Briley brothers
The three Briley brothers Anthony Ray (* 1958 ), James Dyral (* 1956 ; † April 18, 1985 ) and Linwood Earl (* 1954 ; † October 12, 1984 ), referred to in English as Briley Brothers or Briley Gang , committed an extensive series of murders in the Richmond area , Virginia , in 1979 . In 1984 two of the brothers hit the headlines again when they and four other inmates succeeded in the largest escape from death row in the United States to date.
Crime series
The three brothers grew up in a stable family environment in northeast Richmond, but came into conflict with the law early on. Linwood was admitted to a reformatory at the age of 16 after shooting his elderly neighbor, Orline Christian, for no apparent reason in 1971. His brother James was sent to a juvenile detention center around the same age after shooting a police officer during a car chase.
In 1979 they carried out a series of violent assaults on residents of Richmond and neighboring Henrico County for around eight months . They were partially supported by their friend and accomplice Duncan Meekins, which is why they were later not only referred to as brothers , but also as a gang . They committed their first robbery and murder together on March 21, when they mistreated and shot the technician Michael McDuffie in his suburban home. On April 9, 1979, they followed 76-year-old Mary Gowen from her job across town to her apartment, where they robbed, raped and shot the woman.
On July 4, 1979, they killed 17-year-old Christopher Philips, whom Linwood had suspected of attempting to break into his vehicle. Philips had been dragged into a back yard, wrestled to the ground, and beaten to death with a cement block. On September 14, they were roaming south Richmond in search of a victim when they spotted DJ John Gallaher outside a nightclub. The gang overpowered Gallaher, locked him in the trunk of his own Lincoln Continental, and drove him to Mayo Island on the James River . At the site of a disused paper mill, Gallaher was finally taken out of the trunk, shot and thrown into the river. His body was discovered two days later.
On September 30, 1979, they followed the 62-year-old nurse Mary Wilfong to her apartment in Richmond, where they beat the woman in front of the front door with a baseball bat and then robbed her. As early as October 5, 1979, they broke into another apartment just two blocks from their house, where they murdered 79-year-old Blanche Page and her 59-year-old tenant Charles Garner with several stabbing weapons, in order to subsequently retrieve their valuables to get.
They committed their last crime on October 19, 1979 in the house of a friend of theirs who had unsuspectingly opened the door for them when they knocked. In the house they overpowered neighbor Harvey Wilkerson, his 23-year-old partner Judy Barton and their five-year-old son Harvey. After searching the entire house for valuables and raping Judy Barton in the kitchen, they covered their shackled victims with sheets and shot them. Since Judy was months pregnant and the child died from killing her mother, some sources put the Briley brothers' death toll at 12.
Arrest and conviction
After the family of three were found, all three brothers and Duncan Meekins were arrested on October 22, 1979. A police patrol had seen gunshots on the day of the act and seen the Brileys run away from the house, and Linwood was still wearing a ring that belonged to murder victim John Gallaher. Duncan Meekins was won by the investigators as a key witness and testified extensively about the crimes. He was spared the death penalty as well as his youngest brother Anthony, who was not seen as a driving force in the crimes. He finally received a life sentence with the prospect of parole after 15 years at the earliest. James and Linwood Briley were sentenced to death and also received multiple life sentences with no prospect of early release or pardon. You were transferred to death row at the Mecklenburg Correctional Center near Boydton in early 1980 . There they built up a flourishing drug and arms trade by threatening, intimidating or bribing fellow inmates and guards alike. Until they escaped, they were on the second floor of the C wing of Building 1, with around 24 other prisoners sentenced to death.
Escape from death row
On Thursday, May 31, 1984, the death row inmates were led back from their courtyard walk to the two common rooms. The two-time robbery-murderer Earl Clanton junior was able to break into the unlocked washroom of the guards without being noticed. When James Briley asked the supervisor in the control room to bring him a book from the other lounge, he left the control room without locking the door. Clanton then left the washroom and entered the control room, from where he began to open the cells.
The death row inmates then took the outnumbered guards, who were only equipped with electric batons, hostage and were able to bring a total of 13 prison workers under their control within around 90 minutes. They then forced the guard in command, under the pretext of an unplanned changing of the guard, to call a guard into the control room on the first floor, from which the main gates of the building are controlled. The guard then opened the control room for an inmate disguised as a guard, was overwhelmed and had to explain the function of the controls to the inmate. The two Briley brothers, Earl Clanton junior, the robbery murderer Derick Lynn Peterson, the two-time robbery murderer Willie Leroy Jones and the two-time murderer Lem Davis Tuggle put on the uniforms of the overseers, put on helmets that are used to counter insurgency and made a dummy bomb, which they sprayed with a fire extinguisher.
The six prisoners drove to the main gate in a van requested by the detained security officer. The guards there were not trained in how to deal with a possible bombing and, as their supposed colleagues demanded, willingly opened the gates to freedom. They then drove south and separated in Warrenton , North Carolina .
Another arrest and execution
The search for the prisoners began around 45 minutes after they had escaped and turned into one of the largest manhunters in US history. Police agencies from four states participated in the search, supported by the alarmed National Guard of the states of Virginia and North Carolina. Even in the nearby Canadian province of Quebec , police and army units have been alerted to prevent the fugitives from crossing the border. It was the largest death row breakout in United States history to date.
Earl Clanton Jr. and Derick Lynn Peterson were finally caught again the next day in a coin laundry in Warrenton, Willie Leroy Jones turned himself in to the police in Jay , Vermont on June 8 , while Lem Davis Tuggle at a roadblock in Stamford in the same day Vermont was captured. The two Briley brothers could not be arrested again until June 19 by the FBI in a car repair shop in Philadelphia .
Linwood Briley was already executed on October 12, 1984, and finally his brother James on April 18, 1985 with the electric chair . Earl Clanton was executed on April 14, 1988, Derick Peterson on August 22, 1991, Willie Jones on September 15, 1992, and Lem Tuggle on December 12, 1996.
Anthony Briley is still serving life in a Virginia detention center. His last request for release was denied in November 2011. The reason given by the parole board was Anthony Briley's violent past and the fact that he was still in danger to the general public.
See also