Freaky Friday Files: Park Bench Murders
- ashey9111
- Mar 21
- 7 min read
Disclaimer: This blog post discusses topics surrounding murder. Reader discretion advised.
Hi friends. Happy Friday. For this week's Freaky Friday Files, we are going to take a look at the Park Bench Murders (yep, the ones that were on Unsolved Mysteries on Netflix). I always thought that this case was quite interesting and I think it deserves more because it appears that the media and authorities didn't do that much.
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Park Bench Murders
I recently (well, that's a lie, it was a while ago now) watched the latest installment of Unsolved Mysteries on Netflix, and in the very first episode, they discuss the Park Bench Murders. I thought this was one of the better episodes of that season considering some of the other episodes were weighted in conspiracy theories about aliens and ghosts and you could kinda see the bullsh*t. However, I think that the Park Bench Murders case needs to be talked about more as it's an unsolved case and I think that both Nell and Kate deserve justice (and their families deserve answers).
FYI: These murders took place at the Rocky River Reservation, Fairview Park, Ohio, USA near Lorain Road Bridge.
The Background/Victims
Carnell Sledge (Nell) - 40 years old
Carnell "Nell" Sledge was known among his friends and family as someone with an infectious smile, always wanting to bring joy and happiness to others. Nell worked with special needs children in schools and also spent his time volunteering for a not-for-profit organisation that provided mental health care to disadvantaged children and adults in his black community.
Kate Brown - 33 years old
Kate Brown was also someone who brought joy to those around her with her friends and family describing her as someone who brought light to their lives. She loved hanging out with her friends and she was obsessed with her nieces and nephews. Kate had struggled with addiction in the past but had been sober since 2017. Since 2017, Kate had been on a health kick and would often exercise at her local park - the Rocky River Park.
Kate met her friend Nell at a nightclub when she was 21 years old. Kate accidentally bumped into Nell and the two started talking and had been friends ever since. However, the friendship was one where they would pop into each other's lives every so often. For example, if one of them was in a relationship, they would talk less and talk more when they were both single. It is not clear whether either of them had romantic feelings for each other. And, Nell's family didn't meet Kate prior to their murders. The Netflix episode portrayed the two families as having "beef" with each other, but that's not true, they spent time with one another following the passing of Nell and Kate.
The Day of the Murders
4th June, 2019.
On the 4th June 2019, Nell had plans to go to his Grandma's house between 5pm and 5:30pm. At 4pm, Nell texts his friend Kate asking to meet up at some point. Kate calls him back while she is at the gym and the two plan on meeting at the park.
No one in Kate's family or Nell's family knew why the two met up that day, but both families believed it must have been something important as it was so close to Nell's family plans. Nell was known to be a bit of a people pleaser.
Nell and Kate sit down on a park bench, with no reason to believe that anyone was watching them. Both Nell and Kate were murdered a few minutes later.
Around 5:18pm, a couple who wanted to go kayaking pull into the parking lot and take the same path that both Nell and Kate had just taken. When the couple arrives near the creek, they are absolutely mortified by what they find. A man lying near the bench who had been sh*t in the head multiple times, and his body was still warm, and a woman who was face down in the water (assuming that she tried to run for her life). Both Kate and Nell had been sh*t and murdered and no one in the area had seen or heard anything unusual (including a man in a truck that was nearby).
Authorities deemed that both Nell and Kate were fatally sh*t at 5pm. Kate died of a g*nshot wound to the head and Nell died of multiple g*nshot wounds.
This incident occurred in broad daylight (it was summer in the USA) and the area nearby was usually relatively busy.
The Investigation/Theories
Following the murders, the FBI offered a reward for tips that would lead to an arrest. They started at around $20K but eventually, this went up to $100K by 2020.
The authorities have theorised that the perpetrator was likely lying down in the park waiting for Kate and Nell and that they knew the park well enough to commit this crime without getting caught or anyone hearing anything/seeing anything suspicious. Was this a random attack - would whoever sat at that bench have been murdered?
Kate's sister (Lauren) has criticised the police for not doing enough in regard to Kate's murder.
A few months after the murder took place, Fox8 received an anonymous letter which they turned over to the FBI. The letter claimed that a woman committed the crime and had words with Nell before she sh*t him. It is not known whether this letter was the real deal or written by someone with a sick twisted fantasy. If it was real, then was this Nell's ex?
