MI MI - Francis "Pat" Brown, 17, & Sheldon Miller, 14, fatally shot, Detroit, 3 Jul 1964

[dotr]

Sheldon Miller Francis Brown murdered July 3, 1964. Detroit Michigan UNSOLVED COLD CASE

Clipping found in Daily News published in New York, New York on 7/5/1964. Sheldon Miller Francis Brown murdered July 3, 1964. Detroit Michigan UNSOLVED COLD CASE

www.newspapers.com

 

[Richard]

This unsolved double murder is now over 50 years old.

A major investigative effort was undertaken by the Detroit Police Department in 1964, with hundreds of interviews, identifications of 28 persons on scene, and ballistic testing of over 750 firearms. But no suspects were ever named, and the case went cold.

If a cold case group were to review what must be an extensive case file, perhaps some answers could be learned.

If the recovered bullets and shell casings could be put into today's computer system, perhaps a match could be found that would lead to the identity of the killer of Pat and Sheldon.

 

[Richard]

Bumping this thread up.

 

[Richard]

This is an unsolved case for which a good deal of forensic evidence exists.

A number of fired .22 bullets were found in and near the boys bodies. Those bullets were carefully photographed and compared to bullets fired from over 750 pistols at the time.

Additionally, a number of fired shell casings were recovered at the scene which led police to state that they came from a 9 shot revolver limited to only a few models.

If those bullets and fired casings were to be compared to others found at other crime scenes, or in other victims, perhaps connections could be found and new leads developed.

 

[dotr]

Amazon.com: Dark Impulse Dark Action (Dark Impulse Dark Action Part One Book 1) eBook : Gibson, Fred, Brown, Richard: Kindle Store

Dark Impulse Dark Action (Dark Impulse Dark Action Part One Book 1) - Kindle edition by Gibson, Fred, Brown, Richard. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Dark Impulse Dark Action (Dark...

www.amazon.com

''I am writing this to attest to the respect and admiration I have for the author of this book, Frederick Gibson. Though I have never met Mr. Gibson, I never met anyone quite like him. I am Richard Brown, brother of Pat Brown. He was murdered along with his friend Sheldon Miller July 3, 1964. For 47 years I have tucked these murders away in a dark place never really realizing the pain I was in. Then, early this year, 2011, I went to the Detroit Police Dept. in an effort to learn if DNA, unavailable in 1964, could be helpful in solving these murders. This same year, as I was discouraged, thinking nothing could ever be done to help solve this case, Frederick Gibson’s book "Dark Impulse Dark Action: The murders of Sheldon Miller and Pat Brown" was brought to my attention. Amazingly, unknown to me, Frederick had doggedly been pursuing the killer of Sheldon and Pat for years. This year he was interviewed on television at the sight of the murders by a prominent local reporter. My family found me and told me how this amazing author has been pursuing the killer of Pat and Sheldon. Fred was there! Fortune sent him out of the park not long before the murders. I have to assume he could have been there for the "fireworks" and died himself. His tenacity is unequaled in any of my lifetime experiences. The results of his efforts are astonishing. He has made clear to me the number of lives this case has touched. I thought it was long since forgotten.... Not so.... I have talked with Fred at some length, filling in what details I could and more keeps surfacing. Whatever the outcome, my brother and his good friend Sheldon are not and will never be forgotten. I am proud to know Mr. Frederick Gibson! Read this book; there is true humanity in this world as you will be reminded.
Richard Brown''

 

[Richard]

Here are the names of some of the Detroit Police personnel who were initially involved with the investigation:

- Dr. Clara Raven, Deputy County Medical Examiner, conducted the autopsies.

- Inspector William C. Icenhower, in charge of uniformed officers at the scene.

- District Detective Inspector Albert G. Isaac

- District Detective Inspector George B. Bloomfield, was in charge of the overall investigation at the start. He had an early theory that the boys may have known or recognized their assailant and that the final killing shots to each boy behind the ear may have been to prevent them from making an identification.

- Detective Inspector Hiram Phipps, head of Homicide Bureau

- Police Commissioner Ray Girardin, visited the scene with Detroit Mayor Jerome Cavanagh.

