Mr. Artis later raped and strangled an 18-year-old woman while the brothers were awaiting trial. He was convicted of the crime, and he was eventually investigated in the Buie case, but Joe Freeman Britt, the local lawyer at the time, never told lawyers.
Abrams asked for no clues in the Buie case, which was the first murder in Red Springs in four years. A white schoolgirl told police that Mr. McCollum and Mr. Brown, who is black, was responsible and said she suspected them because they acted strangely.
She later withdrew, but the accusation led to a five-hour interrogation late at night in which Mr. Allen and Mr. Snead forces Mr. McCollum to confess, Mr. Abrams said.
Investigators are shouting at Mr. McCollum, who was 19 at the time, but had the mental capacity of a 9-year-old. Said Mr. Abrams.
That night at midnight, Mr. McCollum’s mother went to the police station and Mr. Brown, then 15, took and wondered why her son did not come home. But when she stepped outside, Mr. Abrams said, police said. Brown took in to interview him as well.
A jury has sentenced both to be executed. After the high court ordered a separate hearing, Mr. McCollum returned to the death penalty and becomes Mr. Brown sentenced to life in prison.
A lawyer who Mr. Allen and the estate of Snead, who died in 2019, did not respond to a request for comment. In his testimony last week, Mr. Allen denies shouting, using racist insults or forcing the teens to confess to the crime.
