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New Trial Sought In Disappearance, Death Of Seffner Girl

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By NATALIE SHEPHERD | News Channel 8

Published: December 15, 2008

TAMPA - It's been more than 10 years since 7-year-old Amanda Brown disappeared from her Seffner home.

But that doesn't mean her father, Roy Brown, has any closure.

"It's just like 1998 all over again," Brown said outside the Hillsborough County Courthouse, where in a hearing today the man convicted of killing Amanda was seeking a new trial.

Brown is tired of court hearings and judges' rulings.

He just wants to know where his daughter is, and he wants Willie Crain to tell him. Crain is on death row for the child's slaying.

"Quit all these -- playing games. You know, give him a life sentence. Tell me where my daughter is and let her be where he says she is," he said.

Amanda Brown has never been found. She went missing Sept. 9, 1998.

Crain spent that night with Amanda's mother. He was convicted of murdering the little girl and getting rid of her body in Old Tampa Bay.

"He needs to man up. That's what he needs to do," he said. "He needs to take what's coming; that's the only chance he has of going to heaven."

Crain has maintained his innocence for 10 years.

He is asking for a new trial because, he says, his attorneys were ineffective, he didn't get an attorney when he asked for one and detectives questioned him without his signed consent.

"I told those detectives I wasn't talking to them no more -- they could arrest me or let me go," Crain said in court.

Crain's daughter, Patricia Davis, has visited her father in prison every month for the past 10 years.

She says he's ill, suffering from colon polyps and spots on his lungs.

"If he's guilty, I want him to stay where he's at, but if he's innocent, I want him out," she said.

Davis said it has been hard for Crain's family to know what to believe.

"We love him, and we try to support him, and we want to believe he's innocent. You know, in our hearts and our eyes, we haven't seen enough evidence to say he's 100 percent guilty," Davis said.

She says the case has been hard on both families because neither one has closure.

Crain's hearing is expected to take most of the week.

Reporter Natalie Shepherd can be reached at (813) 225-2703 or nshepherd@wfla.com.

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