5 Chilling Details About Tommy Brown’s Murder

Tommy Brown, a Fort Worth, Texas resident was murdered inside his home on September 5, 2013. After the investigations began, the Fort Worth Police Department found enough evidence that led them to the killers pretty quickly.

Braylon Ellis and Tommy Brown’s one-time lover Cristina Rodriguez were found guilty of killing Tommy in 2017 and were sentenced to life in prison. Braylon Ellis has chances of parole after decades, Cristina was sentenced to life without parole.

Snapped: Behind Bars season 2 episode 6 titled Cristina Rodriguez will replay Tommy’s murder and will also have Cristina Rodriguez featuring in the episode, telling her side of the story. The episode will air on Oxygen on October 6, 2024, at 7 pm EST.

The synopsis for the same reads:

"Cristina Rodriguez shares her experience watching her then-lover beat her boyfriend to death, and how it felt when he testified against her; a second convicted killer reveals his side of the story with new details."

---

A horrifying crime scene and 4 other details about Tommy Brown's murder

1) Tommy Brown’s dead body was found 2 days after his death

Tommy Brown was reportedly killed on October 5, 2013, by Braylon Ellis. At first, Tommy's family was oblivious to this misery. After being unable to reach Tommy for several hours, his sister Andrea went to his house. When she walked inside, she discovered Tommy lifeless on the floor outside the bathroom.

---

2) A horrifying crime scene

The crime scene was scarring (Image by Thom Masat/Unsplash)

According to Oxygen True Crime, Andrea discovered Tommy's body on the floor. His face was covered with a bag and his hands were bound behind his back using a shoelace. Tommy's car, a TV, cards, his cellphone, and other items were missing from the house. The idea that there might be two killers originated when the investigators discovered two sets of footprints at the scene.

---

3) Tommy Brown was beaten several times with a toilet lid

Tommy was beaten many times using a porcelain toilet lid by Ellis, because of which his head was split open on a side. It was also revealed that Cristina had given Ellis the murder weapon to carry out the killing. The autopsy report of the victim's body made it clear that Tommy had died from the deprivation of oxygen and blunt force trauma.

Talking to Snapped about Tommy's condition, the authorities revealed that:

"He had bruises and contusions all over his body. Part of his head was split open. I mean, his face looked like he had gotten into a fight with Mike Tyson. It was one of the most savage beatings that I’ve ever seen.”

---

4) Cristina Rodriguez had a violent past

According to Oxygen True Crime, prosecutor Bill Vasser had revealed that Cristina Rodriguez once tricked an 82-year-old man. Rodriguez disguised as a health care worker, tied the old man down, assaulted him, and also stole from his house.

Rodriguez was later arrested for this crime in 2002 and even served a prison sentence of 10 years for the same.

---

5) Cristina Rodriguez lied to Tommy Brown and Braylon Ellis

In 2013, when Tommy and his girlfriend Moreno decided to have a baby, they chose Rodriguez as a surrogate, a few months after which Rodriguez revealed that she was pregnant with Tommy's child. However, it was later discovered that she had fabricated the entire story.

In 2013, she lied to her new boyfriend Braylon Ellis, and claimed that she was carrying Ellis’s unborn child. She also told Ellis that Tommy had abused her physically in the past, after which Ellis and Rodriguez together conspired to kill Tommy.

---

Watch Snapped: Behind Bars Season 2, episode 6 on Oxygen tonight to learn everything about this homicide.