Orlando Sentinel
ORANGE CITY, Fla. — Chericia Brown told authorities she thought her husband was capable of killing her, court records state.
She told them he had a pistol, and how during a fight in early December, he pulled her hair, slammed her head into a wall and tried to shove a sock in her mouth, according to a domestic violence report.
She told them he threatened to “personally kill” her if she ever tried to take their kids away.
How one day when she left work, or was walking down the street, he would hurt her.
“You won’t even know it,” he told her, according to court documents.
Authorities say that tragic scenario played out late Sunday night during an hours-long incident that started with Henry Brown fatally stabbing his estranged wife at a restaurant in Seminole County.
It ended when deputies found Brown, 30, and the couple’s two young children dead in a pickup truck on the side of Interstate 4 west, according to the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies said it appears Brown shot and killed the children — Aleah, 1, and Henry IV, 4. He then shot and killed himself, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Stabbing at Chili’s
Records show the Altamonte Springs Police Department didn’t arrest Brown after the reported violence in December because of inconsistent evidence, adding “the fear of further violence does not exist.” The State Attorney’s Office also chose not to prosecute.
A judge granted Chericia Brown a domestic-violence injunction against her husband, though.
Authorities say that didn’t stop him from finding her.
Seminole deputies were called about 10 p.m. Sunday to reports of a stabbing at the Chili’s Grill & Bar on Lake Mary Boulevard.
Deputies said Brown was hiding in his wife’s trunk, waiting for her to come out of the restaurant.
He confronted her and stabbed her, and then got in a car as a nurse and a paramedic — who were in the restaurant at the time — ran to her side, the Sheriff’s Office said.
As they started to help her, Brown drove into the group, running over his wife and the two witnesses, said Heather Smith, a Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman.
Gunfire at hospital
Chericia Brown, who was an operations clerk with Quality Customs Distribution in Apopka, later died from her injuries.
The nurse and paramedic were both injured, Smith said. One has been released from a hospital and the other is being treated for serious injuries, she said. The Sheriff’s Office would not release their names.
However, Orange City Fire Chief Ronnie C. Long confirmed that one of the victims is Caroline Dorton, firefighter paramedic. Dorton, 45, is a mother of three and has worked for the fire department since 2009.
Henry Brown sped away from the restaurant, heading to an apartment in Altamonte Springs, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
He grabbed the couple’s two children, who were with a babysitter at the time, and got into a pickup truck, Smith said.
He then drove to Central Florida Regional Hospital in Sanford, looking for his wife.
Deputies were at the hospital and recognized Brown. When they confronted him, they said he pulled a pistol and started firing.
Deputies fired back, as Brown ran to the pickup and drove off.
No one was injured, Smith said.
Investigators found the truck within minutes on I-4 west near U.S. Highway 17-92 and deployed stop sticks to flatten the tires. They watched as the truck slowed to a stop about 12:30 a.m., according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies found Brown and the children dead inside.
Records show Henry Brown was arrested in November on charges of fleeing and attempting to elude a police officer and refusal to obey police.
Orange County deputies stopped him in a school zone on Magnolia Homes Road after he was driving 42 mph in a 20 mph zone, an arrest report states.
Brown handed the deputy his license but said he needed to go get his family for an “important” meeting to “save the family home,” the report states.
Deputies said Brown then started yelling that he needed to go, grabbed his license and drove off. He returned moments later yelling for deputies to follow him, the report states.
He eventually stopped and deputies put his vehicle in park, while Brown became “irate and screaming his family was going to lose their home,” the report states.
Chericia Brown later told officials she found out that same day that her husband had been having an affair, according to records filed in support of a domestic violence injunction.
Their marriage deteriorated after that and the couple split in December after several violent fights, reports state.
‘Insufficient evidence’
She filed for the injunction on Dec. 21 — three days after reporting the violence to Altamonte Springs police. Records show she asked a judge to let her keep their children, but that Henry Brown could have unsupervised visits. The injunction did not cover the kids.
After the Dec. 18 report, Altamonte Springs police did not arrest Henry Brown because of a lack of physical evidence and inconsistent statements, a report states. The officer wrote in his report that Chericia Brown’s injuries — just a small cut on her left bottom lip — did not match up with her story. Henry Brown also told the officer his wife made up the story to get him in trouble because she was mad about the affair.
“Due to the fact that victim C. Brown will not be returning to the home and has not returned in 48 hours, the fear of further violence does not exist,” the report states.
Police forwarded the report to the Seminole-Brevard State Attorney’s Office, which chose not to file charges. In a Feb. 10 memo explaining that decision, the prosecutor wrote there was “insufficient evidence to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt,” citing the delay in reporting the incident and a lack of corroborating witnesses, among other reasons.
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