Husband Accused Of Killing Wife After She Discovered Financial 'Problems'

Roy Browning Jr., 67

An Iowa man is in custody after allegedly killing his wife not long after she discovered some discrepancies in their joint bank account. Roy Carl Browning Jr. was charged with first-degree murder nearly seven months after his wife, JoEllen Browning, was found stabbed to death inside their home.

Police say that a few days before her death, JoEllen noticed that money was missing from their bank account and scheduled a meeting with their banker to discuss the issue. She told Roy about the meeting and was found murdered the following day.

Investigators discovered that Roy had taken out multiple loans of $4,000 with an interest rate of more than 300% and never told his wife. He had also been siphoning money from one of their accounts to his own personal account. Police say he realized this would have all come out during their meeting with the bank and killed JoEllen a few hours before the meeting was set to take place.

"The representative was prepared to tell JoEllen at this meeting that one of their savings accounts was depleted and Roy had taken out out loans of which JoEllen was not aware," the criminal complaint states. "The representative was prepared to tell JoEllen that an account JoEllen thought was active never actually existed." 

Browning is being held on a $5 million bond. If he is convicted, Browning faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Photo: Johnson County Sheriff's Office


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