Carnell E. Sledge

Let's take a walk and see.

[gentle music] Now, in 2019, the park bench murders of Katherine Brown and Carnell Sledge represent one of the most chilling and inexplicable double homicides in recent Ohio history.

Occurring in the middle of a sunny Thursday afternoon in a popular metropolitan park, the case defies the typical logic of a violent crime.

There was no known motive, no struggle, and despite the proximity of dozens of potential witnesses, no one saw the perpetrator.

Now, the Rocky River Reservation is the oldest and one of the most frequented segments of the Cleveland Metroparks system.

On June 4th, 2019, the weather was clear and the park was active with joggers, kayakers, and commuters.

Katherine "Kate" Brown, 33, and Carnell Sledge, 40, were longtime friends.

At approximately 5:00 PM, they met at a pull-off area along Valley Parkway just south of the Lorain Road Bridge.

Let's take a walk and see.

[gentle somber music] Now, in 2019, the park bench murders of Katherine Brown and Carnell Sledge represent one of the most chilling and inexplicable double homicides in recent Ohio history.

Occurring in the middle of a sunny Thursday afternoon in a popular metropolitan park, the case defies the typical logic of a violent crime.

There was no known motive, no struggle, and despite the proximity of dozens of potential witnesses, no one saw the perpetrator.

Now, the Rocky River Reservation is the oldest and one of the most frequented segments of the Cleveland Metro Parks system.

On June 4th, 2019, the weather was clear and the park was active with joggers, kayakers, and commuters.

Katherine "Kate" Brown, 33, and Carnell Sledge, 40, were longtime friends.

At approximately 5:00 PM, they met at a pull-off area along Valley Parkway just south of the Lorain Road Bridge.

And to make matters even more puzzling, law enforcement initially refused to release how Karnell and Kate even knew one another or why they were together when they died.

Some of the victims' family members and friends, though, knew exactly why the pair would have met in the park.

Karnell and Kate were good friends who'd been hanging out on a regular basis for at least a decade, according to most sources.

But despite their closeness, Karnell and Kate were not in a romantic relationship.

The two just enjoyed catching up and spending time together.

And according to reporting by WKYC 3 News, Kate often visited that area of the park to jog, meet up with her friends, or spend time with her mom playing cards.

Law enforcement released very little information in the case during those first few days of the investigation, and one week after the murders, Karnell's family held a vigil at the bench where he and Kate had been killed to hopefully keep the story in the forefront of everyone's minds.

News 5 Cleveland reported that dozens of people showed up to that vigil with flowers, signs, and stuffed animals to make a temporary memorial.