Where Is Tommy Smith’s Killer from Peoria?
(“A Wrong Foot,” Forensic Files)
Dangerous criminals seem to get out of prison too often and too early — Forensic Files killers Ron Gillette and Caleb Hughes come to mind, for example.
So a check on the incarceration status of knife-wielding intruder Gene A. Brown Jr. seems in order.
Like the others, he’s just the kind of bad guy we all fear will slip through the justice system’s fingers.
Impromptu trip. “A Wrong Foot” tells the story of the Illinois home invasion waged by Brown, which left one dead and put two others in an intensive care unit.
So, let’s get started on a recap of the episode along with additional information drawn from internet research. This will be a quick one (for me, that means 1,000 words) because the Peoria Journal Star is the only newspaper that carried detailed accounts of the case:
On July 19, 1991, Gene A. Brown Jr., a married dad out on parole for a burglary conviction, grabbed a kitchen knife, removed his shoes, put socks on his hands, and entered his next-door neighbors’ house through an open window at around 3 a.m.
Chilling with pals. He probably didn’t realize that his fellow Peoria residents Kasey Johnson, 17, and roommate Jennifer Logsdon, 19, weren’t alone.
Jennifer’s fiancé, Richard T. “Tommy” Smith, 20, was visiting.
The two women and Tommy had been lounging around in what looks like everybody’s first post-school rental, with ugly wall-to-wall carpeting and a mattress on the floor doubling as a couch. The three watched a movie together and fell asleep in front of the TV.
Brown would later tell police that he had just enjoyed a rock of crack cocaine and went over to Logsdon’s house with the intent of stealing money to buy more drugs.
Went down fighting. He used his knife to attack Tommy Smith, who fought back with his bare hands and attempted to restrain him in a chair. That gave Kasey Johnson an opportunity to run into a bedroom and call 911.
When Tommy fell to the floor from loss of blood, Brown went after Kasey and Jennifer, slitting both their throats. He left them for dead and stole Kasey’s purse on the way out.
Neither woman was sexually assaulted, and emergency services arrived quickly enough to save their lives. They recovered from their wounds in Saint Francis Medical Center.
Tommy died at the scene.
Zero cleanup effort. Although it was too dark inside the house for the women to identify the killer — despite that he was their next-door neighbor — testing confirmed that a footprint at the scene matched Brown’s.
He hadn’t made much of a cover-up effort at home. Police found a trove of incriminating blood and weapon evidence at Brown’s house.
Brown didn’t even bother to shower. He had blood from all three victims in his hair.
After a horror story like that, let’s get right to the welcome news: Gene A. Brown Jr. is still in prison and has virtually no chance of getting out on two feet.
Remorse spoken. After authorities arrested Brown and set his bail at $1 million, the 27-year-old agreed to a plea deal.
Judge Robert Manning gave Brown a sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole for murder, two 30-year sentences for the attempted murders, and 15 years for residential theft.
He apologized for killing Tommy Smith. “I wish I could take my own life and give it to that young man,” Brown said in court, the Peoria Journal Star reported. “If I had known drugs could do that to me, I would have never got involved.”
Hidden agenda? Judge Robert Manning’s words which, like Brown’s, referenced drugs, may have been less relevant than they seemed: “If there is anything to be gained from these senseless acts, it is the message to those who play the dangerous game of drugs to stop that game,” the judge said.
Drugs surely played a role in the ferocity of the attack, but did Brown really go next door with the primary intent of stealing money for crack cocaine?
Murderous intent. A rental unit occupied by two struggling teenagers seems an unlikely target for someone hoping to nab a pile of cash.
Plus, in his shoeless state, where was he going to buy drugs?
It seems more likely that, as Forensic Files contended, he went next door with sexual assault and murder on his agenda. He covered his hands to prevent fingerprint evidence, but he didn’t worry about his face being ID’ed — the victim or victims would be dead.
Fortunately, Tommy Smith’s presence at the apartment prevented any rape plans that Brown had in store.
Safely tucked away. The most recent mention of Brown in the media was in a 2016 obituary for his father, Gene Autry “Sonny” Brown Sr., a U.S. Air Force veteran who worked at Caterpillar.
It gives Gene Jr.’s locale as Menard — the same Illinois prison that houses another Forensic Files killer who’s never getting out, Mark Winger.
But today, the 6-foot-tall 220-pound Brown is locked up in the Western Illinois Correctional Center, according to state records.
Mother’s illness. No recent information came up about Jennifer Logsdon Updike, who had married and had kids by the time Forensic Files produced the episode, or Kasey Johnson.
Tommy Smith’s sweet-natured mother, Cornelia “Connie” Smith, who viewers will remember from her appearance on Forensic Files, died of multiple system atrophy at the age of 65 in 2014, leaving a husband and two daughters.
She seemed to take comfort in knowing that her son fought back instead of running away, and saved two women’s lives.
That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. —RR
Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube or Amazon Prime
