Ramona Brown: The Night the Fire Took Her

The date was March 6th, 1984, the night before Mardi Gras. Hailing from New Orleans, The Brown family, which included parents Johnnie Mae and Aubrey Brown and their 10 children, spent the evening getting ready to celebrate. Excitement was in the air in anticipation of the music, food and floats that they were going to be able to enjoy. The kids were put down to bed early that night so that they would be well-rested for the festivities the next day. And then, around 3 am when the house was quiet and still, tragedy struck. Flames ripped through the single-level family home, as Johnnie Mae attempted to get all of her babies out safely while her husband Aubrey Brown tried to throw buckets of water on the growing fire. 

As the family stood on the front lawn, watching firefighters attempt to put out the blaze, they noted that three of the children were unaccounted for. Tragically, once the flames were extinguished, the bodies of two-year-old Kevin and four-year-old Aubrey Junior would be recovered, but where was three-year-old sister Ramona? Firefighters would search the burned remains of the house looking for any signs of the toddler, but there were none. It was puzzling - but even more so when Ramona’s six-year-old sister told her parents a story almost too shocking to be true. Older sister, Simona, claimed that that Ramona had made it out of the house and she saw her get into a car with a couple who had stopped in the street to offer help. After sharing this story, Simona stopped talking for years. 

It wasn’t until 2018 when Simona reported what she had seen to the police and an active missing persons investigation began. 

Sources:

https://www.missingkids.org/blog/2024/after-the-fire-ramona-brown-mystery 

https://charleyproject.org/case/ramona-lynn-brown

https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/local/investigations/katie-moore/the-search-for-ramona-brown-the-fire/289-437896478

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iga01FJPZTQ 

https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/national/new-orleans-probes-year-old-disappearance-toddler-after-fatal-house-fire/h313VPPWjqLmkCdFw4Mk0K/

https://www.scribd.com/document/347742211/Supplemental-Police-Report-for-Ramona-Brown-investigation

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