The Field and the Shotgun--The Unsolved Killing of Odis Brown

In the quiet spaces between small-town roads and thick pine woods, the echoes of a shotgun can mean many things -- hunting, practice, maybe just the beginning of hunting season.

But on September 24, 1982, the sound of a shotgun didn't mean any of those things....it meant murder.

It's been more than 40 years since shots rang out in a patch of woods, leaving a house that was never finished, and a man gunned down with no warning -- and to this day, no real justice.

Odis Brown was 40-years-old and in the middle of building at new home on Matherville Road, just outside Quitman, Mississippi. On the evening of September 24th, he and a friend -- Robert Lindsey -- drove out to the construction site. Brown had forgotten a hacksaw and wanted to pick it up before the sun went down.

Dense woods surrounded the property. It was quiet. Ordinary.

But the moment Odis stepped out of the truck....gunfire rang out.

Lindsey said he hit the ground immediately. He heard the blasts of a shotgun but did not see the shooter. Odis never had the chance to duck for cover.

Authorities arrived quickly. What they found was shocking. Fourteen buckshot pellets had entered Brown's chest area. According to the coroner's report, twelve of those fourteen wounds were individually fatal. It was overkill. Intentional. Precise.

Six buckshots had pierced the truck. The shooter hadn't missed. They were aiming to kill. Based on the wound spread and pattern, officials estimated that the shooter had fired from about 30 to 40 yards away. That meant they were close but hidden. And they knew exactly who their target was.

Weeks passed. No arrest. No suspect. No motive.

Then on October 14th, a local farmer in the Carmichael area -- just a couple of miles from the crime scene found something at the edge of his crop row: a double-barrel shotgun.

He did the right thing and called law enforcement. The shotgun would later be confirmed by the Mississippi Crime Lab as the weapon used in the killing of Odis Brown.

On November 1st, over a month after the shooting, Tommy C. Marsh, a local man from Quitman, was arrested for the murder of Odis Brown. He was given a preliminary hearing that same night. His bond would be set at $100,000. Investigators had worked the case for nearly six weeks. They had a weapon and a suspect....but no motive.

Tommy Marsh was never linked to a motive. There was no public information about a conflict between him and Odis Brown. No financial dispute. No bad blood that anyone knew of or was willing to come forward about. And that silence would ultimately stall the entire case.

In March of 1983, the case finally went before a Clarke County Grand Jury. But instead of an indictment, they postponed. Authorities said the investigation was ongoing. That moment in March 1983 would be the last time murder charges against Tommy Marsh were formally discussed in court. He was never tried. Never convicted. No one else was ever arrested.

Odis Brown's murder remains officially unsolved and cold.

Cases like this -- they settle into the soil of a place. People stop talking. Rumors dry up. And over time, the name of the victim fades from newspapers and dinner table conversations. But someone knows something. Someone knows why Odis Brown was murdered on that quiet September evening in Clarke County.

Odis Brown's case wasn't high profile. He was a simple man. Building a new house and starting a new chapter for himself before someone ended that for him. If you have any information related to the murder of Odis Brown please contact the Clarke County Sheriff's Office.