Newspaper Clipping of the Day

In early January 1995, a number of newspapers across America described eerie dual tragedies that took place in a home located in an upper-class subdivision in Georgetown, Texas.

The first owners of the home were Cynthia and Cecil Wuthrich. They lived there without apparent incident from 1981 until October 1989, when Mrs. Wuthrich was found dead in an upstairs bedroom. She had been either strangled or smothered. Her husband was the only suspect in the case, (two months earlier, Cynthia had filed for divorce,) but police never had the chance to question him fully. He shot himself four days later. Her killing has remained officially unsolved.

Only six months after this murder-suicide, the house was sold to another couple, Laura and Cliff Brown. They knew all about the house's grim history, and professed themselves to be completely untroubled by it. In fact, they gloated over the fact that it had enabled them to buy the home at a bargain price.

The neighbors, who had been badly shaken by the shocking crime, welcomed having such a nice, normal couple and their two daughters move into the Wuthrich home. "They were good neighbors," said a woman who lived next door.

Sadly, very soon after moving into their new home, the once-happy Browns began having marital trouble. In August 1994, Laura Brown filed for divorce.

The divorce never had a chance to go through. On New Year's Eve 1994, Cliff Brown went mad. He chased his wife through several of the neighbor's yards before he managed to corner her long enough to shoot her three times through the head. He then turned the pistol on himself.

Mr. Brown died instantly, but, amazingly, his wife survived her injuries.

After this second tragedy, a neighbor was quoted as saying he hoped they would tear the home down.  A Google Earth search shows that there is still a house at that address, but I cannot say if it is the same one.  If it is, one wonders how the current tenants feel about its history.

So, what is the story with this upscale suburban home? A writer of fiction, of course, would assume either that the house was somehow "cursed" from the beginning, or that the "bad vibrations" from the Wuthrich murder/suicide impregnated the residence, influencing Cliff Brown to commit a similar act of evil.

Or was it just an awful coincidence that the first two families to live in this house--two well-liked and seemingly "ideal" couples--should both have their marriages break down in the month of August and end in violent death shortly afterward?

I just hope that whoever lives there now is unmarried.