Opinion ID: 2756443
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The murder of Dorothy Brown

Text: At approximately 2:45 p.m. on December 17, 1999, 76-year-old Dorothy Brown was found murdered in her apartment in the LaRonde apartment complex in Cleveland, Ohio. Brown had suffered blunt-trauma injuries to the head. She was found partially clothed, and foreign human pubic hairs were later collected from her mouth. Sarah Harris, a fellow LaRonde resident, discovered Brown’s body when she went to check on Brown that afternoon. The LaRonde apartment complex, owned and managed by the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA), primarily serves elderly and disabled residents. Ayers, although neither elderly nor disabled, was a resident of the complex due to his employment by CMHA to provide security as a special police officer. No. 13-3413 Ayers v. City of Cleveland, et al. Page 3 When the investigating officers arrived at the scene of the murder, Ayers was observed outside of Brown’s apartment on the fifth floor of the complex. Ayers recounted for the officers the details of his interactions with Brown and Harris that had occurred approximately 13 hours earlier. He said that he and Harris had gone to Brown’s apartment to help Brown off of the floor, where she had fallen and had been unable to get up. Both Ayers and Harris later reported that Brown had called them for help.