identification not possible as decomposition was too advanced. No serious injury to body. Slight bruising to arms, legs and hands. He was later officially identified by personnel from Beale AFB.
Detectives stated that...”Brown may have been picked up as a hitch hiker by a motorist who attempted to assault him sexually, and strangled him when he resisted.” They pursued this theory for some while despite a complete lack of evidence to support it.
Suspects:-
1) Two men in Visalia, Tulare Co, were questioned after they had been arrested in Los Angeles on a similar case in which a US Marine had been beaten up. There were no charges brought against them in the case of Eugene Brown.
2) Robert Charles Wagner [30] was charged with assault, robbery and sex perversion, after a deadly attack on a Placer College student. The victim who survived the attack, had his neck slashed down to his spine.
A search of Wagner’s residence yielded clippings of other crimes but nothing relating to Eugene Brown’s death, and as far as I can make out Wagner was never charged, let alone brought to trial on anything relating to the airman’s death
Notes
The Jibboom Street Bridge is a 1931 metal truss swing bridge located on Jibboom Street in Sacramento, California, crossing the American River in Sacramento County.
KVIE TV
The public media station was incorporated in 1955 as Central California Educational Television (CCET) and first signed on the air on February 23, 1959. The letters "VI" in the KVIE call letters represent the Roman numerals for the station's then-channel number, "6", and the "E" stands for "education". During its early years, it only ran daily programming during the afternoon and evening hours (during the school year) and nearly all day on weekends.
Comments
Did they ever look for witnesses
a) As Gene left his fiancee's house?
b) Vehicles in the area of the dump site?
What were the songs & artists on the missing long-playing records?
