Whatever happened to Donna Brown?

[crystaldawn]

She was the lady who helped her husband, Michael Wayne Brown, escape from jail but she wasn't wanted on any charges because police believe she was a victim. Her husband was eventually captured and I had heard that she had turned herself in and even heard that she was terminally ill with cancer but haven't been able to find out anything definitely or even if she is still alive. Anyone out there have any additional info or links?

[LooksLikeCRicci]

Man, UM profiled a couple of women who helped their lovers break out of jail. I can't remember which one this was... What did her hubby do again? Was she the one who befriended him in prison via a pen-pal club and later married him?

[justins5256]

Paper: Dayton Daily News (OH)
Title: KILLER ON RUN LIVED IN KETTERING - Michael Brown broke out of prison in 1984 and became Ken Ginter
Author: Wes Hills and Lou Grieco Dayton Daily News
Date: July 1, 1999
Section: NEWS
Page: 1A

In Kettering, he was known as Ken Ginter, a likable man who cut an elderly neighbor's grass and ran a small video store at 2282 Patterson Road.


In Tulsa, Okla., he was known as Michael Wayne Brown, a fugitive convicted of first-degree murder in 1975 for gunning down insurance agent Richard Sullivan during a burglary.With the FBI hot on his trail, Brown on Tuesday shed the false identity he had used in Kettering for six years and walked into Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, 15 years after his escape, and surrendered. He came with toothpaste, a toothbrush and $125 in cash.


Brown's cover began to unravel April 10 when his case was featured on the Unsolved Mysteries television show, according to Stephen Morris, senior supervisory resident agent for the Dayton FBI office.


Earlier this month, Morris said, someone recognized Brown's picture on the Unsolved Mysteries Web site and the Dayton FBI office was notified.


Brown somehow learned the FBI was on his trail and fled. His wife, Linda, also vanished about the same time.


Charles Cunningham, who runs Cunningham Realty at 2278 Patterson Road, near Brown's former K&L Video, recalled Brown's sudden departure. "He left about three weeks ago," Cunningham said. "He left here on a Monday."


Cunningham said Brown told a coworker to keep the store "open as long as you want to. I don't think I'll be coming back."


"He's a very nice guy," Cunningham said. "He was very respectful to everybody. I heard a lot of people could hardly believe it when they heard the news about him."


Kristie Cunningham, who grooms dogs near Brown's former video store, described Brown as being "very nice and personable."


"He'd bring his dog in to have it bathed," Cunningham said. "We were all very, very shocked."


Brown, who escaped from prison in Taft, Okla., in December 1984, went through at least three court cases here as Kenneth Ginter without anyone learning his true identity.


On April 26, Brown, using the name Ken Ginter, filed for divorce from his wife, Linda Ginter, of Albany, Ky., in Montgomery County Domestic Relations Court.


The complaint for divorce stated they were married in Covington, Ky., on June 30, 1987, had no children and were "incompatible and are no longer suited for marriage to each other."


Brown listed his address as the video store, which he said lost $6,842 in 1998.


James P. Langendorf, the attorney who represents Brown in the pending divorce case, was shocked to learn his client's true identify.


"No way!" Langendorf said. "I've known this guy for a few years. He's just the sweetest guy. That's amazing. I am absolutely amazed. I find it hard to believe."


In yet another odd twist to the case, Morris confirmed that Ginter's wife, Linda Ginter, is really his first wife, Donna Brown. Both Charles Cunningham and a neighbor, who didn't want her name used, identified a picture of Donna Brown, from the Unsolved Mysteries website, as Linda Ginter.


Donna Brown, 52, is a suspect in her husband's escape from prison because she disappeared the same day, after leaving her teen-age children with relatives, but she is not charged with any crime.


Morris said Oklahoma officials will determine whether further charges will be sought in the case.


Donna met Michael Brown when her church group began to correspond with nearby inmates, and they eventually married, according to Unsolved Mysteries . He escaped a few months after they wed.


The Browns, using the aliases David and Sherry Gregory, were tracked to New Jersey, Texas and Virginia, according to Unsolved Mysteries .


The couple seemed to have financial setbacks and Donna Brown apparently developed health problems.


On Oct. 14, 1998, Miami Valley Hospital filed a lawsuit in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court against Kenneth and Linda S. Ginter, seeking payment of $11,161 for unpaid medical services.


