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Oklahoma Mom’s Kids Allegedly Watched Her Get Pistol Whipped To Death By Husband
One of the couple’s children told investigators their father, Joshua Christian Brown, made them clean up the scene of the murder and told them “not to talk to anyone” about it.
An Oklahoma father admitted he “punched” and “strangled” his wife to death in front of their three children, county investigators said.
Joshua Christian Brown allegedly told detectives he “went too far” when he used a pistol, a flag pole, a shoe, and a belt to beat his wife, Shawntae Lynn Brown, to death last week, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Oxygen.com.
At around 2 a.m. on Sept. 30, authorities responded to the 4700 block of Woodland Park Terrace in Spencer, Oklahoma where they found the lifeless body of Shawntae Lynn Brown. She was covered in a number of bruises and cuts, “consistent with a severe beating,” the affidavit stated.
The couple’s three children, ages 7, 14, and 15, were inside the home at the time of the suspected slaying, detectives said.
"The homicide scene inside that house was gruesome," Mark Myers, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office, told Oxygen.com.
Myers said county authorities have also recovered surveillance footage of the alleged murder.
"[It] shows just how brutal the domestic violence attack was that eventually led to the death of Shawntae Brown," he added. "It is a tragedy that three children inside the house witnessed the violent murder of their mother at the hands of their father, Joshua Brown."
The 14-year-old son allegedly described in horrifying detail to forensic investigators how Joshua beat his mother to death, and said he and his siblings were then forced to clean up the bloody aftermath, according to the probable cause affidavit.
After executing a search warrant, detectives found a “large amount” of blood in the couple’s home, as well as several signs that a struggle had occurred, including a number of sizable holes found in the drywall. A semi-automatic pistol, “caked with blood and hair,” was also seized.
County authorities allege Shawntae was pistol whipped “so severely” that the front sight of the pistol “shattered.”
Joshua was arrested on suspicion of first degree murder, domestic abuse causing bodily injury, and assault. He’s being held without bond at an Oklahoma County detention center, online jail records show. County prosecutors haven’t yet filed official charges against him.
Shawntae Lynn Brown’s family described the Oklahoma mother as a “beautiful soul.”
“My sister meant the world to me, and I didn’t know any of this was even going on,” Shawntae's sister, Sheila Smith, told KOCO-TV. “You know, that was my older sister, but I’m the protector.”
In 2016, Joshua was also slapped with a trio of gun charges following an incident in which he allegedly opened fire on the home of two friends during a night of drinking, according to a separate probable cause statement obtained by Oxygen.com.
In that case, Joshua allegedly got into a heated debate about the military while drinking with two men, who were brothers, at their Oklahoma City home. He later pulled out a gun and threatened the two men but eventually left, the affidavit stated. Brown then allegedly armed himself with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a .40 caliber pistol, and returned to the brothers’ home wearing a hockey goalie mask.
The mask, according to city police, resembled that worn by serial killer “ason in the '80s slasher franchise “Friday The 13th.”
He allegedly confronted his two drinking buddies outside and began firing his guns in the air. Authorities recovered 25 shell casings from the scene, and one bullet was found lodged in the home. No one was harmed in the incident. The case was ultimately dismissed, additional court documents show.
