AP News, March 10th, 2007
Authorities say they have been unable to verify a prison inmate's claims that he killed as many as 49 people in more than a half-dozen states, but they still think there's some truth in his accounts.
Robert Browne, 53, who is serving consecutive life terms for two Colorado murders, has claimed killings ranging from California to Mississippi, dating back to the 1970s.
"He could be lying about some of them. I don't think he's lying about all of them," El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa told The Gazette.
The sheriff's office did not return a call to The Associated Press seeking additional comment Saturday.
Although some jurisdictions have given up investigating the allegations, Maketa and some other investigators say Browne knew too many details to have made up some of his stories.
"I believe him," said detective Barry Roy of the Arkansas State Police. He said Browne knew details of the killing of 22-year-old Lisa Lowe that only the killer would remember. However, Browne has not yet been charged in that death.
Roy said the big obstacle is that Browne provided only a few details before refusing to talk anymore. In some cases evidence was lost in the intervening years.
"In some cases he gave us facts and we couldn't corroborate it," Maketa said. "Some of the bodies will never be found, and how can you prove murder if the body hasn't been recovered?"
Browne is in prison for the 1991 murder of Black Forest teen Heather Dawn Church and the 1987 slaying of Rocio Sperry, the 15-year-old wife of a Fort Carson soldier.
Authorities have said Browne also claimed responsibility for killings in California, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Washington.
