Was David Brown brought to justice for plotting his wife's murder? Details explored ahead of Real Murders of Orange County

In March 1985, David Brown persuaded his 14-year-old daughter Cinnamon to fatally shoot his young wife, Linda. Reports mention that David, his daughter, and sister-in-law/secret lover, Patti, had been plotting the murder for months before putting it into motion. He coached the teenager to fake suicide as well as a suicide note.

Cinnamon took the fall for the shooting and was sentenced to 27 years to life in prison. She later revealed the truth and cooperated with investigators to bring down the mastermind plotter by taping their conversations during visits. David ultimately incriminated himself during those conversations and was sentenced to life without parole in 1990.

The schemes of David Brown are to be revisited in an upcoming The Real Murders of Orange County episode this Friday, July 21, 2023. The episode, titled Stolen Youth, will air on Oxygen at 9 pm ET.

Here's an official synopsis of the episode:

"A young mother is killed in her own bed in what seems to be a sudden crime of rage, but the true killer is shockingly revealed years later to be a twisted master of manipulation."

David died of natural causes in a prison hospital at 61 in 2014.

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David Brown was sentenced to life without parole five years after he masterminded his fifth wife's murder

According to CBS, David Brown masterminded the death of his fifth wife, Linda Brown, in 1985. He brainwashed his teenage daughter, Cinnamon, from a previous marriage and sister-in-law, Patti, to conspire with him for months before they put their plan in motion.

14-year-old Cinnamon Brown, under the impression that her father's life was in threat, fatally shot her stepmother Linda twice at close range sometime after midnight on March 19, 1985. The teenager then faked her own suicide. Reports state that she consumed a cocktail of pills given to her by David, who also coached her to fake a suicide note.

Authorities found Linda dead from two gunshot wounds inside the house and Cinnamon, covered in her own vomit and urine, in the doghouse. David told the police that he had left the house earlier that night because of the constant friction between his wife and daughter. The teen was sentenced to 27 years to life in prison for the crime the following year.

While Cinnamon was in prison, David Brown cashed out the multiple life insurance policies, summing up to $835,000 that he took out in Linda's name. Some of these policies were started months before her death. David then secretly married his dead wife's sister, Patti, in 1986. They even had a child a year later.

In 1988, Cinnamon Brown, still in prison, fed up with her father's luxurious lifestyle, cooperated with investigators to bring him down. She wore a wire during visitations with her father and taped conversations in which the latter incriminated himself.

A CBS report stated that Prosecutors alleged David Brown coerced Cinnamon to take the fall for the murder. The latter, who was only 14 at the time, confessed to the crime. She spent at least seven years in a California Youth Authority detention facility and was paroled in 1992.

David, who was eventually accused of plotting Linda's murder, stood trial in 1990 and was found guilty. He was then sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In 2014, he died of natural causes while being held in a protective housing unit.

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Oxygen's The Real Murders of Orange County will delve into the case this Friday at 9 pm ET.