Wife And Her Lover Charged For Murder Of Husband In Takoma Park

(Updated at 4:54 p.m. Monday) TAKOMA PARK, MD — A Takoma Park woman and her lover were found guilty for the murder of Cecil Brown, the 73-year-old husband of the woman. They allegedly beat Brown to death in his backyard in 2014.

Takoma Park residents Hussain Ali Zadeh, 50, and Brown's wife Larlane Pannell Brown, 70, were found guilty of second-degree homicide on April 7 in the Circuit Court of Montgomery County after a three week jury trial, police announced Monday.

At about 12:29 p.m. August 4, 2014, Takoma Park Police received two phone calls for a disturbance in the 800 block of Colby Avenue. Units responded and located a male, identified as Brown, deceased in his backyard, police said.

See Related: Death of 73-Year-Old Man Ruled a Homicide

Takoma Park Police Detectives began an investigation into Brown’s death as a homicide after the Medical Examiner’s determined that the cause of death was blunt force trauma and the manner of death was a homicide, police said.

“This was a guy who worked hard and kept his nose clean,” Takoma Park Police Chief Alan Goldberg said of Brown.

Police searched Larlane's belongings throughout the investigation, and found a folder labeled "Ali's Folder" with love letters from another man, now deemed Zadeh, according to The Washington Post.

Police also went through Larlane's Internet searches, and found searches such as "What drinks cause heart failure"; "Death by burning" and "Shocked Tasered while sleeping."

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“This is one of the first cases that I had where cell phone and the information from the cell phone is what helped me the most. Typically, it’s interviews, it’s physical evidence but it was the cell phone analysis that really made the case,” Sgt. Richard Poole of the Takoma Park Police Department said in an interview Monday.

The Washington Post reports that Brown, a retired construction worker, was a kind man who often helped his neighbors out with everyday chores.

Brown and his wife were known for hanging the most lights at their house on Christmas and buying straw at Halloween so neighbors could bring their children and old clothes over to build scarecrows. Larlane organized block parties in the neighborhood.

“I saw them as the matriarch and patriarch of a very small neighborhood,” a neighbor, Miranda Morris, told The Washington Post.

Takoma Park Police called the investigation "exhaustive." On May 28, 2015, Zadeh and Brown were arrested for first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder by Takoma Park’s Special Investigations Section (SIS) inside the Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport, police said.

Zadeh had flown to Jamaica, and Larlane was at the airport to meet him when they were arrested.

Sentencing is scheduled for July 25, 2017, police said. Each defendants face 30 years in prison.

Photos show Larlane Pannell Brown, Hussain Ali Zadeh and Cecil Brown. Courtesy of Takoma Park Police Department.