Ramona Lynn Brown was born on August 23, 1980, to Aubrey and Johnnie Mae Brown, one of 11 children. Her siblings include five brothers and five sisters.
The Brown family resided at 2631 Memorial Park Drive in New Orleans, Louisiana.
In the spring of 1984, New Orleans was gearing up for the annual Mardi Gras festival on March 6. Early that morning, the lives of the Brown family changed forever.
The night before, March 5, 1984, Johnnie Mae put Ramona, 3, to bed alone in the girls’ bedroom and Ramona’s brothers, Aubrey Jr., 4, and Kevin, 2, on the living room sofa.
Around 3 a.m., a devastating and fatal fire broke out in the Brown home.
“I was woken by a couple of loud bangs and I thought, ‘Whoa, is somebody shooting or something?” said Gary Olson, who was visiting from out of town for Mardi Gras and staying next door to the Browns. “I got up to look out the window, and when I looked out the window I noticed the house next to us was on fire. I went to open the front door and the lady from next door was hollering and crying, ‘I need help, I need help, my babies are inside.'” (WKMG ClickOrlando, 2017)
Pamela Nickerson, one of Ramona’s eldest siblings, was on the telephone when the fire broke out and saw flames shooting out of the home. Oddly, she never heard the loud bangs or smelled anything unusual.
Aubrey started throwing buckets of water at the fire, but it was too intense. Meanwhile, Johnnie Mae managed to get seven of their children safely out of the home. She could hear Aubrey Jr. and Kevin hollering for her and her husband, but Johnnie Mae could not get to her boys because of the raging fire.
Firefighters arrived and put out the flames within 45 minutes. Afterward, they found the bodies of the two little boys in the rubble. Aubrey Jr. was hugging Kevin.
As firefighters searched through the charred house, they never found Ramona. Investigators initially thought the toddler also perished in the fire. They discovered a third set of remains, which later proved to belong to an animal.
Retired fire investigator Harry Mendoza, who worked on Ramona’s case in 1984, told WKMG ClickOrlando in 2017: “It would have took 1,800 to 2,800 degrees for two and a half hours to consume a body and that even after a two and a half hour exposure to fire, there would still be bone fragments, bones that would be identifiable as human.”
Fire investigators determined the fire started in the bedroom where Ramona had been sleeping.
Authorities conducted four searches of the Brown home and surrounding area but found no trace of Ramona. They ultimately theorized that Ramona did not die in the fire and was not even in the house when it started. While they could not rule out arson, they speculated the fire resulted from a malfunctioning gas heater. However, Johnnie Mae said the heater was in the bathroom two doors down from where Ramona had been sleeping in the bedroom. (Good, 2004)
Strange Phone Call
A few days after the fire, Ramona’s grandmother, Dorothy Nickerson, received a strange telephone call.
“Hello,” answered Dorothy. The voice on the other end said, “Ma!”
“Who is this?” asked Dorothy.
“Al.”
“Where are you, Al?” Before Dorothy received an answer, the line went dead. She said someone on the other end took the phone from the caller who she believed was Ramona.
“Wasn’t too many people called her Al. But everybody around the house called her Al. Never called her by her name,” said Dorothy.
Brave Witness Comes Forward
Ramona’s older sister, Simona Brown, was six years old in 1984. In 2018, one of her brothers encouraged her to tell the police what she witnessed on the night of the fire.
“A bronze-looking old Cadillac just pulled up. Everybody was helping because that’s what we do in this neighborhood. We help each other,” said Simona. “An old black man, old white lady. They was like, ‘We’ll watch her for y’all.’ So, I was like, ‘OK. cool.’ We just thought they was being helpful and friendly. After that, we haven’t seen my little sister since.”
Simona described the Cadillac as having wings on the back. She said the black male had short hair, and the white female had long white hair. Both were older, and each had a thin build. (Daborowski, 2024)
With the chaos of the fire, no one noticed the Cadillac drive away, likely with Ramona inside. Simona told her mother about the couple the next day but did not tell the police then.
Police reopened the case after Simona came forward and filed a missing persons report on Ramona. Authorities theorized Ramona had not been inside the Brown home during the fire and that someone had abducted her.
Ramona remains missing today. Her family believes she is still alive. She would be 44 years old.
Aftermath
Believing their missing daughter was still alive, the Browns rebuilt their home and continued to live there should Ramona ever return home.
Sadly, Johnnie Mae was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer and died in 2021 at age 67. Aubrey still resides in the house. He is now 72.
TCD’s Thoughts
This case reminds me of the Ricky Jean Bryant case in 1949. I covered that one here. A fire broke out in the Bryant home, and little Ricky Jean vanished, last seen with a mysterious blonde woman.
A malfunctioning gas heater didn’t cause the fire because the fire started in Ramona’s room. The biracial couple obviously stole Ramona and might have started the blaze as a distraction. That means they either knew the Brown family or had stalked them after seeing Ramona out and about with her relatives. This was more than just a destructive house fire. It was a planned abduction.
Gary Olson heard a couple of loud bangs that he thought were gunfire. However, Pamela said she never heard or smelled anything unusual. How did she not hear what Gary heard? He was next door, and she was inside the home.
Sources
Davorowski, Karen. “After the Fire: The Ramona Brown Mystery.” National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, March 6, 2024. https://www.missingkids.org/blog/2024/after-the-fire-ramona-brown-mystery
Good, Meaghan. “Ramona Lynn Brown.” The Charley Project, October 12, 2004. https://charleyproject.org/case/ramona-lynn-brown
“Searching for Ramona Brown.” WKMG ClickOrlando, May 19, 2017. https://www.clickorlando.com/news/2017/05/19/searching-for-ramona-brown/