- Superintendent Eugene A. Reuter

- Deputy Superintendent James M. Lupton

- Deputy Chief of Detectives Vincent W. Piersante

- Sergeant Earl Leedle, of the scientific bureau conducted sound tests on site using pistol shots and firecrackers.

- Detective Don Carter, still on the case in February 1965, compiled a chronological sheet for the movements of both boys,.

- Detective Robert Garton, still on the case in February 1965, compiled a chronological sheet for the movements of both boys,.

- Detective Edward Hay, still on the case in February 1965, compiled a chronological sheet for the movements of both boys,.

This was a high profile double murder case in 1964. A lot of time and effort went into the investigation. The case was unsolved and soon went cold.

If a concerted effort were to be started to reexamine the case file and evidence, it might yet be solved even though 60 years have since passed.

 

[Richard]

Bumping this thread up.

 

[Betty P]

Keep hoping for someone to come forward with information or a theory or rumor....etc.

 

[dotr]

This unrelated case from the 70's, was recently solved thanks in part to advances in ballistic technology, hoping it could happen in this case too.
May 14, 2025

New Ballistics Technology Closes 1975 Cold Case

After nearly five decades of investigation, new developments in the 1975 homicide case of John Curtis Patterson have provided decisive evidence that conclusively links Louis Jess Locicero to the crime.

www.forensicmag.com

''Despite previous challenges in definitively connecting Locicero’s firearm to the crime a breakthrough recently occurred. The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office was evaluating the Ballistics IQ device from Evidence IQ which linked the cartridges found at the murder scene and cartridges found in Locicero’s nearby hotel room to a single firearm — Locicero’s .30 caliber M1 carbine. Evidentiary items were later sent to Ballistics IQ for evaluation by ballistics experts, which ultimately confirmed these findings. This evidence now conclusively links Locicero’s weapon to the crime scene.''

 

[Richard]

This unrelated case from the 70's, was recently solved thanks in part to advances in ballistic technology, hoping it could happen in this case too.
May 14, 2025

New Ballistics Technology Closes 1975 Cold Case

After nearly five decades of investigation, new developments in the 1975 homicide case of John Curtis Patterson have provided decisive evidence that conclusively links Louis Jess Locicero to the crime.

www.forensicmag.com

''Despite previous challenges in definitively connecting Locicero’s firearm to the crime a breakthrough recently occurred. The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office was evaluating the Ballistics IQ device from Evidence IQ which linked the cartridges found at the murder scene and cartridges found in Locicero’s nearby hotel room to a single firearm — Locicero’s .30 caliber M1 carbine. Evidentiary items were later sent to Ballistics IQ for evaluation by ballistics experts, which ultimately confirmed these findings. This evidence now conclusively links Locicero’s weapon to the crime scene.''

A number of fired bullets and expended shell casings were recovered at the scene of the Brown/Miller murder.

Extensive analysis was done on that evidence by the FBI, and comparisons were made with bullets fired from over 750 Revolvers- according to newspaper accounts from 1964-65.

Unfortunately, the case quickly went cold with no forensic bullet matches and no suspects named.

If those bullets and/or photos and ballistic study reports are still in evidence, a wider range of possible matches could exist today, especially using more modern techniques and computers.

Even if the weapon itself no longer exists, if it was used and fired in other crimes, bullets and casings - or forensic data taken could be compared to the evidence gathered in this case.

 

[dotr]

February 2010 rbbm.

https://www.atf.gov/resource-center/docs/020110-police-magazine-firearms-forensicspdf/download

''Several months later, Denver police officers arrested a suspect for discharging a firearm. The firearm was test fired, entered into the NIBIN system in Denver, and found to match the ballistic evidence recovered during the aggravated assault that occurred in Aurora. These success stories show the value in firearms examinations and the NIBIN database. Many agencies, including the Denver Police Department and the Los Angeles Police Department, mandate that every applicable case be entered into NIBIN and every recovered gun go through the NIBIN database. Both of these agencies have had exceptional results in linking and solving crimes. Of course, the database is only as good as the data entry. If law enforcement agencies aren't submitting cases for entry, then the database won't be as effective as it should be. More submissions mean more hits. More hits mean more arrests. More arrests mean more convictions... Well, you get the idea.''

 

[Richard]

Approaching the 61st anniversary of this unsolved double murder.

