Man convicted of killing family as a teenager seeks parole

TOPSFIELD, Mass. - A Topsfield teenager convicted of shooting his parents and sister to death is seeking parole, 40 years later.

Alfred Brown was 15 years old in 1978 when he shot to death his parents and sister one day after school.

He told the parole board that bullying from others, and his father's temper over his falling grades, led to the mass killing.

He told the parole board how he first killed his mother in the kitchen with the 22 caliber rifle his parents gave him for Christmas, then killed his sister when she tan into the room. Then he described the murder of his father in the garage.

"I raised the rifle, he saw the rifle and he said no to me. I shot at him at least twice. At first he actually ran at me. And I stepped aside and he stumbled in the doorway," said Brown.

Brown was sentenced to three concurrent life no parole sentences in 1979, but an SJC ruling outlawed life no parole for teen killers.

"Alfred Brown scares me. In my opinion, if you let him out, he will kill again," said John Doherty, the now-retired prosecutor who convicted Alfred Brown four decades ago.

Brown claims he's receiving treatment, and can control impulses, but one of his sisters, who was in Hawaii when her family was murdered, wrote a letter to the parole board, urging them not to release her brother.

The letter reads in part:

"Please take into consideration that you are not dealing with someone who killed one person, but that you are dealing with someone who killed three people; his parents and his sister. He had no remorse after the fact and felt that they deserved it. Do you want to be responsible for letting someone like that out into society?"

Click here to read the full letter.

Cox Media Group