Dead Silent is investigating the murderous crimes of Steven Brown and Patricia Teeter, who unleashed a night of violence against Brown’s ex-wife, Deborah Smarrella, and her boyfriend, Christopher Brouillard, and her brother, Donald Wood.
Brown was a jealous ex-husband who enlisted Teeter to help him murder Brouillard and Wood and kidnap Deborah in Lebanon, Maine.
Deborah Smarrella had endured a 17-year-long abusive relationship with her husband, ex-marine Steven Brown, but she was finally able to escape in 1999. She and their two children left their home in New York and went to stay with her brother Donald Wood in Lebanon.
Deborah had filed for divorce from Brown earlier that year and had won full custody of the children just a week before the murders and kidnapping. They moved into a mobile home belonging to Donald Wood and sharing with Deborah’s boyfriend, Christopher Brouillard.
Unfortunately, her ex-husband was unable to leave her to get on with the rest of her life. He enlisted the help of a friend, Patricia Teeter, and armed with knives, a shotgun, and an assault rifle, they drove to Lebanon, ready for violence.
On arrival, the murderous couple then hatched a plan to lure the occupants of the mobile home out one by one. Using an abandoned car, Teeter was to lure them out by claiming car trouble. And Brown would then beat them to death.
Teeter knocked on the door of the trailer and when Wood answered, she asked for his help with her so-called car trouble. When he came out to assist, Brown clubbed him with a pipe and stabbed him to death. He then dragged his remains into the forest.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelTeeter then returned to the trailer and lured Brouillard outside by saying that Wood needed his assistance. When he emerged, he received the same treatment from Brown as Wood had.
Steven Brown and Patricia Teeter then kidnapped Deborah Smarrella
Incredibly, the twisted couple wasn’t done as Teeter, once again, returned to the mobile home, this time, hoping to lure out Wood’s girlfriend. But on this occasion, Deborah herself spotted her crazed ex-husband and was bundled into a car.
Brown and Teeter drove Deborah back to New York, but by this stage, a nationwide manhunt had been instigated. About 30 hours after the murders and kidnap, the police were alerted that the trio were in a motel in Greenbush, NY.
The police stormed the motel room and found Deborah lying on a bed with Brown, who was armed with a 12-gauge shotgun. Both Teeter and Brown were arrested without serious incidence.
Brown pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and one count of kidnapping along with several other related charges. In return, he was given 7 life sentences.
In 2012, Brown committed suicide by hanging himself in his federal cell. He had previously attempted to kill himself in 1999.
Patricia Teeter also confessed to her roles in the murders and was given a total of 49 years in prison, 20 years in state prison and a further 29 in a federal prison.
More from Dead Silent
Follow the links to read about more murders profiled on Dead Silent.
Kirk Levin had been released from prison for just two days when he murdered his own mother, Marilyn Schmitt, at their home before kidnapping Jessica Vega, a young woman he’d met online.
Robert Burmingham, aka The Blue Light Rapist, terrorized women in Arkansas for two years in the 1990s. While impersonating a police officer, Burmingham would pull over female motorists before kidnapping and sexually assaulting them.
Dead Silent airs at 7/6c on Investigation Discovery.
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