The lawsuit was dismissed in January after the hospital was unable to serve the lawsuit on the Ginters.


On July 20, 1998, G.E. Capital Mortgage Services Inc., of San Bernardino, Calif., sued Kenneth K. Ginter and Linda F. Ginter, seeking foreclose of their home at 2113 Patterson Road, Dayton.


The lawsuit claimed $66,699 unpaid on the mortgage.


The one-story, white frame home was sold at a sheriff's auction Jan. 8.


Newspapers were piled on the porch of the vacant home Wednesday.


An elderly neighbor, who asked not to be identified, described the couple as "wonderful neighbors."


"He's such a nice man," the woman said. "He cut my grass for me. I hated to see them leave."


She said they told her they were moving to a mobile home somewhere in Kentucky.


"I saw nothing out of the way with them," she said. "I just trusted them completely."


Morris praised area citizens and the Kettering Police Department for enabling the FBI to pressure Brown into surrendering.


Lee Mann, a spokeswoman at the McAlester prison, said Brown walked into the penitentiary shortly before 8 a.m. Tuesday and told prison officials he was tired of being on the run.


He will remain there for awhile.


His original death sentence was converted to life in prison.


FBI Special Agent Thomas K. Vest of the FBI's Muskogee, Okla., office, said Brown also will be facing a new charge of escape.


* CONTACT Wes Hills at 225-2261 or e-mail him at wes_hills@coxohio.com. Contact Lou Grieco at 225-2057 or e-mail him at lou_grieco@coxohio.com

PHOTO:<br>
Michael Brown

Author: Wes Hills and Lou Grieco Dayton Daily News
Section: NEWS
Page: 1A

Copyright, 1999, Cox Ohio Publishing. All rights reserved.

****************************************************

Paper: Tulsa World
Title: Life on the lam was low-key
Author: MICHAEL SMITH
Date: July 1, 1999
Section: METRO
Page: 11

Michael Wayne Brown appears to have lived a peaceful, law-abiding life for many years until the Internet -- and one of his employees -- messed up everything. A fugitive for 15 years after escaping his sentence for murdering an insurance investigator in Tulsa, Brown turned himself in at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester on Tuesday.

He apparently also arrived with his wife, a woman who authorities believe may have helped in his 1984 escape and who is now ailing and wanting to see her family again, authorities said.

After years spent in several states working at odd jobs, Brown settled down in an Ohio suburb for the last six years and opened a video store, FBI spokesman Pete Rickel said.

It was a small store that Brown -- using the alias Kenneth Ginter -- owned in Kettering, Ohio, a city of about 60,000 people just outside Dayton.

Brown operated the store in a small strip shopping center until earlier this month, when one of his employees viewed an ``Unsolved Mysteries'' Web site on the Internet and found an old mugshot of Brown, Rickel said.

``He went to work and told Ginter (Brown) that he had a double on the Internet,'' Rickel said. ``Three days later, Brown clears out and hadn't been seen since. Then the employee thought, `Wait a minute, maybe that was him,' and called authorities.''

Brown, who over the years used aliases such as Olin Grainstop and David Gregory, has not granted interviews and has told officials little other than that he was tired of life on the lam, said Lee Mann, a spokeswoman for the penitentiary.

Brown's appearance at the penitentiary, arriving with $125, toothpaste and a toothbrush, was apparently his first trip to Oklahoma since his escape from the Jess Dunn Correctional Center in Taft in December 1984.

He was 18 when he shot and killed Richard E. Sullivan in May 1975. Sullivan, of Broken Arrow, made a late-night stop at the MFA Insurance office in Tulsa, where he worked, and surprised Brown, who, along with a 15-year-old boy, was inside burglarizing the business. The boy grabbed Sullivan's wallet with $48 inside and Brown shot the victim once in the back with a .22-caliber pistol.

Brown, who is now 42, was convicted and sentenced to death, but this punishment was later commuted to life when Oklahoma's death penalty was ruled unconstitutional.

He married on Aug. 31, 1984, at Howard McLeod Correctional Center in Atoka County to Donna Moses, a local churchgoer who, along with other members, had been corresponding with inmates.

The Department of Corrections granted his request to be transferred to Jess Dunn on Nov. 20, 1984. His escape from the minimum-security facility came 13 days later.

Brown's wife ``was seen living in her car in Muskogee in the days prior to the escape,'' Rickel said. ``So it's a presumption'' that she assisted in the escape, he said.

