Accused killer claims he was kidnapped

ESTO — In documents obtained by The News Herald, murder suspect Johnny Mack Sketo Calhoun gave his side of the story in the killing of Mia Brown.

It’s a doozy.

Brown went missing after leaving her job in Esto on Dec. 16. Her body was found the following Monday, Dec. 20, 2010 in her burned automobile in Geneva County, Ala. Calhoun, 33, was indicted by a grand jury for first degree murder in February.

After he was in custody but before he was officially arrested, Calhoun told investigators with the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office that he had been kidnapped by a man he didn’t know, taken to the woods because the man wanted to kill him and that he had escaped.

Calhoun said he then stayed in the woods and with a series of friends to hide from the law over three days even though he had done nothing wrong. Calhoun said he stayed away from the authorities more out of habit than anything else.

“Well, I just never had real good luck with the law assisting me much,” Calhoun told Lt. Michael Raley and Capt. Harry Hamilton during the interview.

Two car rides

According to the authorities, Mia Brown’s torturous death began when she left her job at Charlie’s Store and gave Calhoun a ride. The trip ended with Brown tied up in the trunk. The 2000 Toyota Avalon was driven to Geneva County, Ala., and set on fire. Brown was still alive when the vehicle was set on fire, authorities said.

Authorities found the car, Brown’s body and Calhoun on the same day.

Calhoun was hiding under a bed in his Esto trailer, officials said. He had cut yellow police tape to enter the trailer, which led to tampering and obstruction charges.

According to Calhoun, on the night Brown was supposed to give him a ride to his girlfriend’s house he was kidnapped from his trailer by a “really large red headed fellow” named Lance.

Talking to interrogators, Calhoun described him this way: “Like I say he ain’t a huge fellow but he was six foot or better and kind of thick built. Not real fat, but pretty thick built and had kind of a gruffy beard with a real thick goatee right there and was more red headed that orange headed, you know what I mean?”

Calhoun told investigators that he had never seen Lance before. Calhoun said he and Lance talked for a minute but when he turned to leave Lance “grabbed me around my head and around my body and, and I could smell something but I don’t know what it was. Just something stank in his hand and next time I woke up I was duct taped up, you know, thumping around in a, I guess a trunk.”

Calhoun said Lance took him out to the woods, got him out of the trunk and then started “talking crazy stuff about gone (sic) pay me back for what I’d done to him or something.” However, Lance was unable to complete his mission to kill Calhoun because he forgot something in his car, Calhoun said.

Lance told Calhoun he had to go back to his car for a minute to get something to “finish what he had to do here” and left Calhoun standing alone in the woods with duct tape around his hands, ankles, his eyes and a gag over his mouth.

“And he actually laughed and said, ‘Don’t go nowhere,’ thinking I was taped up,” Calhoun said.

While Lance was gone Calhoun was able to get the duct tape off his wrists and then, once his hands were free, he removed the duct tape from the rest of his body and “run off to the swamp.”

“As ya’ll know I can run through the swamp pretty, pretty swiftly,” Calhoun told the investigators. He added that he went in and out of friend’s homes and survived in the swamp for three days on a hamburger he got from a friend, wild mustard and “oddly enough” pine bark chips.

“If you peel that rough layer of pine bark off there’s a layer between the hard woody part and that layer that’s kind of soft and you peel it off and smoke it over a fire and it’s kind of like a taterchip,” Calhoun said.

Reasons

After he told them the story of the how he had been kidnapped, investigators asked Calhoun a series of questions about the details of his story. The most obvious question might be; Why had a man he had never seen before showed up at Calhoun’s house, tied him up and threatened to kill him?

“I don’t owe nobody no money but be honest, I meant, before I had my girlfriend I was bad to sleep with married women and stuff and I mean I didn’t always know their husbands, just to be truthful about it,” Calhoun said. He added that he was kidnapped before the time Brown was supposed to show up and his house and so he did not know if she ever came by to pick him up.

Calhoun said he knew Brown and her husband well and that she was very close to his girlfriend and she lived near the woman. Calhoun said he and Brown never had a relationship and that she was a “straight laced sweetheart.”

“She’s a beautiful girl,” Calhoun said at one point. “But no, I’ve never, I’ve never felt her feel interested in me and I’m not one to … In other words any married woman I’ve ever been with, I didn’t chase them down now. They chased me down.”

Calhoun added that he had no idea what happened to Mia Brown but suspected that something bad had happened.

“I hope she’s resting peacefully at the house with (her husband) but I’m considering the fact that ya’ll got me down here and pointing guns at me and a fellow telling me that if I wiggle any when I was getting up that he’d shoot me … I’m kind of scared what’s happened to her.”

Although he hid from the police for several days Calhoun ultimately went back to his trailer.

“I was just exasperated with the effort of staying away from ya’ll and I was ready to eat something and I meant and I figured that ya’ll would come and get me eventually and it wouldn’t be a Johnny Mack get tazed in the woods type of issue.”

At the end of the interview, Raley asked Calhoun to stop lying.

“That evidence shows that Mia is dead and you killed her and you burned that car. Alright? Now I want you to go ahead and be honest with me,” Raley said.

Calhoun said he was being honest and that he wanted his lawyer.

“That’s the case?” Raley asked.

“Yes sir,” Calhoun replied.

Then Raley asked him to stand up.

“I was hoping I could find out the reason this happened but unless you’re going to,” Raley began. Calhoun cut him off.

“What evidence do you have that …”

“I can’t talk to you because you’ve requested that lawyer,” Raley said.

“OK.”

“OK, so I need to do what I got to do,” Raley said.

Calhoun is expected to go to trial sometime next year. The state is seeking the death penalty.