In February of 2020, a jury ruled for Rebecca Brown and awarded her more than 6-million dollars. In his defense, attorneys for by-then retired Detective Michael Lambert said he was not given all the information he needed, that he relied on what he was told by DNA experts, and that he was not aware criminalists stored their own semen in the lab until after he had filed his affidavits. Ronald Clyde Tatro was the kind of heavy youd see in a moviesquare jaw, weathered, leathery skin, with slicked-back hair. developed, and Claire's case went cold for nearly two decades. A story from the San Diego Union Tribune said the jury found the affidavits to secure search warrants relied on judicial deception in minimizing the likelihood of contamination, with one juror saying, We thought (the affidavit) wasnt a fair and balanced approach to the situation.. . Failed to report flower. January 8, 2018, 11:40 AM. In their home, Rebecca Brown found his Bible, it was open and he had underlined Psalm 109:26 through 31 a passage about being wrongfully accused. According to a 2015 story in the San Diego Reader, just 6 months before Claire Hough was murdered, Tatro was a suspect in the murder of prostitute Carol Defleice on El Cajon Boulevard. She was visiting her grandparents in San Diego but lived with her parents Samuel and Penelope Hough in Cranston, Rhode Island.Her paternal grandfather was Samuel Jones Hough, Sr. Number of employees at Louisiana Delta Community College in year 2022 was 431. ", The Nantais family remembers Barbara as beautiful, popular, smart, stubborn and someone who had a "mind of her own.". Last Friday, the 66-year-old widow spent a bittersweet Valentines Day in a San Diego courthouse, where a jury awarded her $6 million, including $3 million for the loss of her husbands companionship.. Oops, we were unable to send the email. Lawyers for Rebecca Brown and Kevin Brown contend the San Diego Police Department's case is built on rumors and misinterpretations. In the fall of 1992, 10 years after he had moved to San Diego and eight years after Claire Hough was murdered, Kevin Brown placed a personals ad in the Union-tribune, "men seeking women." It said he was interested in a slender, non-smoker for a possible relationship. Friends who got into arguments would often ask her to adjudicate. RELATED: Lawsuit: SDPD evidence contamination occurs once per month. Part III: They are not going to get away with this. A widows quest delivers a dramatic courtroom twist. When interviewed later, Wheeler said I was in the habit of shining my flashlight over the beach to see if cans or anything else was in range of the light. Then, he spotted Claires body. He offered to take a polygraph test, and the same day, Detectives Lambert and Adams took him to a police station and hooked him up. Claire was always fond of the beautiful beaches that marked the Eastern Seaboard. When Ronald Tatros body was found in the Holston River in Tennessee, on the day after the 27th anniversary of Claire Houghs murder, there were those who believed it was suicide, and an unspoken admission of his guilt. Fargo, ND, USA / The Mighty 790 KFGO | KFGO, I was in the habit of shining my flashlight over the beach to see if cans or anything else was in range of the light., It appeared someone was sleeping so I quickly turned my light off and moved toward her. But around 2008, the San Diego Police Cold Case Unit posted the cases on its website saying that they believed both girls had likely been murdered by the same killer. Claire Penelope Hough was born on September 30, 1969, inCranston, Rhode Island, to Samuel and Penelope Hough. | PEOPLE.com, CBS News 8 investigates: The death of Ronald Tatro, San Diego Police analyst, accused of rape-murder, hangs himself in Cuyamaca, Ninth Circuit Considers What Detective Knew on Cold-Case Warrant, Criminalists widow feels vindicated by jurys verdicts in wrongful-death suit. Despite the lab conditions Ive just described to you, lab manager Jennifer Shen reportedly told Lambert it was impossible that Browns DNA hit was the result of contamination because Kevin Brown had not personally worked on Claire Houghs case. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. He suffered from an inability to control his violent urges and had even admitted himself to a psychiatric clinic once. Claire Hough. I had not taken many steps when I realized I had seen her exposed left hip and back, and people, with rare exceptions, do not sleep on the beach that way. Did they actually believe Kevin Brown had something to do with the murder of Barbara Nantais, or did they just include her case as a way of strengthening their request to the judge? Menu. What about the murder of Barbara Nantais? DNA analysis was not available to investigators in those days. One night, they snuck out the sliding glass door of Claires grandparents home and went to the beach to smoke cigarettes and listen to music. In the 1980s, they were not testing and amplifying DNA like we do today. According to local news reports, Wallace died by suicide after jumping from the 13th floor of a San Diego apartment building four years later. Although the medical examiner ruled his death an accident, the TWRA report concluded Tatros death may not have been. He was killed in a boating accident in 2011 [..] Failing to Stop a Murderous Serial Stalker, The Bradley Stone Mass Murder-Suicide Case, Arthur Conan Doyle On His "Sherlock Holmes Work", Imaginative Art: Memoir and Autobiography. Claire had been murdered in a similar fashion to Barbara Nantais. Carbon Health is a tech-enabled healthcare company that delivers virtual care experiences. A lifeguard tower on beautiful Torrey Pines State Beach in San Diego. She was visiting her grandparents in San Diego but lived with her parents Samuel and Penelope Hough in Cranston, Rhode Island. To use this feature, use a newer browser. "48 Hours" investigates in "Blood in the Sand". Failed to delete flower. thirteen year old girl named Claire Huff is in southern California, visiting her grandparents. Please enter your email and password to