Naman Shrestha
When longtime friends Kate Brown and Carnell Sledge were found murdered alongside the river in Fairview Park, Ohio, in the summer of 2019, the entire community was shaken to its core. Meanwhile, a wave of grief took over the victims’ loved ones. As far as the investigation was concerned, it led the authorities to explore various suspects, but none of the leads bore any fruit. In the episode titled ‘Park Bench Murders’ of Netflix’s ‘Unsolved Mysteries,’ the suspenseful and chilling double homicide is covered in detail with the help of exclusive interviews with the family and friends of the victims, alongside the officials who were part of the investigation.
Kate Brown and Carnell Sledge Were Murdered During Their Sudden Meet-up
On October 12, 1985, residents of Olmsted Falls, Ohio, Tom and Kim Brown, welcomed Katherine Colby “Kate” Brown into the world. Being Lauren’s elder sister and Alexandra’s younger sister, the middle child was raised in Olmsted Falls and completed her schooling at Olmsted Falls High School in 2004. For higher studies, she attended Bowling Green State University (BGSU) and Cleveland State University (CSU). Apart from academics, she also focused on her physical health as she regularly exercised outdoors, practiced yoga, and played volleyball.
Besides that, in her free time, she loved listening to music and spending quality time with her rescue cat, Kip. On the professional front, she landed a job at a local jewelry company called QCG Goods in Brook Park, where she worked for about seven years and treated her boss and co-workers as family. Talking of Kate’s family, she was loved and adored by everyone, primarily because of her compassion and kind personality. She was also known for her sense of humor and contagious smile among her friends, one of whom was Carnell E. “Nell” Sledge.
Born on April 3, 1979, Nell came into the life of Carl and Darlene Sledge as a little bundle of joy. Surrounded by the care of his loving family, he was raised to be a helpful and friendly person. While being raised in Bedford alongside his younger brother, Terrance Sledge, Nell shared a close bond with his grandmother, Audrey Posey, who was an essential figure in his life until the day he passed away. After completing his education, he worked as a special education specialist for Westlake City Schools for a while. Later on, he was also employed at Crescent Digital in Strongsville as an audio-visual tech. Besides that, he was also a volunteer youth consultant at Applewood Centers.
On the evening of June 4, 2019, Kate and Nell suddenly decided to meet each other at the Rocky River Reservation in Fairview Park, Ohio. While Kate was headed there from the gym, Nell was going to the decided location directly from his workplace after being done with his work. The two friends arrived in their respective cars around 5 pm and reportedly sat on a bench alongside the western bank of the Rocky River. A few minutes later, a couple of kayakers passing through the area noticed a couple of bodies near the bench where the two longtime friends had been sitting. As they approached the suspicious scene, they found Nell’s body on the ground and Kate’s body in the water.
No Arrests Have Been Made in Kate and Nell’s Murder Case Yet
Without wasting any time, the kayakers dialed 911 at 5:22 pm and reported the gruesome crime scene to the authorities. As the police arrived at the scene of the crime, they inspected the body and the surrounding area in search of clues that could lead them right to the perpetrator responsible for the double homicide. The detectives concluded that the two friends were shot to death within approximately ten minutes of the meet-up. While Kate was fatally shot once in the back of the head, Nell died of multiple gunshot wounds to the head. The authorities immediately launched an investigation and left no stone unturned.
Upon interviewing the family and friends of the two, they learned that Carnell Sledge had plans to visit his loving grandmother for dinner right after getting free from work, leaving everyone wondering what the subject of the victims’ conversation was at the time of their deaths. During the investigation, the detectives also dug deep into the past of the two victims and suspected a few of their former lovers. However, all the suspects seemed to have concrete alibis. Not long after the tragedy, the loved ones of Kate and Nell gathered in the park where they lost their lives in order to raise awareness about the case so that they could get a vital crack in the case.
One of Kate’s sisters, Lauren, even passed out flyers, yard signs, and business cards in and around the area. Even over five years after the double homicide, the killer is still on the loose, but the Sledge and Brown families remain hopeful that justice will be served. In order to encourage more people to be on the lookout for the killer, there is a $100,000 reward money for anyone who provides information that could lead to the identification of the killer/s and prosecution of everyone responsible.
Read More: Alyssa Miller: Where is Carnell Sledge’s Ex-Girlfriend Now?
