Local

Police arrested man wanted after wife found dead

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charleston, S.C. police arrested a man wanted after his wife was found dead in an apartment in north Charlotte.

Joesph Green Brown, 62, was arrested without incident by the Charleston Police Department. He was found at the Holiday Inn Express at 1943 Savannah Highway in Charleston.

Brown was transported to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department headquarters Friday night and interviewed by homicide detectives. He remains in custody with the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office.

Police said the body of Mamie Caldwell Brown, 71, was found on Shadow Oaks Drive, just off W.T. Harris Boulevard near Old Statesville Road Friday morning.

The extradition process will begin immediately, but there is no current timetable on Brown's return to Mecklenburg County.

The Charleston Police Department also recovered the vehicle that Brown was driving.

Police said Joesph Brown is the victim's husband.  Brown is known to use several aliases, including Shabaka WaQlimi, police said.

Joseph "Shabaka" Brown was a former death row inmate in Florida after being convicted in 1974 for the rape and murder of the owner of a small shop in Tampa, Florida. 

In 1986, just 15 hours before Brown's scheduled execution, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit granted his petition for a writ of habeas corpus, holding that the prosecutor had knowingly allowed and exploited false testimony from the state's star witness.  The state dropped all charges on March 5, 1987, according to a Northwestern Law document.

Police said Joseph Brown was driving a 2009 Chrysler 300L with a N.C. license plate AKW-5682.  They said the car is registered to Mamie Brown and is light blue in color, has four doors and a sunroof.

Anyone with information on Brown's whereabouts is urged to all 911.

Authorities were originally sent to that address Friday after they received a call from a concerned person to check on Brown. Detectives said that when they got inside the apartment they found Brown dead with obvious signs of trauma to her body.
 
Investigators worked all night and into the morning canvassing the apartment complex and nearby ones looking for evidence that could lead to an arrest.
 
People who live in the area who spoke to Channel 9 said its nerve-wracking for something like this to happen so close to home.

"It's usually quite.  It's very quite actually, and there's never any commotion or trouble out here," said neighbor Jeremy Davie.

Channel 9 checked with CMPD, and looked at crime maps for that area and didn't see a lot of violent crime within the past year.

Channel 9 also learned that there have been two domestic violence calls at the apartment where Brown was found dead, just this week alone.  Officers didn't file a report on those calls or make any arrests

Family members were too upset to speak to Channel 9 on camera.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call 704-432-TIPS and speak directly to a Homicide Unit Detective.  Detective Grande is the lead detective assigned to the case.

In addition, you may also call Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600.