A Colorado man serving a life sentence on a murder conviction has claimed responsibility for up to 48 slayings throughout the United States, the sheriff's office said.
Robert Charles Browne, 53, told authorities the slayings occurred from 1970 until his arrest in 1995 in the death of 13 year old girl in Colorado, the sheriff's department said in a news release on Thursday.
The investigation was first reported on the Web site of The Gazette of Colorado Springs. The newspaper said authorities have linked Browne to 19 of the slayings, in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Washington and South Korea.
Sheriff Terry Maketa told the newspaper he believes Browne's claims of up to 48 slayings are credible.
An El Paso County Sheriff's Department spokesman said that he had no immediate comment.
Browne pleaded guilty in May 1995 to kidnapping and murder charges in the 1991 death of Heather Dawn Church, 13, of Black Forest, a small town 19 kilometers north of Colorado Springs. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
On Thursday, he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the 1987 death of Rocio Sperry, a girl who was about 15 at the time, the sheriff's department said. The sheriff's department statement said the charge in Sperry's death came "as a result of communications initiated by Browne in 2002."
The statement said that since then, Browne has given investigators information on other slayings across the country.
{{/usCountry}}The statement said that since then, Browne has given investigators information on other slayings across the country.
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