April 02, 2022
In late January of 2017, a young man received a reply to an advert he had posted on Craigslist. “Good Evening! Let’s go zombie hunting!” was the title.
The 29 year-old, who lived with his parents, had been advised by his therapist to meet people and have a more active social life, so, as many people do these days, he reached out for friendship online.
He received a response from a 24 year-old woman from Edmonds, WA, named Amy Caroline Brown. The pair decided that they would meet up for a date at a sports bar called “Cliffhangers” in Lynnwood on the 29th of January, where they would get to know each other.
Amy Brown was employed as a dog walker and groomer and spent the afternoon before the date intermittently watching her favorite series, NBC’s “Hannibal”- a show based on the fictional characters and themes from a book of the same title by Thomas Harris. She had an interest in the horror genre, including Anne Rice books and crime, which is why the title of the Craigslist post mostly likely intrigued her.
The two met and seemed to hit it off.
“You’re not a serial killer, are you?” Amy joked.
The conversation flowed as they discussed their favorite TV shows and films and it wasn’t long before the tone of the conversation turned sexual.
“Do you want to have sex?” Amy boldly asked. Yes, of course, was the answer.
The pair decided that they’d rent a budget room at a local hotel named the Rodeo Inn. Brown drove the man back to his parents' residence where he loaned the money to cover the cost of the room. They returned to the hotel, checked in, and lay on the bed chatting and holding each other.
Brown then climbed on top of the 29 year-old and, while sitting on top of him, asked him yet again:
“You’re not a serial killer, are you?”
The man laughed at what he believed was Brown’s strange sense of humor and assured her he was not. (She asked him this question several times over the course of the evening.)
Suddenly, from nowhere, she lifted her arms above her head and said, “because I am a serial killer” before plunging a knife into his chest.
He reacted quickly and the two battled for possession of the weapon. After attempting to pry the blade from Brown’s hands the shocked man stumbled out of the hotel to a local pharmacy, pleading for the desk clerk to call the emergency services. Blood poured from the wound in his chest and he would later be informed that he had a collapsed lung as a result of the attack.
While her victim desperately sought out help, Brown was apprehended by police at the Rodeo Inn parking lot as she, presumably, attempted to make it back to her vehicle.
“Am I caught?”, she asked them.
(Browns vehicle with a bumper sticker that reads: “I've got a perfect body. But it’s in the truck and beginning to smell.” Source)
While searching her, police retrieved a disturbing note that had been folded and stuffed into the back pocket of her trousers. The note revealed Brown’s intentions clearly:
“If you are wondering what I do with the heart … I eat it. I will strike again.”
Apparently, she intended to leave the letter on the victim’s body for police to discover.
Just like the character from her favorite show, she aspired to be a serial killer cannibal. Had her victim not been able to fight her off, she would have apparently murdered him, cut out his heart and ate it before moving on the next victim.
In reality, I believe she would have most likely been apprehended after her first kill (if she had succeeded, which fortunately she did not) as there would have been multiple witnesses, from the bar and hotel, as well as CCTV footage of the two together from both establishments.
When police questioned her about her motive she bluntly stated, “I’m a loon”, and openly admitted that she aspired to be a serial killer and planned to accumulate a 50 person body count before turning herself in. Apparently, prison was her retirement plan.
Her confession was supported by a disturbing journal investigators retrieved from her bedroom at her parents' residence. Within the book were sketches of what are referred to in online reports as a “murder shack”. However, there seems to be no description beyond this information. By the name of it one can only imagine that Brown was fantasizing about having her own space for killing her victims.
According to this article, Brown has a history of mental illness and had stopped taking her medication a few days before she attacked the victim.
Brown’s rap sheet reveals that she has been charged with attempted 1st degree murder (as the act was clearly premeditated) with bail set at one million dollars. She is currently awaiting sentencing at New Snohomish County Jail (3025 Oakes Ave Everett, WA 98201)
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