Today’s Notorious Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
Just before lunch on December 22, 1967, Dr. John Branion, forty-one, set off in his car from the Ida Mae Scott Hospital on Chicago’s south side. Several minutes later – after passing his home – he picked up his young son from nursery school, then called on Maxine Brown, who was scheduled to lunch with the Branions that day. When Mrs. Brown explained that she was unable to keep the engagement, Branion drove to his apartment at 5054 South Woodlawn Avenue. He arrived at 11:57 a.m. to find his wife, Donna, lying on the utility room floor. She had been shot repeatedly. He immediately summoned help. A neighbor, Dr. Helen Payne, examined the stricken woman and confirmed the obvious – Donna Branion was dead.
Police recovered three expended bullets and four cartridge casings. Two of the slugs were under the body and one near it. A fourth, still in the body, was found during the autopsy. Red dots on the shell casing primers were typical of German-made Geco ammunition.
The bullets that killed Donna Branion were .38 caliber, quite common, but microscopic examination revealed distinctive rifling patterns – six lands and a right twist. The casings also had marks on the base, signifying that the weapon used to fire them had a loading indicator. Firearms expert Burt Nielsen knew of only one pistol that fulfilled all these criteria – a Walther PPK. When asked if he owned any weapons capable of firing.38 caliber ammunition, Branion, an avid gun collector, replied, “Just one,” a Hi Standard. No mention was made of a Walther. Tests conducted on the Hi Standard eliminated it as the murder weapon.
Donna Branion
Detectives were puzzled by the lack of apparent motive for the killing. There was no sign of a robbery, and Donna was not known to have any enemies. Except possibly her husband. Rumors that the Branion marriage had been less than idyllic were commonplace. In a move that seemed to confirm the rumors, just forty-eight hours after the tragedy, Branion flew to Colorado for a Christmas ski vacation. In his absence, detectives learned that Branion was a notorious womanizer whose affairs had provoked numerous violent arguments with Donna. Compounding their suspicion was his behavior at the murder scene, where he had not bothered to examine his wife’s body.
Dr. John Branion
On January 22, 1968, Detective Michael Boyle returned to Branion’s apartment with a search warrant. In a cabinet that had been locked on the day of the murder, he found a brochure for a Walther PPK, an extra clip, and a manufacturer’s target, all bearing the serial number 188274. He also found two boxes of Geco brand .38 caliber ammunition. One box was full, the other had four shells missing, the same number of shots that had killed Donna Branion.
The New York Importers of the Walther revealed that model number 188274 was shipped to a Chicago store, where records showed that it had been purchased by James Hooks, a friend of Branion’s. Hooks admitted giving the gun to Branion as a belated birthday gift almost a year before the killing.
On May 28, 1968, Branion was convicted of murder and sentenced to a twenty to thirty year jail term. Released on a cash bond of just five hundred dollars, Branion began an appeal process that lasted until 1971. With his legal options fast expiring and sensing that imprisonment was nigh, he fled the country. After an amazing jaunt across two continents, he found asylum in Uganda, occasionally acting as personal physician to Idi Amin, that country’s dictator. Upon Amin’s ouster, Branion was arrested and extradited to the United States in October 1983.
In August 1990, Branion was release from prison on health grounds. One month later, at age sixty-four, he died of a brain tumor and heart ailment.
Culled from: The Casebook of Forensic Detection