 

[Richard]

Francis Patrick Brown​

Birth 10 May 1947
Death 3 Jul 1964 (aged 17)
Buria Holy Sepulchre Catholic Cemetery
Southfield, Oakland County, Michigan
LINK:

Francis Patrick Brown (1947-1964) - Find a Grave...

www.findagrave.com

Sheldon Robert Miller​

Birth 1950
Death 3 Jul 1964
Burial Machpelah Cemetery
Plot Section 19, Row 01, Lot 13, Grave 55L
Ferndale, Oakland County, Michigan, USA
LINK:

Sheldon Robert Miller (unknown-1964) - Find a...

www.findagrave.com

Clipping from Daily News, published in New York 5 July 1964


Open Cylinder of a .22 High Standard revolver similar to the one used to murder Pat and Sheldon.


Remington .22 "gold" cartridges similar to the ones fired.

 

[Richard]

Pat and Sheldon lived and died in Western Detroit, Michigan, just south of Oak Park in the center of the above map. Their 3 July 1964 murder was thoroughly investigated and covered in the Detroit newspapers at the time. Although hundreds of persons were interviewed and leads followed, the case was never solved.

 

[Richard]

Two 16-year-old boys were reported as having found the bodies of Sheldon and Pat shortly after midnight on 4 July 1964. They were Arthur Waldman and David Charles Budson, both students at Cass Tech High School.

The boys were walking a collie dog in Milan Park when they came across the murder scene. They ran to a nearby house and phoned the police. Waldman and Budson later attended medical school at the University of Michigan and became doctors. Arthur Waldman practices medicine in Wisconsin.

David Charles Budson (1948-2011) Obituary​

On June 27. 2011, David Charles Budson, 63, died peacefully at his home in Berkeley, Ca. with his partner, Daniel Johnson, at his bedside. David was born in Detroit, MI to Sylvia and Joseph Budson, now deceased. He attended Medical School at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and completed a Residency in Internal Medicine at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago and a Fellowship in Pulmonary Medicine at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

David moved to Benicia, CA in 1979 and joined the Permanente Medical Group in Vallejo, CA. At Vallejo, he was Chief of the Pulmonary Medicine Department and Director of Respiratory Care Services for many years until his retirement in 2009.

David loved music and began studying the cello at the age of nine. He was a well known and accomplished cellist, and his career in music included membership in the Detroit Symphony for two years, as a studio musician for Motown Records, and as a member of several chamber music ensembles, most recently Quintillion. He was a student of Stephen Harrison in Palo Alto...

LINK:

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/timesheraldonline/name/david-budson-obituary?id=9113274

 

[Warwick1991]

Two 16-year-old boys were reported as having found the bodies of Sheldon and Pat shortly after midnight on 4 July 1964. They were Arthur Waldman and David Charles Budson, both students at Cass Tech High School.

The boys were walking a collie dog in Milan Park when they came across the murder scene. They ran to a nearby house and phoned the police. Waldman and Budson later attended medical school at the University of Michigan and became doctors. Arthur Waldman practices medicine in Wisconsin.

David Charles Budson (1948-2011) Obituary​

On June 27. 2011, David Charles Budson, 63, died peacefully at his home in Berkeley, Ca. with his partner, Daniel Johnson, at his bedside. David was born in Detroit, MI to Sylvia and Joseph Budson, now deceased. He attended Medical School at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and completed a Residency in Internal Medicine at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago and a Fellowship in Pulmonary Medicine at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

David moved to Benicia, CA in 1979 and joined the Permanente Medical Group in Vallejo, CA. At Vallejo, he was Chief of the Pulmonary Medicine Department and Director of Respiratory Care Services for many years until his retirement in 2009.

David loved music and began studying the cello at the age of nine. He was a well known and accomplished cellist, and his career in music included membership in the Detroit Symphony for two years, as a studio musician for Motown Records, and as a member of several chamber music ensembles, most recently Quintillion. He was a student of Stephen Harrison in Palo Alto...

LINK:

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/timesheraldonline/name/david-budson-obituary?id=9113274

For the 2 boys who found Sheldon and Pat, it may have been a life changing and shocking event. I am sure they never forgot the scene.