sign in. Current address 143 Longfellow Rd, Jamestown, RI 02835 $1,850: B. Jan 24, 2023. The couples lives were turned upside-down when a sensational cold case appeared to link Brown through DNA. After the judgement was read, Rebecca Brown spoke to the media: https://filmmusic.io/song/3699-echoes-of-time, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, https://filmmusic.io/song/4567-unnatural-situation, Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/3609-dark-standoff, Escondido Times-Advocate, Aug 27, 1984 Dead Girl Identified, Jury: $6 million to widow of SDPD crime lab worker accused in cold case homicide, A Q&A with James Alt: Justice, Frustration, and the Murder of Barbara Nantais, The Killer on the Beach: The Unsolved Murder of Barbara Nantais, True Crime Files: Hope renewed for leads in teens unsolved murder at Torrey Pines. Welcome to the Jim Fisher True Crime blog, a place for people interested in crime, criminal investigation, policing, law, writing, and forensic science. Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried. So I thought, this guy might just be an acquaintance that you met somewhere. Nobody had seen them before. SVP of Engineering: Jul 2015: Jul 2018: Tapjoy . Include gps location with grave photos where possible. When he regained consciousness, he had no memory of what had happened. In its eleven years running, twenty-two artists have been granted the title of "The Voice" - Javier Colon, Jermaine Paul, Cassadee Pope, Danielle Bradbery, Tessanne Chin, Josh Kaufman, Craig Wayne Boyd, Sawyer Fredericks, Jordan . Are you sure that you want to delete this flower? I believe he immediately attacked and strangled her. He was crouched over her shoulders and I just dont have a clear picture of what he was doing but would think it was when he mutilated her.. The polygraph result on the question came back as inconclusive. Died-March 4, 2019 in Rhode Island. Sign up for PEOPLEs free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. We have set your language to She told her story to news agencies across the country, and was featured in PEOPLE and on People Magazine Investigates on Investigation Discovery. Resend Activation Email. Advertisement Rebecca Brown strongly believes in her husband's innocence and argues he was not a killer or a rapist. To investigators, it was confirmation that Kevin BrownKinky, as some of his co-workers called himwas a pervy sort of character, and that they were on the right track. Claire Hough was born on September 30, 1969 in Rhode Island, USA. The Claire Hough Murder Case: A Saga of False Accu Matt Mangino - A lawyer's take on American criminal justice, Historical Crime Detective - Features vintage true crime stories lost to history. So when I researched Kevin Browns during September of 84, the only one that I could find that was working for the department was you. Thirty years after Claire Hough was murdered, a new round of forensic testing pointed to two suspects. Privacy PolicyTerms of ServiceSign Up For Our NewslettersSite Map, Copyright 2023, The San Diego Union-Tribune |, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager. Again, the court ruled against the defense, and Rebecca Browns suit was allowed to proceed. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that in Tuesdays hearing, Lambert testified that the verdict was a gut punch for me. Later, it would become clear that Kevin Brown was mixing up his people. View local obituaries in rhode island. Join Facebook to connect with Thomas Hough and others you may know. The entire case became very famous and successful, and it took the police nearly three decades to solve the entire possibility of the . [] I was sure from the color of her flesh that she was dead.. It wasnt uncommon in the early days of DNA analysis for evidence like blood or tissue to be entirely consumed by the testing. Which memorial do you think is a duplicate of Claire Hough (137689569)? The clerk also stated she went towards the beach, which was the last time she was seen alive. On January 9, 2014, the detectives dropped in at Kevins Chula Vista home to question him regarding the homicide and DNA evidence. Claire Hough was only 14 when she was murdered at Torrey Pines State Beach In San Diego, near Del Mar, California. The case was reopened after having gone unsolved for decades. There is 1 volunteer for this cemetery. He didnt. Sometime later, the young couple were attacked by an unknown assailant. They were doing things like blood-typing and other analysis which would be considered primitive by todays standards, and the methods employed were comparatively undeveloped as well. It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Samuel Hough (Warwick, Rhode Island), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who passed away on March 4, 2019, leaving to mourn family and friends. Considering the similarity of the two crimes, it was a theory that, in hindsight, seems perfectly logical. He suffered from an inability to control his violent urges and had even admitted himself to a psychiatric clinic once. Oct. 23, 2014 4:16 PM PT The brutal 1984 killing of a teenager at Torrey Pines State Beach has apparently been solved through DNA and an extensive investigation, the San Diego Police Department. View contact information: phones, addresses, emails and networks. Facebook gives people the power to. On the morning of Thursday, January 9th, 2014, Detectives Mike Lambert and Lori Adams knocked on Kevin Browns door at 8 am. Which means, the day Ronald Tatro went into the Holston River was August 24th, 2011, 27 years, They didnt find anything. However, his glasses and wallet were found on the boat, and evidence suggested Ronald might have purposely gone into the river. In three decades, hundreds of police and other investigators combed the beach, pored through files and conducted interviews for possible leads, Rorrison said. However, when Kimberly returned home after a week, Claire often complained she was bored and slipped out at night to the beach. She died on August 24, 1984 in San Diego, California, USA. Weve updated the security on the site. