Episode 139: The Murders of Leroy “B.J.” Brown and Karen Clarke
In the early evening of January 7th, 1999, 29-year-old Karen Clarke and her son, 8-year-old Leroy “B.J.” Brown Jr., had just gotten back to their Bridgeport, Connecticut home from grocery shopping. They were getting ready to bring their bags upstairs when there was a knock at the door and someone rang the doorbell. A young man then burst in, and Karen noticed he was holding a gun. She began screaming at her son to run, and the two frantically ran up the stairs when shots were fired.
Police were called and when officers arrived on scene, they found Karen’s body. She was lying face up on the floor of her son’s bedroom. Her hand was reaching out to grab the phone. Leroy’s body was found in the hallway, and he had been shot a single time in the head. This was initially thought to be a robbery gone wrong, but police quickly realized that this was a targeted attack. 8-year-old Leroy “B.J.” was a star witness in the murder of Rudolph Snead Jr., his mother’s boyfriend, and was supposed to testify in court just days later.
In 1997, B.J. was in the backseat of Rudolph’s car with Rudolph and his 7-year-old son Tyrell, driving on the I-95 on-ramp. All of a sudden, shots were being fired at them and their car. Rudolph was hit and wounded, but the kids were both unharmed. Karen brought B.J. down to the police station after she heard he was involved, and B.J. positively identified 27-year-old Russell Peeler Jr. in a lineup as the shooter.
Russell Peeler Jr. and his younger brother, Adrian, were the sons of Sheila Peeler, who was a police officer. She was constantly telling them to do good and not get into trouble or fall into a pattern of violence and crime. Russell started out as a good kid but when he got to Central High School, he got into the wrong crowd and quickly became a troublemaker and a problem student at the school. He was constantly instigating other kids and getting into fights but managed to get borderline grades, and his mom convinced him to enroll at Housatonic Community College in their criminal justice program. Russell’s academic career was short-lived and in the late 1980’s he joined the “Bush Mob,” an intense drug gang.
In early December of 1993, Sheila Peeler was dying of stomach cancer. On her deathbed she asked her two sons, Russell and Adrian, to use the money from her life savings and her life insurance to put towards college and go to school. Russell refused and instead used the money that his now deceased mother left him, a total of $50,000, to start his own drug ring. Eventually, Russell’s drug ring grew and he started working with Rudolph Snead Jr. The two soon formed a partnership where Rudolph would supply Russell with powdered cocaine that his associates would then turn into crack cocaine and sell, but they had a major falling out when Russell accused Rudolph of keeping some of the profits from the drug sales.
Russell was the perpetrator who fired shots at Rudolph on the I-95 ramp when Rudolph’s son and B.J. were in the back seat. On May 29th, 1998, Russell threw a denim jacket over his head to conceal his face and walked into a barbershop on Boston Avenue in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Rudolph was in the back, and Russell walked up to him and shot him multiple times. Police quickly realized that Russell was responsible for Rudolph’s murder, and B.J. became the star witness in the case as he had identified Russell in the lineup as being the perpetrator in the drive-by shooting and attempted murder. Russell had told his underage girlfriend Angelina that he was going to “start killing witnesses”, and once Rudolph was dead, this left B.J.
After enlisting the help from his “associates” and little brother, 24-year-old Adrian Peeler, Russell found Karen’s address and bribed one of his clients, 33-year-old Josephine Lee, with crack cocaine to alert him when Karen and B.J. arrived home on January 7th, 1999. Josephine lived right across the street. When Karen and B.J. got home, Josephine paged the Peelers and Adrian arrived within five minutes. Josephine and Adrian walked across the street and Josephine rang the doorbell. When Karen opened the door, Adrian forced his way inside before chasing Karen and B.J. up the stairs and shooting them both.
Based mainly on the testimony of his associates, all of whom told police that Russell kept saying how he was going to kill B.J. to prevent him from testifying against him, Russell Peeler Jr. was convicted of ordering the executions of Karen Clarke and Leroy “B.J.” Brown Jr. At the trial in 2000, the jury deadlocked on whether or not he should get the death penalty. The state Supreme Court later ordered a new death penalty hearing with a new jury. After being convicted on October 15th, 2007, Russell was sentenced and given the death penalty on December 10th, 2007.
Adrian Peeler was only found guilty by a Waterbury jury of conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to 25-years in prison. This was to be followed by a 35-year federal prison sentence for drug dealing.
After Karen and B.J.’s murders, their family members attempted to file a lawsuit against the state of Connecticut for $100 million dollars for their failure to protect B.J. and his mother. Former Police Chief Thomas Sweeney had said previously before the murders that the police department had placed special patrols outside Karen’s house, but he said that she asked them to stop the patrols because she found the police presence intrusive. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2004.
Russell’s sentence was changed to life in prison without the possibility of parole after the death penalty was abolished in the state of Connecticut in 2012. He remains in prison.
Image sources:
murderpedia.org - “Russell Peeler Jr.”