What happened to Billy Ray Brown? Details explored following Snapped on Oxygen

Billy Ray Brown and Ronnie McDowell were found dead inside a trailer located at 1280 Olive Drive in Green Sea, near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. On June 21, 2000, a 911 call was made to the Horry County Police just before 11 pm for an emergency. When the cops reached the location, they saw Johnny Nealy with his daughter standing outside a trailer.

Johnny told the cops that two men had broken into the trailer. When they went inside, they found a very gruesome scene where both Billie and Ronnie were brutally butchered. The Horry Co. Police started a search behind all the events that led to these gruesome murders and who committed them.

Season 32, episode 5 of Snapped documents the entire case behind the murder of Billy Ray Brown and Ronnie McDowell. The episode is titled Connie Brown, which first aired on Oxygen in March 2023. The episode reaired on August 27, 2024, on the same channel. In this article, we will try to delve deep into what happened to Billy Ray Brown.

What is the story of Connie and Billy Ray Brown?

Connie and Billy married in spite of their large age gap (Image via Unsplash/Jonathan Cooper)

Billy Ray Brown was the coworker of Johnny Healy, and he first met Johnny's daughter Connie in the spring of 1991. Billy was 38 years old at that time, while Connie was a 16-year-old teenager. Despite the age difference between them, the two soon got along and ended up marrying each other.

Connie had brothers named Jamie Heath and Andy Nealy. Jamie and Connie had to stay in foster care for two years because their parents suffered from heavy alcoholism. Connie desperately wanted to get away from her parents, so she soon moved away from the house and started a life with Billy.

It was during 1999 that Jamie and Connie's parents finally separated and Johnny began sharing a space in Billy Ray Brown's property. He began staying in a trailer near his daughter and began watching over as Connie's family grew. Billy and Connie had three children, named Billy Ray Jr., Tanner, and Matthew.

What happened to Billy Ray Brown?

The police found the gruesome crime scene (Image via Unsplash/Martin Podsiad)

Billy and Connie were sharing a family and raising the kids, and for some time, Connie's sibling Jamie felt that his sister's life had turned "happy." But things took a turn for the worse on June 21, 2000, when two visitors knocked on the back door of the Brown family.

George Debusk, the Horry Co. Senior Assistant Solicitor was at the crime scene. He described that right when they entered through the door, they saw blood splattered everywhere. The police found the dead body of Billy Ray Brown on the floor, near the bed, submerged in a pool of blood. Ronnie McDowell's body was found right down the hallway bathroom.

The bodies were heavily injured (Image via Unsplash/ Max Muselmann)

Jamie Debari, the Police Lieutenant of Horry Co. said there were visible signs of brutal violence on the dead bodies. The police found out that both of the men were repeatedly stabbed and beaten with a stick to death, with their throats slit wide open. Connie explained that Billy and Ronnie were good friends, who came to hang out at the house.

As usual, she went to bed with the kids but was suddenly woken up around 10:30 pm with a large bang. Connie reported to the police that she saw two people in dark clothes and covered faces. They suddenly started attacking, and Connie had no other option but to run to her father with the children.

The police noticed a big clue when Connie confessed that she identified one of the attackers to be her other sibling, Andy Nealy. The police soon understood that the case was related to a family feud. What was more suspicious was that Connie had earlier informed that Billy and Andy were really good friends. The police soon realized the story may not be entirely true.

Billy was chased down before murdering (Image via Pexels/cottonbro studio)

Investigators tracked down Andy's car parked on the border of North Carolina, at the house of Jodi Washington, who was the new partner of Melba Nealy, the mother of Andy and Connie.

They also found Renee Young, who was Connie's other sister. Upon investigation, Melba told the cops that Connie recently opened up to Melba and her sister, and said she had been undergoing physical violence from Billy Ray Brown. He was not just beating her, but also the children, upon which her siblings Andy and Renee agreed to give Billy a good lesson.

This is when the entire murder plan began to uncover, from the statements of Melba. She said that she, Renee, Andy, and Melba's current partner, Jodis, had gone up to Billy Ray Brown's house. When Billy came out of the door, Andy started hitting him, and right then, Jodis slit his throat open. Ronnie was on the couch at that time, but when he went near the door, unfortunately, he witnessed the entire crime scene.

Billy had a history of physical violence towards his family (Image via Unsplash/engin akyurt)

The murderers didn't have any other option but to erase the only evidence. Ronnie tried to run away but was chased and caught. Andy and Jodis beat him up and then stabbed him until he was dead. Billy Ray Brown, even after his throat was partly slit, was alive, and tried to drag himself to the bedroom where he had kept the gun, but was stabbed and killed.

Though Andy and Melba had accepted being involved in the crime, Jodis and Renee were still on the run. Eventually, the police caught Renee, and Jodis also turned himself in. Renee opened up that not just Andy and Jodis but all four of them went there to kill Billy Ray Brown; Ronnie was just an obstacle.

She also said that Connie was equally involved in the murder; she was the one who had intended to kill her husband and asked them to kill Billy. Connie was also the one who opened the door and asked Billy to come out in the first place.

Renee took a plea deal and was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment, while Melba was sentenced to 35 years at Leath Correctional Institute in South Carolina. For the murder of Billy and Ronnie, Andy was sentenced to lifetime imprisonment without any parole at McCormick Correctional Institute in South Carolina, and a jury found Jodis not guilty.

Connie kept on defending herself to be innocent until September 2002, when she was found guilty of being involved in two murders. She was set for lifetime imprisonment without any chance of parole at the same correctional facility where her mother and sister were sent. The murder of Billy Ray Brown remains one of the most ruthless murders.

Edited by Meenakshi Ajith