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/137689569/claire-penelope-hough. Her paternal grandfather was Samuel Jones Hough, Sr. Her case remains open. Now, like a week later, they were saying the two cases werent related. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Mayor Bass seeks $250-million expansion of homelessness program in first State of the City speech, Column: Trump and the NRA might be right about guns and we mostly have ourselves to blame, Federal court slows a California ban on natural gas appliances, The actor, the hairstylist and the eye surgeon: Drugs and death in a Malibu beach house, Have guests in town? It might simply be a coincidence. News on the burial of Pope Paul the VI dominated newspapers, and the Commodores Three Times a Lady was all over the radio. It appeared someone was sleeping so I quickly turned my light off and moved toward her. Barbara Nantais and Claire Hough were two teens who were found dead on the sand at Torrey Pines State Beach, near San Diego, California. We're proud to introduce Claire Hough as our new VP of Engineering. The case was revisited several times by the SDPD Cold Case Team. In both the 1978 and 1984 killings, the victim was strangled, sand was pushed into her mouth, and one of her breasts was mutilated, according to news accounts of the two crimes. Fearing his reputation getting maligned and losing face in society, the 62-year-old took his life byhanging himself from a tree on October 21, 2014. Brown had been a criminalist in the San Diego Police Department lab before retiring in 2002. I thought you might like to see a memorial for Claire Penelope Hough I found on Findagrave.com. Failed to delete memorial. Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you. I also do some occasional giveaways there, too. Although Claire Hough was from Rhode Island, she had spent a lot of time on Torrey Pines Beach. The photogs got to practice their skills, market themselves to models who might be interested in buying the photos for their portfolios, and, they got to see young, scantily clad women in various states of undress. It was impossible that Ronald Tatro had killed Barbara Nantais, and very, very unlikely that Kevin Brown had. Claire Hough was nearing her 15th birthday when she traveled from Rhode Island to San Diego to visit her grandparents. He was an Army veteran, having served in World War II, and once had a career as an insurance salesman, but by 1984, he was living with his sister, just a stones throw from Claires grandparents. Obviously were very gratified, Rorrison said. Toxicology reports from Tatros autopsy revealed he had sleeping pills in his system on the day he died. Anyone with information is urged to contact San Diego County Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477. Six years later, 14-year-old Claire Hough was found strangled and mutilated at the state park famous for its high cliffs, Fox News reported. Claire Penelope Hough's body was found at Torrey Pines State Beach in 1984. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune) Advertisement The request went to criminalist David Cornacchia. You heard that right. Courtesy San Diego Police. The only piece of physical evidence the San Diego Police ever had to incriminate Kevin Brown was one DNA sample, taken from a swab processed in the lab where Kevin Brown worked. If you think back on the history of DNA, the first time most of us saw the technology used in a criminal case was as evidence against OJ Simpson in the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Claire's body was found in the early morning hours at Torrey Pines State Beach. All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. You may request to transfer up to 250,000 memorials managed by Find a Grave. He was a criminologist, a since-retired forensic investigator named Kevin Brown who had worked for the San Diego Police Department from 1982 until 2002. Send flowers, find service dates or offer condolences for the lives we have lost in rhode island. some would say. What is important to Sam and Penny Hough is who Claire was. CBS 48 Hours, June 9, 2018 Blood in the Sand, People Magazine Investigates: Who Killed Claire Hough? Barbara Nantais had four siblings; older sisters Lorraine and Sue and younger brother Tom. She refused. She had been brutally beaten, strangled to death, and mutilated with a knife. Maybe it was sensory overload, the sound of the wind and surf and music from Claires boombox. When I first saw his mugshot, he reminded me of DeNiros villain in Martin Scorceses Oscar-nominated 1991 remake of Cape Fear. His reputation was smeared with salacious rumors about strippers and risque photo shoots which led to accusations that he had done the most unforgivable thing rape and murder a young girl. Without question, Wally Wheeler was investigators prime suspect and they tried everything to build a case against him, even going so far as to set up a microphone in a memorial to Claire that had been erected on the beach. GREAT NEWS! Early the next morning, a man found her strangled and mutilated body on the beach. Operating under the assumption that Kevin Brown may have been involved in the murder of Claire Hough, investigators began to question his friends and former co-workers. Which means, the day Ronald Tatro went into the Holston River was August 24th, 2011, 27 years to the day after Claire Houghs murder. After the judgement was read, Rebecca Brown spoke to the media:[soundclip: Rebecca Brown]. By the time the DNA testing was done, there was no physical evidence left to test. Your Scrapbook is currently empty. For an investigator, that is a big moment. Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. Rebecca Brown became so worried about her husband, she called her brother and asked him to come over and remove all the guns from the home. Claire Hough's best friend, Kim Jamer, had spent a few days with Claire in California but had returned to Rhode Island before the murder. 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