Some theories include: a hate crime, an obsession, gang-related, and jealous lovers. Unsolved says "Each theory seems to have merit. Kate and Nell did appear as an interracial couple sitting in an area with gang graffiti painted on a nearby walkway, and both had recently been in romantic relationships that had gone awry."
Kate's sister believes that it was a targeted attack, not something random as the k*ller had 14 minutes to complete their task (i.e., they knew they were on a time limit and had to get out of that park quick smart).
The potential suspects are as follows: The man in the truck (although he was cleared as he was specifically doing a task while the two were getting sh*t and did not hear anything), Alyssa Miller - Nell's ex-girlfriend as she had a concealed carry permit and behaved erratically at Nell's funeral. However, Alyssa was ruled out as it was confirmed she was still at work at the time and her weapon wasn't the murder weapon. Kate's unsettling Tinder date - Kate had gone on a Tinder date and after her date, Kate mentioned to her sisters that he had a dark and sinister energy about him, even admitting to having stabbed someone 10 years prior to their date. This Tinder guy was investigated but it turned out he was elsewhere at the time of the murders. The last suspect was Kate's ex-boyfriend - one who she had secretly been seeing since their official break up, as her family didn't approve of him. This ex of Kate's was with her the night before and the family felt very uneasy about this. However, he had an alibi for the time of the murders that was corroborated by others (he was at a barber shop).
Lauren - one of Kate's sisters doesn't necessarily believe that the above alibis are all airtight. It's not clear whether they were verbally corroborated or officially investigated. Lauren also disclosed to the media that she had a mutual friend go to Kate's ex-boyfriend's house to tell him he wasn't invited to her funeral and that the friend noted that he had a g*n on his table. They reported it, but nothing came of it, and this ex-boyfriend also refused to be interviewed by Netflix for the episode.
Some Other Things To Note
According to "this Reddit thread" about the case, there were a few things that the Netflix episode left out of the show. One user heard an interview with Kate's sister, Lauren. Kate was allegedly seen crying on the phone around 4:10pm (presumably on the phone with Nell) and that the ex-boyfriend of Kate's was not welcome at the funeral (as said above). The user also notes that the park that they were in was a very unusual park saying "You can look it up on Google Maps. It's not like a park where you're on the city streets/sidewalks one minute and you take five steps and now you're in the park. The entire park is a deep valley surrounding Rocky River. To enter the park, you have to enter at specific places and then take a long road downhill to reach the bottom. And if you wanted to "exit" the park at a non-designated entrance, the hills are very steep and wooded, they'd be extremely difficult to climb and most likely lead to private home backyards. All of this is to say that the killer likely only had a few ways in and out of that park, especially if he was driving, but even on foot."
I think the show hinted at there being a potential romantic connection between Nell and Kate. Lauren suggested that Nell may have said that him and Kate would end up together eventually and maybe that time was him confessing his feelings but this is not confirmed. And there's no way to know for sure if this were true.
Following the Netflix episode of Unsolved Mysteries, one of Nell's friends Jeff, did an AMA - you can check that out "here". An AMA = Ask Me Anything, something that celebrities often do on Reddit. One notable thing that came from this thread is that many people (including Jeff, although he did not know Kate specifically, believe that there is more to Kate's ex-boyfriend as he was abusive, was with Kate 24 hours before her murder, and she was in a secret relationship with him.
My theory: I think that it's possible the two of them were followed into the park but by who? And how did they know they were going to be in the park? To me, the obvious answer is that someone was following Kate, listening to her phone call with Nell and where they were going to meet and waited for them there. I also think that whoever did it was quite intelligent with how they got away with it for so long BUT I also think that the authorities could have done better as there's a lot of contradictory information about cameras at the park. Or, do the police know who did it and are protecting them? It's such a horrible thing to think about. And if someone was following Kate near the gym, wouldn't there be footage of that?
If you have any information regarding this case, you can reach out anonymously to the FBI’s Cleveland Field Office at 216-622-6842, the Cleveland Metroparks Police Department at 440-331-5219 or Crime Stoppers of Cuyahoga County at 216-252-7463. Tips can also be submitted to tips.fbi.gov.
Thanks for reading,
Ash x
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