UPDATE April 4, 2025: This story has been updated to correct the deathplace of Margaret Brown and with the proper link to Lisa Peterson's website.

The evening of March 26, 1987 would have been like any other night in Newtown, except for a relentless barking dog in the Whippoorwill Hill Road area. The dog belonged to Regina Brown, a flight attendant for American Airlines who mysteriously disappeared in the night.

Former Newtown Bee Reporter Lisa Peterson has dedicated her time to trying to find Brown and solve her murder. Brown was a light skinned black woman and was married to Willis Brown Jr, an American Airlines pilot. The couple had three children together.

Last Wednesday, March 26, Peterson visited Newtown Senior Center to discuss Brown’s last day and the strange and violent circumstances surrounding her death. It was the first of two planned presentations by the writer on the 37th anniversary of Brown’s disappearance. Peterson also spoke that evening at C.H. Booth Library, where she was hosted by Newtown Allies For Change.

Wednesday afternoon, Peterson began the senior center presentation by asking if anyone in the room knew Regina Brown, and some hands went up into the air.

Peterson discussed the domestic violence at the Brown home leading up to Regina’s disappearance, which included instances of strangulation and slander. Willis Brown tried to frame his wife as a “sex-crazed” woman with a drug problem, according to Peterson, even trying to hand in a white powder as evidence to Newtown Police Department. The powder turned out to be baby cereal, Peterson said.

Peterson also briefly discussed the infamous “Wood Chipper Murder,” as the two cases had many similarities and were close in time line. Fellow Newtown resident Helle Crafts was a Pan Am flight attendant; her husband was a pilot for Eastern Air Lines. Not only did Helle and Richard Crafts also live in Newtown — with their three children — they were less than two miles east of where the Brown family resided. Both couples were going through divorce.

Helle Crafts was murdered by her husband. Her body was dismembered and put through a woodchipper in November 1986.

As Peterson reported on “The Wood Chipper Murder” for this newspaper, Willis Brown would reportedly take newspaper clippings about the case and tell Regina he would do even worse to her.

It prompted Regina to tell her coworkers that if anything happened to her, it would have been because of Willis, according to Peterson. Regina even moved all three of her children to be with her mother in Texas, so that the children would be away from Willis.

Peterson detailed the investigation that followed, including the barking dog that was clearly being fed, she said, due to excrement around the garage it was occupying, and the remnants of Regina’s life — her coat, credit cards, and makeup bag — all being at the home.

Peterson added that two neighbors went over to the Brown house and they “were expecting to see the dog dead, frankly.” These were the neighbors who heard the barking dog the night of March 26.

Peterson continued, saying one neighbor had peeked into the house on March 26 and saw the dog tied up in the breezeway, and that is why it had been barking for hours on end. When the neighbors returned to the house a week later, the dog was untied and in the garage.

“There was a fresh bowl of water and a fresh bowl of food there, which the neighbors found very disturbing,” Peterson said. When the neighbors saw this, that was when they reported Regina missing.

Peterson noted that Willis had some strange “post-defense behavior, which is what a suspect does after a crime ... Who fed the dog? Who fed the dog in the house the week after Regina disappeared?”

Willis “lied about the date he purchased the dog food,” Peterson said, claiming he bought it before she disappeared.

“It was before she disappeared, on March 23, but then he admitted later that he fed the dog on April 2. He said he gave the dog water, but not dog food. He was adamant about not feeding the dog the food,” Peterson explained. She added the food purchased was from Grand Union, a store Regina had stopped patronizing after one of the cashiers reportedly used a racial slur against her.

“So clearly, somebody bought that food and brought it there to feed the dog,” Peterson said.

Regina Brown was declared legally dead by probate court in 1995, but her body has never been found.

Inconsistencies

Following the disappearance of his wife, Peterson said, Willis Brown moved to Block Island and opened Moped Man, a moped rental business. Peterson shared details of meeting Willis at his business on a trip she took to Block Island two decades after his wife’s disappearance.

“He shook my hand,” Peterson started, “and he had this great big smile on his face. And when he shook my hand … [I had] chills up the back of my neck because he has these enormous hands that people had told me about.

“I was just envisioning these enormous hands around Regina Brown’s neck as he shook my hand,” she said.

Peterson recalled not being able to get the words out regarding Regina Brown’s 20-year disappearance before Willis cut her off, walked off to a barn on the property, and locked himself in.

Peterson also shared details about an alleged suicide in relation to Willis Brown. His stepmother, Margaret, was found dead in her Albany, New York apartment, apparently of a self-inflicted gunshot. Police said it was a suicide, but Margaret’s family believes otherwise, Peterson said.

“[There were] inconsistencies about where the gun was,” Peterson said regarding Margaret’s death. “The biggest one to me was the gunshot residue on her hand, it was on her right hand … but according to her son, she was deathly afraid of guns and she was also left-handed.”

Margaret Brown’s son also found a suspicious hand-drawn map that included the words “O God” and “Regina,” with a building drawn on it marked “trailer.”

Peterson said she believes Willis killed Regina, though there was never enough evidence to convict him. Willis died at age 89, and Peterson assumes “it was from complications of dementia.”

She still hopes, she said, “the police will somehow be able to finalize their investigation into this [case] and declare the case closed … that Willis Brown was their suspect who committed this crime.”

Final Questions And Thoughts

Following her presentation, Peterson took questions from the crowd of mostly women. There were about 20 people in attendance for the early afternoon event.

The first question regarded Richard Crafts and whether he was still alive. Peterson answered yes, though she is unsure about his whereabouts. He was released from prison in 2020.

Another audience member asked if Regina and Willis Brown’s children, whom Peterson talked to and met a few times, remembered anything about their mother and her disappearance.

Peterson answered that the middle daughter, who was about 4 or 5 at the time, “her only memory of Regina Brown is the incident where [Willis is] choking her in the bathroom.” The older child, according to Peterson, shares this memory, and she “can just imagine how traumatic it was for them because after a couple years, the grandparents lost custody of [the children] in Texas.” Peterson mentioned that the custody battles in court were “too expensive.”

Another attendee asked about the hand-drawn map and if there were any forensics to determine who drew it. Peterson answered it was sent to the FBI for handwriting analysis and it was determined that Willis’s father or stepmother did not write the map.

“I always thought Willis Brown wrote the map himself, and that it’s a red herring ... I also believe that he was involved in her death, either with his father or by himself,” Peterson stated.

The last question regarded Willis and whether he ever remarried. Peterson answered “no,” but noted he did have another child with another woman, and had four daughters with his first wife.

“She divorced him,” Peterson said. “In that divorce paper, she said that he had tried to strangle her several times as well.”

For those who wish to learn more about the Regina Brown case and wish to interact with Lisa Peterson, visit her website at lisaunleashed.substack.com.

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Reporter Sam Cross can be reached at sam@thebee.com.