She also has not been seen since then, Rickel said.

When asked whether Linda Ginter, who was apparently living in Kentucky when her husband fled Ohio, is the same person as Donna Moses Brown, FBI Agent Tom Vest said, ``That's what we believe.'' He would not elaborate.

A corrections employee who asked to not be identified said Brown had apparently been dropped off near the penitentiary by his ``terminally ill'' wife, who then went to stay with family in the state that she had not seen in years.

Rickel said that Brown called his video store from Kentucky a couple of days after leaving and told an employee that he had to enter his wife into a hospital due to congestive heart failure.

Authorities probably came closest to capturing Brown -- as well as his wife and William Dale Davis, who escaped with Brown -- when they followed tips and searched a Paris, Texas, apartment for him in 1985, Rickel said.

The trio had cleared out 30 minutes before, he said. Police in Kentucky later that year wounded and captured Davis in a shootout, but Brown remained a fugitive.

Both men were working at the time as linemen for a Virginia cable company, Rickel said. Outside of confirming that Donna Brown was a waitress in New Jersey in 1989, information in the case dwindled.

``Obviously, the trail is a lot hotter early in the search,'' Rickel said. ``They kept moving.''

They stopped with a move to Ohio in 1993. The video store opened and Brown -- as Kenneth K. Ginter -- lived what appeared to be a law- abiding existence, Capt. Dave Woolf of the Kettering Police Department said.

``We never heard anything about him being a bad guy,'' Woolf said. ``As for his store, I didn't even know it was there.''

Rickel said he does not know of any additional crimes Brown is suspected of committing.

``But it's early. We have to remember, this guy is a convicted murderer,'' he said.

Caption:
On the run for nearly 15 years, Michael Wayne Brown, convicted for the 1975 murder of an insurance man in Tulsa, surrendered to authorities Tuesday. On Aug. 31, 1984, the former Donna Moses married Brown while he was in prison at the Howard McLeod Correctional Center in Atoka County.

Caption:
COLOR PHOTO<p></p>Courtesy photo

Author: MICHAEL SMITH
Section: METRO
Page: 11

Copyright 1999 Tulsa World. World Publishing Co.

****************************************************

[hostedbyrobertstack]

Thats really WEIRD. I remember seeing the update a while ago on unsolved mysteries, I believe it was this case, and it showed the video store. It said it was in ohio, but I didn't know where. this city is about 10 minutes from my house and I actually went to school in kettering for a while. I will have to type in that address and go see where that video store and house is. Finally an unsolved mystery i can somewhat see.

[sdb4884]

Interesting case.

[DeloresD]

I find it funny how people change the story around so much. There are only a few of us out there that know the real truth and how it all took place from the start and how it went down in the end. I'm sure my ex would agree with me on that one. The employee of the store didn't call the fbi. Her husband did. He had her go back to work and look at his tats to make sure it was him or not. Yes before that happened he called "Kenny" and told him there was a dude that looked just like him on tv. Kenny did tell him "yes everyone has a twin" just prior to that Kenny and his side girlfriend was with that cpl at Kettering fourth of july show. Once the wife went back to work and seen that the tats matched her husband called fbi. Then they called the employee to verify the story. By that time Kenny was on his way to Kentucky to get things cleared with his wife. Then he headed to the prison to turn himself in ... holding his money and toothbrush. And you wonder how I know this... I am the employee. so I wish everyone would stop adding things to the story that is not true. It was not a choice that my ex or I wanted to do. It was hard to understand how a person like him could have killed anyone. but then we had to come to grips that he killed this father, son, brother and husband to this family. all this was over cause Kenny committed ins fraud and the ins. guy was going to rat him out... Kenny as we all know him was not the Angel in Kettering either. He has his dark side there as well. so you never know who will be sitting next to you at work, church, store etc. I am sure there are ppl that are mad that he is back in prison. But it is the right thing to do. He knew that. That is why he turned himself in. the trail of things he has done since then will be on his mind. I hope those that he has hurt along up until the time he went back will have a peace of mind. For those that are posting false things I wish you would stop unless you know the truth then just stop. He is back in prison and it is over. Do I worry he will come back out.. NO.. do I worry that he could find me.. NO. Even he said " he is tired of looking behind his shoulder and he is tired of running." sad that he drag'd her into all this at a young age.. just trying to go to church and live a good life/ lesson learned.. don't take young girls to a prison to minister to men in prison. To Linda's family in Kentucky I pray that you all have a peace of mind knowing she is back home and free from all this crazy twisted event. You can spend time with her while she is still here.. Cause I am sure it will be a short time cause of her cancer. She was sick when she was up here in Ohio and getting weaker. So now she can relax and just be at peace now.. Not having to worry about who is where and where Kenny is or if he is alive or on the run again.

