Coin dealer slain in his home

Friday, December 18, 2009

(Updated Saturday, December 19 - 5:16 am)

By Ryan Seals
Staff Writer

Accompanying Photos

Special to the News & Record (News & Record)

Photo Caption: Charles Herman Brown Sr.

MCLEANSVILLE — While many people are struggling to make it financially this holiday season, friends say 76-year-old Charles Herman Brown wanted to open his wallet and help a family in need.

He had earned a little extra money last week and wanted to pay it forward this Christmas, said the Rev. Dennis Tabor of Stevens Memorial Baptist Church, recalling his last conversation with Brown on Sunday.

“He wanted to help. He had some extra money ... and asked if anyone in the church needed some money or help,” Tabor said. “He was a giver of himself and means.”

Brown was found dead Wednesday night after a break-in at his McLeansville home. His death has been ruled a homicide, said Maj. Tom Sheppard of the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office.

Detectives believe Brown was killed in a robbery. They noted signs of forced entry at 4922 Streamside Drive. Brown is estimated to have been dead inside the house, where he lived alone, for about a day.

Sheppard said investigators are working with Brown’s family to determine what was stolen. Neighbors and church members said Brown used his home to buy, sell and trade rare coins.

An autopsy was completed Thursday, but Sheppard said the N.C. Medical Examiner’s Office wants to conduct more tests before declaring a cause of death.

As of Thursday afternoon, investigators said they had little to go on, with no suspects and no witnesses.

When members of his church were unable to reach Brown by phone, two of them checked on him about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.

They found his door kicked in and Brown tied up and lying on the floor in his office. The room had been ransacked, and the door of a safe, where Brown kept rare coins, was open.

“It looked like it had been rambled through, and there may have been a scuffle,” said Bill Hefner, one of the men who went to check on Brown.

“We felt that he had been in his office working and checking out his old coins and someone caught him unaware. If the safe had been locked, he probably wouldn’t have unlocked it — even if they had shot him.”

Hefner, who said he had known Brown for 10 years, said the man would often have people over to his home to buy, trade and sell rare coins.

“But he often said more than he should about what he had, and I don’t believe that was good for him,” Hefner said.

“He didn’t want you taking anything from him, but he would give you whatever he had if you were in need.”

A sign of Brown’s generosity now sits at the church, Tabor said. He donated a baby grand piano to the congregation this year in memory of his wife, Judy.

“He did a lot of things for a lot of people that many didn’t know about,”  Tabor said.

Brown is survived by a daughter and son, Hefner said. Attempts to reach them were unsuccessful Thursday.
 

Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7077 or ryan.seals@news-record.com