They found that Vincent had put 5,400 miles on the rental car odometer, which supported their theory that he made a round-trip drive from Ohio to California in time to kill his family. Investigators constructed a timeline of Vincent’s movements. Melvin told officials that he didn’t see Vincent between July 5 and 8.
Flight records confirmed that Vincent flew from Los Angeles to Ohio on July 2. Surveillance tapes from stores where purchases were made showed that Melvin Brothers had actually used the credit cards. Melvin initially denied using the cards, but reluctantly admitted that Vincent told him what to buy – and when to go shopping.Īfter punching a hole in part of Vincent’s alibi, investigators looked more closely at his out-of-town travel. While marital discord could be a murder motive, officials grappled to understand why a father would kill his children.Īs investigators further scrutinized Brothers' credit card activity on July 6, cracks in the alibi emerged. Because of infidelity and other issues there was “bad blood” between them, witnesses said. His cell phone was pinging in Ohio during the same period.Īs investigators dug deeper they found that Joanie and Brothers were estranged at the time of the murders. Detectives found Brothers' credit cards were used in Columbus on Sunday, July 6, the day of the murders. However, investigators told “Family Massacre,” Brothers was still considered a person of interest until his alibi checked out.Īnd that alibi initially appeared to be secure. The interview was going nowhere, so it was concluded and Brothers was released. “When I started to speak with him, he started to scream,” said Jeff Watts, a detective in Bakersfield, California. Brothers said he had come to his mother’s home directly from visiting his brother, Melvin, in Ohio.
He had been informed of the murders and was waiting for the detectives at a police station. They flew to North Carolina to interview Brothers on the evening of July 8. He was in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, where his mother lived. Joanie, meanwhile, was a basketball official and a devout church-goer.ĭetectives focused on individuals closest to the victims, including Joanie’s husband, Vincent Brothers, then 41, a high school vice principal. She owned a revolver for protection that was found near her body. Ernestine was a civil rights advocate who had felt the backlash of her activism. Investigators dug into the victims’ backgrounds. Detectives considered that the crime scene had been staged.Īutopsies showed that the murders had taken place after 1p.m.
DATELINE MILES FROM NOWHERE TV
The Harper home appeared to have been ransacked, but valuables in plain sight including cash, credit cards, and a TV set were not taken. “Five people, three generations being wiped out in one moment … It was like nothing else I'd dealt with.” “That’s a lot of hate,” said Donald Krueger, a detective in Bakersfield, California. The caller had gone to the home of Joanie Harper, 39, who two days earlier failed to show up for church.ĭetectives determined that Joanie, her children, Marques, 4, Lyndsey, 23 months, and Marshall, 6 weeks, and her mother, Ernestine, 70, had been shot to death. “She’s laying on the bed, dead,” the caller is heard saying in a recording obtained by “Family Massacre,” airing Fridays at 9/8c on Oxygen. On July 8, 2003, officers responded to a frantic 911. Five members of a family, including an infant, were brutally gunned down in their home - and the culprit was a loved one. Years ago, a quintuple homicide sent shockwaves through Bakersfield, California.
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