[DeloresD]

It sat on the corner between the Dot Market and the flower store. There was a barber and real estate guy in the same building. It leads to the entry way of Greenmont Housing.. The flat top house.. I live in Greenmont across fromt the store. It sits on Patterson Blvd. He was the one that was renting porn to young boys (story came out after the fact) smoking weed in the back room.

[Keepfaith]

Donna was recently charged with identity theft. She apparently was still using Ginter.

[easye1]

Donna's maiden name is (was) Butcher, Her first Husband, Clifford R McAninch was murdered in 1971. Donna married again in 1972 to Leroy N Moses who was also murdered in 1972 Alemeda CA by who was thought to be the Zodiac Killer. I still have all the newspaper articles. She believed in Jesus Christ and thought she was doing the right thing trying to convert prisoners over to the lord. Michael ended up charming her and she would visit him often and ended up marring him in prison. I still remember the night she told me she was going to help him escape. You pretty much know what happens from there.
After Michael turned himself in to the Oklahoma State Prison, Mom also returned to Mcalester where she continued to visit him until he was transferred to a prison a few hundred miles away. She was to week from her condition to continue visiting him. Donna May Butcher, Mcaninch, Moses, Brown passed away on March 19 2017. Her son David.

[Todd Mueller]

Originally Posted by easye1

Donna's maiden name is (was) Butcher, Her first Husband, Clifford R McAninch was murdered in 1971. Donna married again in 1972 to Leroy N Moses who was also murdered in 1972 Alemeda CA by who was thought to be the Zodiac Killer. I still have all the newspaper articles. She believed in Jesus Christ and thought she was doing the right thing trying to convert prisoners over to the lord. Michael ended up charming her and she would visit him often and ended up marring him in prison. I still remember the night she told me she was going to help him escape. You pretty much know what happens from there.
After Michael turned himself in to the Oklahoma State Prison, Mom also returned to Mcalester where she continued to visit him until he was transferred to a prison a few hundred miles away. She was to week from her condition to continue visiting him. Donna May Butcher, Mcaninch, Moses, Brown passed away on March 19 2017. Her son David.

Thanks for the update, David. I appreciate you posting this.

[Janel "Jaycee" Miller]

Bumping this thread because I found this article about Donna. I apologize if it was posted elsewhere: https://www.mcalesternews.com/news/l...25d21b313.html

[Janel "Jaycee" Miller]

I also found this link that may be a reference to the case that put the Michael Brown profiled on the show in prison:
https://law.justia.com/cases/oklahom...1977/1121.html

A perusal of Oklahoma's Department of Corrections inmate search did not turn up any Michael Browns, so he may be a free man or has passed away.

[HAMMER77777]

Originally Posted by DeloresD

I find it funny how people change the story around so much. There are only a few of us out there that know the real truth and how it all took place from the start and how it went down in the end. I'm sure my ex would agree with me on that one. The employee of the store didn't call the fbi. Her husband did. He had her go back to work and look at his tats to make sure it was him or not. Yes before that happened he called "Kenny" and told him there was a dude that looked just like him on tv. Kenny did tell him "yes everyone has a twin" just prior to that Kenny and his side girlfriend was with that cpl at Kettering fourth of july show. Once the wife went back to work and seen that the tats matched her husband called fbi. Then they called the employee to verify the story. By that time Kenny was on his way to Kentucky to get things cleared with his wife. Then he headed to the prison to turn himself in ... holding his money and toothbrush. And you wonder how I know this... I am the employee. so I wish everyone would stop adding things to the story that is not true. It was not a choice that my ex or I wanted to do. It was hard to understand how a person like him could have killed anyone. but then we had to come to grips that he killed this father, son, brother and husband to this family. all this was over cause Kenny committed ins fraud and the ins. guy was going to rat him out... Kenny as we all know him was not the Angel in Kettering either. He has his dark side there as well. so you never know who will be sitting next to you at work, church, store etc. I am sure there are ppl that are mad that he is back in prison. But it is the right thing to do. He knew that. That is why he turned himself in. the trail of things he has done since then will be on his mind. I hope those that he has hurt along up until the time he went back will have a peace of mind. For those that are posting false things I wish you would stop unless you know the truth then just stop. He is back in prison and it is over. Do I worry he will come back out.. NO.. do I worry that he could find me.. NO. Even he said " he is tired of looking behind his shoulder and he is tired of running." sad that he drag'd her into all this at a young age.. just trying to go to church and live a good life/ lesson learned.. don't take young girls to a prison to minister to men in prison. To Linda's family in Kentucky I pray that you all have a peace of mind knowing she is back home and free from all this crazy twisted event. You can spend time with her while she is still here.. Cause I am sure it will be a short time cause of her cancer. She was sick when she was up here in Ohio and getting weaker. So now she can relax and just be at peace now.. Not having to worry about who is where and where Kenny is or if he is alive or on the run again.

