Ep 10: The Briley Brothers

Detective Society

The Briley Brothers went on a killing spree, were disturbingly violent, and then led a prison break... and you've never heard of them.

Show Intro:

James Briley Sr was a hard-worker, he and his wife had had 4 sons together, and as any parent knows, young sons can be a handful. Their oldest was grown and living outside the home, but the 3 other, Linwood, James Jr, and Anthony were still teenagers.

Like most other American Boys in the 60s and 70s, the boys were full of energy and curious about the world. And their parents worked long hours to provide their boys with whatever they may need. Their house was home, not just to the family, but to a collection of pets most parents would never agree to -- boa constrictors who fed on live mice, tarantulas, piranhas and a couple of Doberman pinschers.

The Briley family may not have been rich, but the boys were so handsome, strong, and healthy. Linwood, in particular was singled out because of his kindness, but also because most people agreed that he was extremely intelligent.

Neighbors described "Lin" as a considerate boy who frequently mowed the lawns for elderly neighbors and helped friends repair their automobiles. He spent long hours with his young son and his girlfriend, the child's mother, taking them to fairs and on other family outings.

The boys seemed to have had a very happy childhood. Both Mike and I are the oldest in our families, and I think we agree, that there's nothing like being part of big family. Being surrounded by siblings who love you, who fight with you, who cry with you, who get in trouble with you, and even cover for you.

At least, that's how it seemed on the outside. The boys once told a friend that the only person in the world they feared was their father, James Sr. James Sr and their mother had separated and the boys had been forced to live exclusively with their father.

It was not until many years later that prosecutors would discover that, even though the boys claimed to be afraid of their dad, it was James Sr who slept with a padlock on his bedroom door, to keep the boys from getting to him.

In 1971, Orline Christian, a neighbor of the Briley family's had recently lost her husband. She had been hanging laundry in her yard when she collapsed. Investigators quickly assumed that the 57-year-old, who had suffered from heart problems in the past, just couldn't cope with all of the stress. Her children, though, disagreed. They knew their mother and begged the funeral director to take a second look at Orline's body.

When he looked at her clothes and body, the director found a tiny bullet wound under her armpit. From where she had been standing, investigators determined that the bullet could only have come from the Briley home across the alley.
There, the murder weapon was found and 16-year-old Linwood claimed he had shot her by accident but that "she would have died soon anyway"

After spending one year in a Juvenile facility, Linwood returned to his family, seemingly changed.
Prosecutors claim that Linwood had not changed for the better, if anything, he'd gotten worse. And for an entire year, 1979, Linwood, James Jr, and Anthony Briley would hold the City of Richmond hostage during a killing spree that was only the beginning.

In all of the time I've been making this podcast, never once have I been truly terrified by my research... until this episode.

These are the Briley Brothers.