by Ralph Thomas

He could never be mistaken for Jim Rockford! He's a mild mannered, well dressed private eye who says grace over his meals in restaurants and he's more likely to be mistaken for a preacher or accountant than for his real profession.

After serving in public for seven years as a law enforcement officer with the Florida Highway Patrol and with the Orange County Sheriff's Department, Brown decided to become a private detective in 1966 in the Central Florida area, with each year enhancing both his reputation and his income. His agency, Brown and Associates, Inc., occupies a nicely furnished suite of offices in Orlando, Florida (5227 E. Colonial Drive, Orlando, Florida 32807, phone: (407)275-1104), where he has 8 full time investigators.

Brown's years of practice has brought him cabinet files full of solved cases ranging from missing persons, fraud, domestics, criminal cases, and murder. He says that the majority of his cases are domestic related, involving a spouse who wants to gain information about a mate. But while a heavy load of marital discord cases can prove to be quite financially rewarding, Brown is happiest when a couple eventually gets back together. In fact, Brown is trained in marriage counseling. He believes that through counseling, a couple can often salvage a marriage, and he's helped save many in his more than 30 years of Christian-based counseling.

Brown is a born again Christian who says he was worried about how his faith would affect his job and career as a private investigator, a career often filled with gray areas of ethics and deception. However, things have appeared to go well for Brown and Associates. He says he has become a better Christian by ministering to clients in a counselor capacity. "When a person is down," Brown states, "I try to build up spiritual stability". In an age of ministerial quackery, you know that Brown is speaking from the very bottom of his heart when he talks about this subject.

Like most full-service investigative agencies, Brown & Associates does its share of domestic surveillance, which usually involves cheating spouses. Brown separates himself from other investigators after the evidence is gathered, confirming the subject's actions. Brown offers both counseling and spiritual guidance in hopes of reconciling the marriage, particularly when the straying spouse recognizes the error. His efforts are paying off. About 30% of the time, Brown's counseling and guidance leads to the couple giving their marriage another go. Brown says, "To get people back together, that's the ultimate satisfaction".

His office walls are completely covered with degrees, certificates, and commendations from everywhere. One wall plaque reads: "God Is Greater Than Any Problem I Have". The door going into the office has a sign reading: "When You Must Know, For Peace of Mind".

Brown's personal secretary, Glory Shields, says she has come to respect her boss, not only as an individual, but as an expert in his field. She says, "He's the kind of person who makes people nervous when they have something to hide. He has a way of moving about undetected, finding keys to old locked closets and turning up bones that some prefer remained buried. Moreover, there are many behind bars because of his special ability and many who have been forced to stay on the run for fear of being caught. Brown is not one that you would want on your trail because he has a bad habit of not letting go".

Brown was featured in a book written by Karen Kingsbury called The Snake and the Spider for his work on one of his murder cases. The Central Florida Business Section of the Sentinel Star, a regional newspaper, billed him as "The Investigator of Faith" in a profile in August, 1987. In July 1988 WFTV, Channel 9 News, asked Brown to participate in a special report they were airing concerning the privacy act. On the air, Brown was given the name of a person picked at random to complete a background investigation. The volunteer who was picked as Brown's target was astonished at what Brown found out. Not only was his personal history developed while living in Florida, but Brown had traced the subject back to his college days in Indiana and provided a complete list of all the jobs he had worked, the rate of pay he received, and other personal information about the subject that even surprised the news station. He continues to do numerous media interviews.

The religious devotion Brown carries inspired a screenplay about one of his cases in 1978 that involved the abduction and murder of Daryl Barber, 19, and James Broucher, 17, from Daytona Beach. The screenplay, "My Son Is Missing", portrays Brown as an investigator in which religion helps him search for two young men. The screenplay was written by Tony Shepherd of Winter Park, Florida. A movie is in pre-production involving this case.

Barber and Boucher died of carbon dioxide poisoning in the trunk of Boucher's car, which had been fitted with a hose from the exhaust pipe. The bodies were later thrown into a Volusia County swamp. Brown started his investigation and obtained clues by paying informants for information. As a result of Brown's investigation, Earl L. Smith was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. One John Cox was also convicted with a life sentence. Brown said he repeatedly looked toward religion for guidance in the case. He says most of his direction came from prayer. In fact, Brown says, "My faith has always been my guide".

In a business in which many people are in it for the fast buck, Brown stands out. In a business in which many investigators do their cases and submit their findings with a bill, Brown is one of the few who asks the question, "What's going to happen to the client once the information is turned over?". Brown has taken the world of private investigation a step further with his words of wisdom and counseling. He's one of those rare caring persons who is pioneering the use of pastoral and professional counseling after the evidence is developed. He's saving marriages and bringing people back into the mainstream of American life. He's really helping people.

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