Who Killed Betty Gail Brown?: Murder, Mistrial, and Mystery

by Robert G. Lawson

On October 26, 1961, after an evening of studying with friends on the campus of Transylvania University, nineteen-year-old student Betty Gail Brown got into her car around midnight—presumably headed for home. But she would never arrive. Three hours later, Brown was found dead in a driveway near the center of campus, strangled to death with her own brassiere. Kentuckians from across the state became engrossed in the proceedings as lead after lead went nowhere. Four years later, the police investigation completely stalled.

In 1965, a drifter named Alex Arnold Jr. confessed to the killing while in jail on other charges in Oregon. Arnold was brought to Lexington, indicted for the murder of Betty Gail Brown, and put on trial, where he entered a plea of not guilty. Robert G. Lawson was a young attorney at a local firm when a senior member asked him to help defend Arnold, and he offers a meticulous record of the case in Who Killed Betty Gail Brown? During the trial, the courtroom was packed daily, but witnesses failed to produce any concrete evidence. Arnold was an alcoholic whose memory was unreliable, and his confused, inconsistent answers to questions about the night of the homicide did not add up.

Since the trial, new leads have come and gone, but Betty Gail Brown's murder remains unsolved. A written transcript of the court proceedings does not exist; and thus Lawson, drawing upon police and court records, newspaper articles, personal files, and his own notes, provides an invaluable record of one of Kentucky's most famous cold cases.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

208 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 24, 2017

Reviews

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 3 out of 5]

tragedy happens to an all-American girl
Years down the road a man arrested for something completely off topic admits committing her murder.
But it’s one of those “ guy couldn’t possibly have done it the innocent saying he’s guilty” situations

[Jewell Boyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being a Transylvania student and a sorority sister to the late Betty Gail Brown, I would've read this book from start to finish regardless of how interesting it was. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that the book read like a gripping mystery that left me with more questions than answers, and allowed me to create my own theory about who may have murdered Betty. If you're a Transy student, a Phi Mu sister, a Lexingtonian, or just someone who loves a good cold case, I would recommend this book!!

P.S. Shoutout to Betty, she's been haunting our sorority's chapter room for over 50 years now and is kind of creepy but mostly friendly.

[Tanzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to read this because the murder of Betty Gail Brown is the oldest unsolved murder in my hometown and it happened on the campus of my alma mater, and as such, I've always been interested in the story and theories about what actually occurred that night. This book, however, is mostly about the trial of Alex Arnold, a trial that started with his confession, later recanted, and ending in a mistrial for lack of any concrete evidence that he'd committed the crime.

Lawson's coverage of the trial and events leading up to it is thorough, despite the fact that no court proceedings exist and he reconstructed the events from his own notes and his memory as a member of the defense team. His writing style is academic, and the telling isn't as gripping as other true crime I've read.

If you're interested in this case this book will definitely give you details, but if, like me, you'd like to see a book that covers theories and motives besides Alex Arnold, this isn't going to scratch that itch.

[Amy H. Sturgis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sober and sane (as opposed to sensationalized) account of a terrible crime. I was left with questions - who wouldn't be? - but I appreciate the author's unwillingness to jump to conclusions. I am interested in campus-related crimes in general, and I am familiar with Transylvania and Lexington in particular, so I found this to be a fascinating and absorbing read.

[Lisa Day · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish Betty Gail Brown’s senseless murder on her college campus in 1962 could be anomalous, but her death places her alongside many other college women in Kentucky. This violence against women is rampant around the world, but Kentucky’s mostly rural population somehow makes such crimes even more shocking. Surely it can’t happen here! Yes, it can.

What I appreciate is Lawson’s pursuit to bring light to Brown’s murder. I’d never heard of her, and I’ve lived in central Kentucky since 2001 and grew up only about 125 miles from Lexington. Brown’s life and the tragic way she passed needed to be shared with the public.

Lawson could have greatly benefited from a writing workshop through a local university or the Carnegie Center in Lexington. Such a community could have smoothed out the rough edges of the book, including its stilted diction (“The friends ordered and consumed some food, but Betty Gail obtained nothing but a soft drink”), its clunky dialogue (putting a person’s name with a colon before long paraphrases of the conversation), sexism (Brown’s purse “contained everything one would expect to find in a young woman’s purse,” then listing stereotypically gendered products), transphobia (the unnecessarily long passage about a trans woman, describing her as “the bulky woman was actually a young man in his twenties dressed to look like a woman,” and using a derisive tone about her), and other issues mostly related to clarity and diction. With a publication date of 2017, the instances of sexism and transphobia were egregious, and editors should have flagged and handled these sections better. A claim of historical context is not relevant, as women were experiencing great advances in the 1960s, including in Lexington.

[Ms. Tongate, TLC Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting read for all Lexingtonians, Transylania Grads, and current Transylvania students.

Betty Gail Brown was 19 years old in 1961, a Transy sophomore, and living at home with her parents (only child). After studying with friends, Betty left campus at midnight headed home in her car just 3 miles away, but never made it. By 3a.m., she had become the victim of one of the most sensational killings ever to occur in the city of Lexington, Kentucky. Still today, no one has been convicted of this murder. Did Alex Arnold murder Betty Gail Brown, I vote yes. The question of who killed Betty Gail Brown has been a mystery for over 50 years.

Transylvania College in Lexington, Kentucky: the oldest institution of higher education in Kentucky and one of the oldest in the country, founded in 1780. It was highly respected academic institution, having graduated 2 students who became vice presidents of the US, and two who had served as justices of the Supreme Court. Transy had between 600-700 students in 1961, almost half of the women, and most students living on campus.

[Cheryl Stegall-Blevins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sixty-four years after the murder dominated the headlines little is discussed about the cold case.
As a “true crime junkie” born and raised in KY I am sad to say I had never heard of this case until a few months ago when a local FB group began discussing it. Many of the things I read there do not align with the reports of this book. I suspect that is due to faulty recollections and scarce reporting which remain accessible.
The guilt or innocence of the only arrested and tried suspect still leaves an almost perfect division of did he/didn’t he?
In similar cases I have almost always formed my opinion, not the outcome here!
The case will likely only be solved by a new witness lead, which I do doubt exists.
Given that the scene sounds to have no DNA, certainly nothing that would have been preserved in a manner to make it usable today, this will likely remain unsolved, except in public opinion.
I would still like to see @coldcase or @dateline air the story

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very interesting as I am familiar with Transy and heard many of the stories. It is factual but reads like a mystery, which I suppose it still is. Although, honestly, it seemed to me to point to one person pretty clearly between the lines.

[Judy Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved Bob Lawson as my evidence and criminal procedure professor and loved this book.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I attended college near Lexington (at Georgetown) so I had heard of this case but didn't know very much about it. What's so sad to me is that it is still unsolved.

[Rachel Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thorough and unbiased account of a mysterious case of which I wasn't aware. Questions remain for me after reading it, as Professor Lawson states in his conclusion.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intriguing

[Denise Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book most of all because it was written by the lawyer who defended Alex Arnold in 1965. Alex confessed to the murder of Betty Gail Brown in 1961 on the campus of Transylvania University in Lexington Kentucky. Most people would probably find a lot of the details of this case boring but I like the detail surrounding court cases. Most interesting is that someone might confess to a crime they did not actually commit. I find that fascinating. I can’t help wondering if Alex Arnold actually killed Betty and I don’t think anyone will ever really know. Robert Lawson did a wonderful job giving the details of this case.