I have so much to ask you. I saw the "Almost got away with it" TV show about this. It mentioned nothing about cancer (only a heart condition that the show Said she was fine from at the end). I have so much to ask, do you still post here?

[HAMMER77777]

Originally Posted by easye1

Donna's maiden name is (was) Butcher, Her first Husband, Clifford R McAninch was murdered in 1971. Donna married again in 1972 to Leroy N Moses who was also murdered in 1972 Alemeda CA by who was thought to be the Zodiac Killer. I still have all the newspaper articles. She believed in Jesus Christ and thought she was doing the right thing trying to convert prisoners over to the lord. Michael ended up charming her and she would visit him often and ended up marring him in prison. I still remember the night she told me she was going to help him escape. You pretty much know what happens from there.
After Michael turned himself in to the Oklahoma State Prison, Mom also returned to Mcalester where she continued to visit him until he was transferred to a prison a few hundred miles away. She was to week from her condition to continue visiting him. Donna May Butcher, Mcaninch, Moses, Brown passed away on March 19 2017. Her son David.

Dave, I have so much to ask. Apparently there was some case in Pittsburgh county about her using fake names? Also the "Almost got away with it" show never mentioned that she Passed?

[HAMMER77777]

Originally Posted by DeloresD

I find it funny how people change the story around so much. There are only a few of us out there that know the real truth and how it all took place from the start and how it went down in the end. I'm sure my ex would agree with me on that one. The employee of the store didn't call the fbi. Her husband did. He had her go back to work and look at his tats to make sure it was him or not. Yes before that happened he called "Kenny" and told him there was a dude that looked just like him on tv. Kenny did tell him "yes everyone has a twin" just prior to that Kenny and his side girlfriend was with that cpl at Kettering fourth of july show. Once the wife went back to work and seen that the tats matched her husband called fbi. Then they called the employee to verify the story. By that time Kenny was on his way to Kentucky to get things cleared with his wife. Then he headed to the prison to turn himself in ... holding his money and toothbrush. And you wonder how I know this... I am the employee. so I wish everyone would stop adding things to the story that is not true. It was not a choice that my ex or I wanted to do. It was hard to understand how a person like him could have killed anyone. but then we had to come to grips that he killed this father, son, brother and husband to this family. all this was over cause Kenny committed ins fraud and the ins. guy was going to rat him out... Kenny as we all know him was not the Angel in Kettering either. He has his dark side there as well. so you never know who will be sitting next to you at work, church, store etc. I am sure there are ppl that are mad that he is back in prison. But it is the right thing to do. He knew that. That is why he turned himself in. the trail of things he has done since then will be on his mind. I hope those that he has hurt along up until the time he went back will have a peace of mind. For those that are posting false things I wish you would stop unless you know the truth then just stop. He is back in prison and it is over. Do I worry he will come back out.. NO.. do I worry that he could find me.. NO. Even he said " he is tired of looking behind his shoulder and he is tired of running." sad that he drag'd her into all this at a young age.. just trying to go to church and live a good life/ lesson learned.. don't take young girls to a prison to minister to men in prison. To Linda's family in Kentucky I pray that you all have a peace of mind knowing she is back home and free from all this crazy twisted event. You can spend time with her while she is still here.. Cause I am sure it will be a short time cause of her cancer. She was sick when she was up here in Ohio and getting weaker. So now she can relax and just be at peace now.. Not having to worry about who is where and where Kenny is or if he is alive or on the run again.

What do you mean about Dark side in Kettering?